Thursday, October 29, 2015

"fear not them which kill the body" - The West and The East

An Autumn Sky around Tokyo


The West and The East


The history of Buddhism in East Asia, including China, Korea, and Japan, is almost comparable with that of Christianity in Europe.

About 2,000 year ago, Buddhism reached a vicinity of the western territory of the then Chinese empire.  And then, taking several centuries, Buddhist creeds were translated from Sanskrit to Chinese.

Accordingly, Buddhist creeds Japanese monks read even today have a history comparable to that of the Christian Bible.

However, ancient Chinese accepted Buddhism first as another religion that would bring worldly fortune to them.  They worshiped the Buddha along with Chinese taoism saints.

Anyway you cannot deny a great influence of Buddhism in China, Korea, and Japan in these 2000 years.  East Asia is different from Africa.

It should be also noted that from a viewpoint of East Asia, Europe under the influence of Christianity and the Middle East under Islam look the West.  But India is half the West and half the East.  And East Asia, namely Japan, Taiwan, Korea, China, and Mongolia, is truly the East.

This view might help some people in the world understand the world better.



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Mat 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Mat 10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.