Each ethnic group created their own gods to adapt to their surroundings. People on the plains created sky gods above the vast open space, while those living on granite with clean water created gods of frequent washing. Those living on marble created gods of beautiful statues. Gods were merely symbols containing a group's rules and survival strategies. It was natural for them to form polytheistic systems through the Hawk-Dove game when they met other groups. However, ancient polytheism ultimately failed. Because polytheistic gods all said different things, it was hard to contain a universal ethic.
Ancient Egypt and Persia, where technology and civilization flourished, realized this early on. Their chaotic polytheism naturally unified into Pantheon worship and then into monotheism.
The first frontrunner was Zoroastrianism, founded by Zarathustra around 2000 BC.
An uncreated god. A god who existed from the beginning. Worshiping Ahura Mazda, the god of pure light and order, they built a monument of morality under the names of Good Thoughts, Good Words, and Good Deeds. They became an ethical group, the most important element of religion, but they failed to become a world religion. This was because other groups already had their own indigenous cultures and gods. Replacing their gods with Ahura Mazda was a political challenge and meant the death of their indigenous culture. Religion was an ethical group, but also a cultural group. Later arrivals like Greece's Zeus, Socrates' Daimon, and Egypt's Aten and Amun faced similar issues.
Then, the Absolute God descended. The end of monolatry was monotheism. The Jews, who lived as slaves moving between Persia and Egypt, created Yahweh—a warrior god and the 'Only God' who kills other gods. Jesus, born on that foundation, built ethics through new commandments and gave the Great Commission, giving birth to Christianity: a monotheistic religion with love and law in one hand and a sword in the other. Christianity's strategy against polytheism was murder. Kill the other religions and build Christian ethics on top. Abrahamic religions began massacring other cultures in the name of being an 'ethical group.'
Countless cultures from Europe, Africa, and Persia—where civilizations prospered most—such as Greco-Roman, Norse-Germanic, Celtic, Egyptian, and Zoroastrianism, were murdered, and Christian-Islamic ethical groups were built over them. But religion is both an ethical group and a cultural group. Monotheism could only represent the culture of the 'People of the Book': Jews, Europeans, and Arabs. While ethics were universal, culture was regional.
The Philippines, Mexico, and Brazil ended up using European names instead of their original ones. Baptismal names functioned like the 'Soshi-kaimei' (forced name changes). In Islam, visiting Mecca is one of the five pillars, and Saudi Arabia earns massive tourism profits. In Korea, we see countless Protestants making pilgrimages to the holy lands in Israel. Any race not featured in the scriptures of monotheism cannot become a 'Tier 1' nation. The villages and hometowns of 'Tier 2' nations are far from the places in the Bible, and their ancestors don't appear in it.
This is because they murdered the religions where their villages, hometowns, and ancestors appeared.
On the other hand, East Asia beyond India took the path that Europe and the Middle East didn't. That was the path of the Buddha. Unlike the failures of polytheism, Zoroastrianism, and Abrahamic religions, Buddha presented a 'Law' (Dharma) that was neither polytheistic, monolatrist, nor monotheistic. Buddha didn't claim to be a supreme or sole god. Buddha was an existence outside of that. Buddha presented the 'Bulbeop' (Buddhist Law). He helped overcome the lack of an ethical group, which was the cause of polytheism's failure. Buddha's strategy against polytheism was 'education.' To Buddha, gods were just sentient beings.
To the supreme gods of each group, Buddha wasn't a political challenge. It was a golden opportunity to preserve their unique supreme deity while gaining a unified doctrine. Buddhism spread over the polytheistic world. The biggest problems of polytheism—unification and the ethical group—were completed by the Dharma. While gods who challenged the Dharma were labeled evil and slaughtered, the ethnic religions centered on gods who accepted the Dharma were syncretized into Buddhism. As a result, unique religions and cultures survived, unlike in monotheistic regions. East Asian ethnic religions matured and developed while studying the Dharma under Buddha. 1. Taoist-Buddhist Syncretism: The spicy top disciple, Taoism.
