I'd like to take the liberty to respond here to Ningyo's post about Gods in Buddhism at The Light of the East group, since I'm not a member there.

I've been reading India, A History, by John Keay. Today's bit was on the Pala Dynasty which ruled in northern India from around the 8th to the 12th centuries. Keay says that the Palas were "the last major Indian dynasty to espouse Buddhism", which I think refers to the rest of them having converted to Hinduism, at least officially.

Keay says that the Mahayana Buddhism practiced by the Palas had moved well away from that which was preached by The Buddha and had accumulated the outward "trappings of orthodox religious practice", particularly in their interpretations of the Bohdisattvas who were by now almost a pantheon with associated myths and attributes akin to those of the Hindu deities. In their temples the Pala created images of bronze and polished stone depicting these Bohdisattvas.

The Palas built a new "center of learning" at Vikramashila in Bihar which attracted students from all over the world, including China, Burma and Cambodia. The mention of Cambodia seems important here since the area of present day Cambodia was a part of the kingdom of Funan until the 6th century. Funan had their main port at Oc Eo, in what is now Viet Nam (which is why I've put this post in this thread).

I do have a point here, believe it or not. *G*

It seems to me that these Cambodian and Chinese scholars at Vikramashila would have taken this Pala version of Mahayana Buddhism back home with them, including the iconography, where it would have spread to other countries of the Far East. This might serve to explain Solomon Chi's reference in his post to "images of Buddhistic gods" in Korea, to which Ningyo's post responds.

What do the rest of you think of all this rambling?