Did the Buddha ever warn of dangers of royal benefaction?

I was reading Wikipedia about the extinction of Buddhism in Afghanistan, which said the Mongols ended Buddhism in Afghanistan. I found this difficult to believe because reputedly, many Mongols, including at times asserting Genghis Khan himself, were Tibetan Buddhists. I found a webpage by HHDL's friend [Alexander Berzin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Berzin_(scholar)) , which says: > Five years after the death of the Prophet Muhammad, in 637, the Arabs > defeated the Persian Sassanids and founded the Umayyad Caliphate in > 661. It ruled over Iran and much of the Middle East. In 663, they attacked Bactria, which the Turki Shahis had taken from the Western > Turks by this time. The Umayyad forces captured the area around Balkh, > including Nava Vihara Monastery, causing the Turki Shahis to retreat > to the Kabul Valley. > > The Arabs allowed followers of non-Muslim religions in the lands they conquered to keep their faiths if they submitted peacefully and paid a poll tax (Ar. jizya). Although some Buddhists in Bactria and even an abbot of Nava Vihara converted to Islam, **most Buddhists in the region accepted this dhimmi status as loyal non-Muslim protected subjects within an Islamic state. Nava Vihara remained open and functioning. The Han Chinese pilgrim Yijing (I-ching) visited Nava Vihara in the 680s and reported it flourishing as a Sarvastivada center of study**. > > An Umayyad Iranian author, al-Kermani, wrote a detailed account of Nava Vihara at the beginning of the **8th century**, preserved in the 10th-century work Book of Lands (Ar. Kitab al-Buldan) by al-Hamadhani. He described it in terms readily understandable to Muslims by drawing the analogy with the Kaaba in Mecca, the holiest site of Islam. He explained that the main temple had a stone cube in the center, draped with cloth, and that devotees circumambulated it and made prostration, as is the case with the Kaaba. The stone cube referred to the platform on which a stupa stood, as was the custom in Bactrian temples. The cloth that draped it was in accordance with the Iranian custom for showing veneration, applied equally to Buddha statues as well as to stupas. **Al-Kermani’s description indicates an open and respectful attitude by the Umayyad Arabs in trying to understand the non-Muslim religions, such as Buddhism, that they encountered in their newly conquered territories**. > > In 1215, Chinggis Khan, the founder of the Mongol Empire, conquered Afghanistan from the Ghurids. As was his policy elsewhere, Chinggis destroyed those who opposed his takeover and devastated their lands. It is unclear how the vestiges of Buddhism still left in Afghanistan fared at this time. Chinggis was tolerant of all religions, so long as its leaders prayed for his long life and military success. > > After Chinggis’ death in 1227 and the division of his empire among his > heirs, his son Chagatai inherited the rule of Sogdia and Afghanistan > and established the Chagatai Khaganate. In 1258, Hulegu, a grandson of > Chinggis, conquered Iran and overthrew the Abbasid Caliphate in > Baghdad. He established the Ilkhanate and soon invited to his court in > northwestern Iran Buddhist monks from Tibet, Kashmir, and Ladakh. The > Ilkhanate was more powerful than the Chagatai Khaganate and, at first, > it dominated its cousins there. Since the Buddhist monks had to pass > through Afghanistan on their way to Iran, they undoubtedly received > official support on their way. > > According to some scholars, the Tibetan monks who came to Iran were > most likely from the Drikung (Drigung) Kagyu School and Hulegu’s > reason for inviting them may have been political. In 1260, his cousin > Khubilai (Kublai) Khan, the Mongol ruler of northern China, declared > himself Grand Khan of all the Mongols. Khubilai supported the Sakya > Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism and gave its leaders nominal suzerainty > over Tibet. Prior to this, the Drikung Kagyu leaders had been in > political ascendance in Tibet. Khubilai’s main rival was another > cousin, Khaidu, who ruled East Turkistan and supported the Drikung > Kagyu line. Hulegu may have been wishing to align himself with Khaidu > in this power struggle. > > Some speculate that the reason for Khubilai and Khaidu’s turning to > Tibetan Buddhism was to gain the supernatural backing of Mahakala, the > Buddhist protector practiced by both the Sakya and Kagyu traditions. > Mahakala had been the protector of the Tanguts, who had ruled the > territory between Tibet and Mongolia. After all, their grandfather, > Chinggis Khan, had been killed in battle by the