(i) Different culture forms greatly helped in the spread of Buddhism.
(ii) The Buddha lived in the 6th century BC. He preached that the nature of the world is sorrowful and to free oneself from it, one must overcome desire. He asked his followers to lead simple, virtuous lives and to follow a middle path between extreme austerity and luxury.
(iii) The Buddha's message was quickly accepted by the common people because he spoke in the common language, Prakrit. While the Brahmana's used Sanskrit, a language which ordinary people didn't understand.
(iv) The Buddhists also adopted and adapted a number of religious and cultural practices. For example, the worship of trees was a popular practice.
(v) The Buddhists suggested that tree worship was identical with the worship of the bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya. According to Buddhist traditions, the Buddha had meditated sitting under the tree and had attained enlightenment here.
(vi) Another popular practice was the erection of circular mounds over the remains of the dead as a kind of memorial. The relatives and associated of the dead offered worship at such mounds. The Buddha's followers adopted this practice and erected stupas or mounds which often contained relics of the Buddha such as his teeth or objects he was supposed to have used.
(vii) With the spread of Buddhism, Buddhists came into contact with the Indo-Greeks who had settled in the north west of the subcontinent. The Greeks had an old tradition of representing their gods in human form. The Buddhist adopted this tradition as well, depicting the Buddha in an identical fashion.
(viii) The Buddhists also adopted hundreds of popular folk stories. In the Buddhist tradition they were known as Jatakas or birth stories of the Buddha. These were regarded as stories about the previous births and lives of the Buddha. Many of these stories were also depicted in sculpture.
(ix) Stories form the Jatakas were also depicted in paintings on the cave walls at Ajanta as well as on the railing surrounding the Sanchi stupa (MP). Men and women who visited these places and saw these works of art would be reminded of stories they knew. At the same time, they would be taught about Buddhism through these stories.
(x) Buddhist teachers were not the only ones to use a variety of cultural means to spread their message. If we look at any of our major religious traditions, including Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Jainism, we will find that they owe their long lived success to the many ways in which their message has been transmitted through music, painting, story telling, and through the use of a variety of architectural styles to build centres of worship.
(xi) Ancient and popular fertility cults centering around worship of mother goddess were also incorporated in the growing religious mythology of Buddhism. Each Bodhisattva was associated with a female divinity called Tara. The Bodhisattvas were believed to act through these goddesses, This paring of male and female powers is a characteristic feature of numerous fertility cults. The adoption of such cultural motifs of folk beliefs and practices made accepntance of Buddhism very easy.