Taoism is China's indigenous religion. Its origins lie in the folk sorcery and talismans of China, the faith of Qin Shi Huang who ate mercury thinking it was the elixir of life, and Laozi's Tao Te Ching. Early Taoism was closer to a primitive religion, relying on Qin Shi Huang's beliefs and hoping to become immortals by eating elixirs. Nevertheless, Taoism, which technically had its own scriptures, clashed most heavily with Buddhism. The conflict between Taoist priests and monks influenced both: Taoism introduced the 'Ten Kings' faith into folk Buddhism, and Buddhism's Seon (Zen) sect was born under the influence of Taoist values. Buddhism transformed Taoism from a religion seeking physical immortality through elixirs and medicine into one reaching spiritual immortality through meditation and training. Also, 'Byeok-gok-dan' (fasting pills) were influenced by Buddhist vegetarianism. A matured Taoism mimicked Buddhist Dharma to create 'Tao-beop' and tried to act as a world religion. However, Tao-beop didn't have much influence outside of Joseon and Vietnam, unlike the Dharma. This is because Taoism still had primitive cultures like sorcery and talismans. It's because they listened to the Dharma too half-heartedly. They are currently struggling, failing to even make up a majority in Greater China except for mainland China. 2. Shinto-Buddhist Syncretism: 1,500 years of training. Shinto.
The origins of Shinto are Japanese animism and shamanism. Primitive forms of Shinto can be easily found in its myths—stories about tricking evil gods who wanted human sacrifices or virgins with rotten fish, or having them executed by Shinto gods. Perhaps because of these 'evil god' customs, Shinto struggled to become independent from Buddhism after its arrival in the 6th century, but it never once beat Buddhism. Buddhism exerted influence over Shinto for over a thousand years and was deeply involved in Shinto doctrines and culture. Then, after 1,500 years, the Meiji Restoration came. Shinto, reborn as State Shinto, decided on 'Haibutsu Kishaku' and tried to execute Buddhism... but it didn't. Today, Japan still relies on Buddhism for moral and ethical judgments. Instead, they have a dual religious structure where Shinto takes full charge of ethnic identity, tourism, festivals, myths, and culture. They resolved the contradiction between cultural regionality and ethical universality through the coexistence of Shinto (ethnic) and Buddhism (universal). As a result, Japan has the most solid syncretic ethnic religion, with over 90% of the population following both Shinto and Buddhism. However, this Buddhist laboratory didn't always produce masterpieces. 3. Bon-Buddhist Syncretism: Buddhism in skin only. Bon.
Bon is the indigenous shamanism of Tibet. After Buddhism arrived in Tibet in the 8th century, Bon was absorbed. However, it seems Tibetan Buddhism couldn't exercise complete dominance over Bon. Bon continued to appear steadily even after the 10th century. They not only created their own scriptures but also imitated Buddhist styles and art under its influence, while preserving their unique shamanic customs. They followed the art but didn't follow the Dharma. This 'pseudo-Buddhism' strategy not only contributed to their survival but also maintained a long-term stalemate where they just mimicked the Dharma without gaining any spiritual teachings. As a result, Bon survives today as primitive shamanic customs in the guise of Buddhism. 4. Mu-Buddhist Syncretism: Our Shamanism, forcibly torn apart.
Our shamanism (Musok) was also faithfully walking the Shinto path. Buddhism, which entered the Three Kingdoms around the 5th century, syncretized with shamanism. Like Shinto, shamanism couldn't say a word to Buddhism and was receiving the teachings of the Dharma while giving up its spot as the dominant religion.
But then these guys started making a mess. Neo-Confucianism, which became the national religion through Yi Seong-gye's revolution, had anti-Buddhism as a core doctrine. The literati not only demoted Buddhism from its national status through 'Sungyu Eokbul' (promoting Confucianism, suppressing Buddhism) but also forced Buddhism to hide in the mountains. Meanwhile, they left shamanism alone in the villages to 'leech tax rice' since it wasn't a systemic rival, which greatly weakened Buddhism's influence over shamanism. As a result, shamanism became corrupted into a religion that only chases money for survival. The 'Gut' (exorcism rite), which was a village festival and healing ritual, was ruined into a crazy money-grubbing ceremony. They 'Confucianized' the positive aspects of shamanism, like turning village rites into 'Dongsinje.' It's been a long time since Confucianism fell, but Buddhism doesn't seem to have any intention of re-exerting dominance over shamanism. Shamanism isn't unified by the Dharma; instead, it's going rogue, churning out self-proclaimed spirit-possessed shamans left and right. It's growing into the worst form of polytheism, where a few good gods can't even breathe among countless evil ones. What will be the future of shamanism? Shamans are on YouTube giving random fortunes and talking nonsense about the future. The Only God, who is dying to kill off the shamanic gods, says this:
"While the OP makes a deep (and slightly biased) case for Buddhism as the 'OS' of East Asian culture, the comments are busy 'normalizing' the thread with MapleStory memes and typical DC skepticism."
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