Dennis,
Buddhism is a religion. I said culture. Buddha taught in India, and his culture did offer sacrifices.
The culture didn't offer sacrifices because it was fun and there was nothing else to do. They sacrificed because their religion dictated it. There is a complex interplay between culture and religion that cannot easily be separated.
Of all the religions, Buddhism is perhaps most prone to syncretism with the surrounding culture, thereby creating a culture that possesses strands of Buddhist thinking. Many do not consider Buddhism a religion at all, but a highly flexible philosophy.
You're right, but my point was simply that Eastern cultures also have blood sacrifice to obtain atonement from the gods. It is a worldwide idea - a corrupted version of what God originally required in Genesis. But the point is that they are familiar with the concept of something else dying in their place to appease a deity.