One of the weirdest and most contrarian things I've learned when studying Buddhism is that throughout history, Buddhism and Buddhists have generated a vast amount of worldly religious behavior despite the fact that it does not have nearly the same amount of religious organization and solidarity that exists in Islam and Christianity, or any of the other monotheistic religions. By this, I mean that Buddhists do a SHIT TON of worldly activities, including pilgrimages to holy sites, the construction of Buddhist monasteries, the patronage and creation of artworks (take for example the Mogao Caves), and the numerous figurines, statues, and other depictions of Buddhist "bodhisattvas" such as Guanyin, Avalokitesvara. There are even pilgrimages where monks would travel immense distances to go to holy mountains. Even more, some of them even claimed to have body parts of the original Buddha. If the whole basis of Buddhism is to depart from worldly desires, why would these Buddhists go to so much trouble to basically shout out to the world, "Buddhism is Great."
What was the rationale behind the creation of these deities and holy sites when when it comes down to it, the Buddha never advocated for any of these things, unlike the role Jerusalem plays in Christianity and Islam? What did Buddhists seek to gain when embarking upon holy pilgrimages to these sites? What role did the physical world play in cementing Buddhist theology? Why were Buddhists so intent on creating physical manifestations of their religion when nothing in Buddhist scriptures says anything about creating a politically Buddhist realm the same way Christianity and Islam call for proselytization and conversion in the name of God?
Another aspect of Buddhism I'm interested in is their treatment of the female body in artwork. For example the bodhisattva Guanyin is often depicted as androgynous, but was probably originally a guy. What was the cultural shift to making his semi-androgynous, or wholly female, in contrast to traditional Eastern Asian ideology where the female was the embodiment of corruption.
How analogous are these aspects of Buddhism to Abrahamic religions?
Why were Buddhists so intent on creating physical manifestations of their religion when nothing in Buddhist scriptures says anything about creating a politically Buddhist realm the same way Christianity and Islam call for proselytization
Buddhism has been a missionary religion from the time it was founded. And as for the rest, its not really clear that this is a history question. Christianity has an otherworldly focus too. But if an item or place is considered holy you are seen as wanting blessings from it or to see it. And in practice only monks were expected not to focus on this world.