Tanguts, who must have > received supernatural help. It is unlikely that the Mongol leaders, > including Hulegu, chose Tibetan Buddhism because of its deep > philosophical teachings. > > After the death of Hulegu in 1266, the Chagatai Khaganate became more > indepen­dent of the Ilkhans and formed a direct alliance with Khaidu > in his struggle against Khubilai Khan. **Meanwhile, the line of Hulegu’s > successors alternated in their support of Tibetan Buddhism and Islam**, > apparently also for political expediency. **Hulegu’s son Abagha > continued his father’s support of Tibetan Buddhism. Abagha’s brother > Takudar, however, who succeeded him in 1282, converted to Islam to > help gain local support** when he invaded and conquered Egypt. Abagha’s > son **Arghun** defeated his uncle and became Ilkhan in 1284. He **made > Buddhism the state religion of Iran** and founded several monasteries > there. When Arghun died in 1291, his brother Gaihatu became the > Ilkhan. Tibetan monks had given Gaihatu the Tibetan name Rinchen > Dorje, but he was a degenerate drunkard and hardly a credit to the > Buddhist faith. He introduced paper money to Iran from China, which > caused economic disaster. > > Gaihatu died in 1295, one year after the death of Khubilai Khan. > **Arghun’s son Ghazan succeeded to the throne. He reinstated Islam as > the official religion of the Ilkhanate and des­troyed the new Buddhist > monasteries there**. Some scholars assert that Ghazan Khan’s reversal of > his father’s religious policy was to distance himself from his uncle’s > reforms and beliefs, and to assert his independence from Mongol China. > > Despite ordering the destruction of Buddhist monasteries, it seems that the Ghazan Khan did not wish to destroy everything associated with Buddhism. For example, he commissioned Rashid al-Din to write Universal History (Ar. Jami’ al-Tawarikh), with versions both in Persian and Arabic. In its section on the history of the cultures of the people conquered by the Mongols, **Rashid al-Din included The Life and Teachings of Buddha**. To assist the historian in his research, Ghazan Khan invited to his court Bakshi Kamalashri, a Buddhist monk from Kashmir. Like the earlier work by al-Kermani, Rashid’s work presented Buddhism in terms that Muslims could easily understand, such as **calling Buddha a Prophet**, the deva gods as angels, and Mara as the Devil. > > Rashid al-Din reported that in his day, **eleven Buddhist texts in Arabic translation were circulating in Iran**. These included Mahayana texts such as The Sutra on the Array of the Pure Land of Bliss (Skt. Sukhavativyuha Sutra, concerning Amitabha’s Pure Land), The Sutra on the Array Like a Woven Basket (Skt. Karandavyuha Sutra, concerning Avalokiteshvara, the embodiment of compassion) and An Exposition on Maitreya (Skt. Maitreyavyakarana, concerning Maitreya, the future Buddha and embodiment of love). These texts were undoubtedly among those translated under the patronage of the Abbasid caliphs at the House of Knowledge in Baghdad starting in the 8th century. > > Rashid al-Din finished his history in 1305, during the reign of Ghazan’s successor Oljaitu. It seems that Buddhist monks were still present in Iran, however, at least until Oljaitu’s death in **1316**, since **monks unsuccessfully tried to win the Mongol ruler back to Buddhism**. Thus, at least up until then, Buddhist monks still passed back and forth through Afghanistan and thus might still have been welcomed at the Chagatai court. > > In 1321, the Chagatai Empire split into two. The Western Chagatai Khaganate included Sogdia and Af­ghanistan. From the start, its khans converted to Islam. The Ilkhanate in Iran fragmented and fell apart in 1336. After this, there is no indication of the **continuing presence of Buddhism in Afghanistan. It had lasted there nearly nineteen hundred years**. Nevertheless, knowledge of Buddhism did not die out. Timur (Tamerlaine) conquered the Western Chagatai Khaganate in 1364 and the small successor states of the Ilkhanate in 1385. Timur’s son and successor, Shah Rukh, commissioned the historian, Hafiz-i Abru, to write in Persian A Collection of Histories (Ar. Majma’ al-Tawarikh). Completed in **1425** in Shahrukh’s capital, Herat, Afghanistan, the history **contained an account of Buddhism** modeled after Rashid al-Din’s work a century earlier > > [History of Buddhism in Afghanistan Dr. Alexander Berzin ](https://studybuddhism.com/en/advanced-studies/history-culture/buddhism-in-central-asia/history-of-buddhism-in-afghanistan) In the Pali Suttas or Bhikkhu Vinaya, did the Buddha ever warn of dangers of royal benefaction that could bring Buddhism into peril and destruction?