[Buddha-l] Re: Buddhist Intolerance?

[Piya Tan]

Canby's interesting article can be downloaded from


http://archnet.org/library/documents/one-document.tcl?document_id=3931

If you have a problem, let me know, I can send it to you, or perhaps Dan.

Piya


On 10/20/06, Dan Lusthaus <dlusthau at mailer.fsu.edu> wrote:
>
> Now, by way of contrast, here is an actual example of persecution. Notice
> this is not about "raising voices" but destructive actions.
>
> Buddhism, as we all know, had a major presence in Central Asia, into Iran
> and further west, though its fortunes fluctuated with the advent of Islam.
> The decisive turning point, from which Buddhism never recovered, is
> described thus:
>
> "The lack of Buddhist monuments and images from Mongol Iran is directly
> connected with Ghazan Khan's conversion to Islam in 1295. Apparently
> Ghazan
> Khan was convinced by one of his generals, a Muslim called Nauruz, of the
> expediency of adopting Islam. At the time Ghazan was battling his cousin
> Baidu for the throne and control of the Ilkhanid lands. The value of
> leading
> Muslim troops as a Muslim and defeating "the last non-Muslim leader" of
> Iran
> was not lost on Ghazan. By the fall of 1295 Ghazan had captured and
> executed
> Baidu and had taken full control of the empire. Despite his Buddhist
> upbringing and the Buddhist temples he had erected in Khurasan, Ghazan's
> first royal decree was for the destruction of all churches, synagogues,
> and
> Buddhist temples in Tabriz, Baghdad, and throughout the realm. Because of
> the good favor they had earlier enjoyed, the Buddhists were the hardest
> hit
> by this proclamation. Many converted to Islam or fled eastward toward
> Central Asia, China, and Tibet. Even so, textual and artistic sources lead
> us to assume that the Buddhist community of Tabriz did not disappear all
> at
> once, but dispersed in the years following Ghazan Khan's decree." (p. 299)
>
>
>
> Sheila B. Canby, "Depictions of Buddha Śākyamuni in the Jami' Al-Tavarikh
> and the Majma' Al-Tavarikh," _Muqarnas_, v.10, Essays in Honor of Oleg
> Grabar, 1993, 299-310.
>
>
>
> Ghazan remains a celebrated hero in the Islamic world (you can purchase
> posters of him on Amazon.com).
>
>
>
> >From that point on, Buddhism quickly disappeared from Central Asia and
> most
> of India, except in certain islands exempt from the advance of Islam, such
> as Tibet.
>
>
>
> Incidentally, the reason the Nestorians came to China in the 7th century
> was
> precisely to get away from this sort of mistreatment by fledling Islam in
> their native lands.
>
>
>
> Dan Lusthaus
>
>
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