ered great prospects as it offered to a small extent the ability of capital to ease the pathto the afterlife. This is through alms, or charity to the poor, an area where the wealthywere far more capable of being active. This is not to say that wealth alone offers any aidbut proper Buddhist use of it does. The Transformation Text on MahamaudgalyayanaRescuing his Mother from the Underworld has a good example of the ability of anwealthy individual to enter Nirvana easily and at the same time show how the failure touse wealth appropriately can cause one to enter the seven hells. The example is ofMahamaudgalyayana, who is wealthy and gives alms frequently and subsequently isoffered a position in Nirvana while his mother fails to obey his desire for he to continueto give alms and upon he death was delivered into the seven hells whereMahamaudgalyayana had to work very diligently to save her and grant her a secondchance at entering Nirvana(Custom Courseware 63-80).The peasants are not crucial to the spread of Buddhism, but are crucial in that it isthey who in the end are the most populous group that follow the religion. Because of theamount of peasants who practice Buddhism they are able to influence the course of thereligions development over time. The story of Mahamaudgalyayana is also important tothe acceptance of Buddhism to the peasantry as the story offered the hope to save otherpeople who would not save themselves and at the same time was interesting enough tomake people listen to the story and thereby increase the spread of belief structuresubversively. The main argument for peasant acceptance of Buddhism over Confucism isthat Buddhism was a self directed and introspective religion that required enlightenmentthrough a process of self guided and mentor based spiritual adventures or trainingactivities. Confucism however, was focused upon the development of the state throughthe betterment of each individual through learning and edu...
