Buddhism and Eastern religions
Buddhism's history spans over 2,500 years, originating from the Indian subcontinent in the 5th century BCE and spreading to East Asia by the 2nd century CE. Teachings of the Buddha were introduced over time, as a response to brahmanical teachings. Buddhism relies on the continual analysis of the self, rather than being defined by a ritualistic system, or singular set of beliefs. The intersections of Buddhism with other Eastern religions, such as Taoism, Shinto, Hinduism, and Bon illustrate the interconnected ideologies that interplay along the path of enlightenment. Buddhism and eastern religions tend to share the world-view that all sentient beings are subject to a cycle of rebirth that has no clear end.
Taoism
The ideologies and traditions of Taoism have adapted over time in response to Buddhist practices. Taoist philosophy stems from a mixture of early mythology and folk religious practices. The Tao ideology dates back to the seventh century BC, existing long before the Taoists formed into an organized religious collective. Both Taoism and Buddhism have historically aspired to hold domineering influence over the Indian subcontinent. While Buddhism provides an elaborate cosmology and a detailed theory about the afterlife, Taoism meets other needs.The principle focus of Taoism is the path of Tao, an all encompassing, formless power, that brings all things together in an eternal cycle. The Tao provides followers a path to reach understanding of one's individual place within the world. The relationship between Taoism and Buddhism is complexly intertwined. The arrival of Buddhism forced Taoism to restructure into a more organized religion, in response to the existential questions that Buddhism raised. Competition between Buddhism and Taoism is said to have inspired beneficial advancements in the field of Chinese medicine.
Early Buddhism was originally not clearly defined by Taoism; some scriptures were mistranslated in Chinese using incorrect Taoist vocabulary, which caused discrepancies between various accounts. There is an ideological crossover found between Buddhist and Taoist systems of influence. Chan Buddhism in particular holds many beliefs in common with the philosophy of Taoism.
The coexistence of Chinese Buddhism and Taoism has also resulted in various Buddhist deities being adopted into the Taoist pantheon, and vice versa. For example, in Taoism, the Chinese Buddhist deva and Bodhisattva Marici is often syncretized with the Taoist goddess Doumu, who is regarded as the personification of the Big Dipper as well as the feminine aspect of the cosmic God of Heaven. In another example, the Taoist god of war and fraternity, Guan Yu, has been adopted by Buddhism and he is widely venerated as Sangharama Bodhisattva, a Bodhisattva or deva who serves as a dharmapala of Buddhist monasteries. According to Buddhist legends, in 592, the spirit of Guan Yu manifested himself one night before the Tiantai Patriarch and founder Zhiyi and requested the master to teach him about the dharma. After receiving Buddhist teachings from the master, Guan Yu took refuge in the triple gems and also requested the Five Precepts, making a vow to become a guardian of temples and the dharma. The syncretism between Chinese Esoteric Buddhism and Taoism was particularly extensive. For instance, the nine-fold configuration of the Mandala of the Two Realms in Zhenyan and Shingon Buddhism was influenced and adopted from the Taoist Lo Shu Square and the I Ching.
Confucianism
Confucianism in particular raised fierce opposition to Buddhism in early history, principally because it perceived Buddhism to be a nihilistic worldview, with a negative impact on society at large. "The Neo-Confucianistshad therefore to attack Buddhist cosmological views by affirming, in the
first place, the reality and concreteness of the universe and of man."
Some Neo-Confucianist philosophers specifically attacked Buddhism from four different main view-points. These four viewpoints include: historical/textual formulations, cosmology, metaphysics, and ethics. The philosophers known for these critiques were Ch'eng Hao, Ch'eng I, and Chu Hsi. These, of course, were not the only Neo-Confucianists philosophers to speak out against Buddhism, but they are surely a part of the possibility of why Neo-Confucianism succeeded in over-powering a very strong Buddhist system from the Chinese.
The confrontation of Buddhist ideologies had already been happening for a while. There were questions Neo-Confucianists raised that made Buddhists not able to formally answer and attack back, which was a shift of from Buddhism being the leading ideology in East Asia to something else taking that place.
During the Sung Dynasty rule, an economic and territorial shift occurred where they had lost the North of China to the Chin. As a result, the Sungs in the South were dedicated to developing a booming economy. Because of that, a commercial and social revolution took place, directly affecting both Buddhism and Confucianism. The difference between the two was how each of them handled it. While the Sung Buddhist monks had seemingly forgotten the social applications early Buddhist Chinese monks had practiced, they had lived farther and farther away in isolation within their respected temples. In response to that, Confucianism was growing in ideology almost as a filler to fill the void that Sung Buddhists had left.
Chu Hsi is known to be the “great synthesizer” of early Neo-Confucianism. He used an organized and developed process in order to attack Buddhism. Which proved to be successful. Chu Hsi was actually in a more privileged position than his forerunners as the Cheng brothers had already laid down the foundation of the Ch’eng Chu school.
Shinto
In the Japanese religion of Shinto, the long coexistence of Buddhism and Shinto resulted in the merging of Shinto and Buddhism. Gods in Shinto were given a position similar to that of Hindu gods in Buddhism. Moreover, because the Buddha Vairochana's symbol was the sun, many equated Amaterasu, the sun goddess, as his previous bodhisattva reincarnation. According to Helen Hardacre, by the Heian period, a theory named wakō dōjin (和光同塵) had emerged. The Buddha and Kami had taken on a new form as saviors of man, who "dim their light and mingle with the dust of the world". This not only relates the two religions, but demonstrates a marked difference in status between the two deities at this period in time. The later Tokugawa Shogunate era saw a revival of Shinto, and some Shinto scholars began to argue that Buddhas were previous incarnations of Shinto gods, reversing the traditional positions of the two religions. Shinto and Buddhism were officially separated during the Meiji Restoration and the brief, but socially transformative rise of State Shinto followed. In post-war modern Japan, most families count themselves as being of both religions, despite the idea of "official separation".In addition, Buddhism played an important part in the religious legitimation of Japanese emperors via Shinto.
It is noteworthy that the Sui were the first Chinese dynasty with which the newly emergent centralising Japanese state came into contact, so the practice of using Buddhism as an officially sanctioned religion would have been demonstrated to the Japanese as a political reality.The interplay between Taoism, Buddhism, and Shinto in China and Japan stimulated the adoption of the Chinese practice of state-sanctioned religion and religious legitimation through association with divinity by the Japanese government. The official implementation of the term tennō (天皇) to refer to the Japanese emperor is also widely agreed to take place during the latter part of the 7th century, as a result of these interactions.