Buddhism for Dummies

“The core beliefs preached by the historic Buddha and recorded by his followers into sutras and other scriptures were, in part, a reaction to the Vedic beliefs and rituals dominant in South Asia. Buddhism changed over time as it spread throughout Asia, first through the support of the Mauryan Emperor Asoka, and then through the efforts of missionaries and merchants and the establishment of educational institutions to promote its core teachings.” 

        Although some of the principals of Buddhism may have been carried over from the traditional Vedic belief system, I think that the core beliefs were different and formed individually from Buddha's own thoughts and beliefs. Buddha bases a lot of his core religion on meditation, achieving enlightenment, and ending the belief that material objects. Despite this, Buddhism did evolve as a religion over time as it spread across all of Asia. Despite the fact that it would take well over 1,000 years to spread all around. Trade between China and India (The homeland of Buddhism) would cause Buddhism to spread into China where it experienced some changes. One such change was that the Stupa took a new form in China. Another major example was how Buddhism was meshed with other Chinese belief systems such as Confucianism. This would cause a major change in the emphasis of Buddhism in China. In India, emphasis was on personal salvation acquired by living a celebate life; however, Chinese Buddhists encouraged filial piety to complement the Chinese tradition of ancestor worship. Culturally, Buddhism also experience change in the arts within China.