[TFNA]

This is too pat a description. While Buddhism began as a religion of meditation, for centuries Buddhist practice in various parts of Asia has been to pray to an outside figure like Amitabha in the Pure Land or Avalokitesvara. Buddhist teachers who have suggested reviving meditation have faced some resistance from their societies.

And of course Japan's indigenous religion(s) have always been about venerating spirits, not looking within.

[merelydev]

Thank you, for the clarification.

[keybored]

They didn’t single out Buddhism.

[TFNA]

Buddhism is the largest religion in the continent they mentioned alongside Hinduism. And Hinduism, too, is majoritywise a religion of prayer to deities treated as external, while its contemplative traditions are the domain of a relative few.

[keybored]

Wikipedia tells me that Hinduism is about 40% larger than Buddhism. Also associated with meditation, and predating Buddhism.

> Buddhism is the largest religion in the continent

It also says that Islam is the largest religion in Asia.

[TFNA]

On this North American-dominated forum, "Asia" is rarely used in the expansive definition that encompasses also the Middle East which is necessary for Islam to be called the majority religion. Even Pakistan rarely gets included. The OP presumably wasn't thinking of Islam in his definition of Asia, as Islam is obviously an external-directed religion.

If your source of knowledge of these religons is visiting Wikipedia in search of a pedantic gotcha quotation, I don't think you have any qualifications for contributing to this subthread. Try at least reading a substantial book about Hindu popular devotion, which doesn't involve meditation, and spend some time in India watching it. Hinduism is a million and one things, but most of them are (as I said) the domain of a few.

[keybored]

> On this North American-dominated forum,

It’s hard to not notice.

> "Asia" is rarely used in the expansive definition that encompasses also the Middle East which is necessary for Islam to be called the majority religion. Even Pakistan rarely gets included. The OP presumably wasn't thinking of Islam in his definition of Asia, as Islam is obviously an external-directed religion.

That’s fair. But you’re the one who said the continent.

> If your source of knowledge of these religons is visiting Wikipedia in search of a pedantic gotcha quotation, I don't think you have any qualifications for contributing to this subthread. Try at least reading a substantial book about Hindu popular devotion, which doesn't involve meditation, and spend some time in India watching it. Hinduism is a million and one things, but most of them are (as I said) the domain of a few.

Now the framing has completely moved. Your motivation for replying was because of these assumptions around Buddhism. Yeah? Well the same goes for Hinduism or whatever religion is far-enough-to-the-East. (That someone initially characterized The West and The East with this dichotomous thinking wasn’t a problem for anyone here so that’s presumably fine.) So when I mention Hinduism it’s not because I know anything about Hinduism, compared to your venerable self. It’s exactly because Buddhism and Hinduism are closely associated in the typical, dumb, brutish brains of Westerners like me; meditation, yoga (associated with Hinduism, associated with meditation), yogis, “mysticism”.

Hence why Buddhism? Not because we KNOW Hinduism better than we know Lipton Tea. But because the associations are similar.

But it’s about size across the continent one minute, even though the previous minute indigenous religion in the archipelago nation of Japan was an important a question as answering the question about Asia with Buddhism.