In 2012, the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) of Pakistan indicated that the contemporary Buddhist population of Pakistan was minuscule, with 1,492 adult holders of national identity cards (CNICs). The total population of Buddhists is therefore unlikely to be more than a few thousand. In 2017, the number of Buddhist voters was stated to be 1,884, and they were mostly concentrated in Sindh and Punjab.
Buddhism first reached what is now Pakistan during Ashoka’s reign when he sent a monk from Varanasi called Majjhantika to preach in Kashmir and Gandhara following the Third Buddhist council in Pataliputra.
The Major Rock Edicts of Ashoka inscribed on rock boulders in Mansehra and Shahbaz Garhi written in the Kharosthi script recording aspects of the emperor's dharma or righteous law represent some of the earliest evidence of deciphered writing in South Asia, dating to middle of the third century BCE. The Indo-Greek king Menander embraced Buddhism as attested in the Milinda Panha, which dates from sometime between 100 BC and 200 AD, following a dialogue with the monk Nāgasena in Sagala, present-day Sialkot.
In the Gandhara region, Greco-Buddhist art and sculptures flourished.
Buddhism thrived until the 6th century, when the religion began to decline after the invasion by Alchon Huns, until by the end of the 14th century, Buddhism had largely disappeared following the muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent.
The only functional Buddhist temple in Pakistan is in the Diplomatic Enclave at Islamabad, used by Buddhist diplomats from countries like Sri Lanka. Recently in 2023, Fo Guang Shan, a large international Buddhist organization has been invited by the Pakistani government to reconnect the local indigenous Buddhist population to the faith by organizing event, reciting prayers and singing hymns to praise the Buddha in the local tongue.
History Buddhism first reached the Gandhara following the Third Buddhist Council where Ashoka sent missionaries to the region. As per Buddhist tradition, a monk from Varanasi in India called Majjhantika is held to be the first monk to travel to Kashmir and Gandhara to spread Buddhism under the orders of Ashoka.
Buddhism became prominent in merchant communities and then spread throughout the Mauryan empire through commercial connections and along trade routes."Furthermore, Buddhism was prominent in communities of merchants, who found it well suited to their needs and who increasingly established commercial links throughout the Mauryan empire". Jerry Bentley, Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 46."During the sixth and fifth centuries B.C.E. (Before Common Era), commerce and cash became increasingly important in an economy previously dominated by self-sufficient production and bartered exchange. Merchants found Buddhist moral and ethical teachings an attractive alternative to the esoteric rituals of the traditional Brahmin priesthood, which seemed to cater exclusively to Brahmin interests while ignoring those of the new and emerging social classes." Jerry Bentley, Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 43. In this way, Buddhism also spread through the silk route into Central Asia."Merchants proved to be an efficient vector of the Buddhist faith, as they established diaspora communities in the string of oasis towns-Merv, Bukhara, Samarkand, Kashgar, Khotan, Kuqa, Turpan, Dunhuang – that served as lifeline of the silk roads through central Asia." Jerry Bentley, Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 47-48. Ashoka's embrace of Buddhism and sponsorship of Buddhist missionaries allowed for the expansion of that faith into Sri Lanka, Northwestern India, and Central Asia. Mauryan control over the northwestern frontier is attested from the Rock Edicts left by Ashoka in Mansehra and Shahbaz Garhi.
In the 2nd century B.C., Demetrius I invaded the Indian Subcontinent, establishing the Indo-Greek kingdom. One of the most famous Indo-Greek kings Menander, converted to Buddhism following a dialogue with the monk Nāgasena in Sagala, present-day Sialkot.Narain, "The Indo-Greeks" 2003, p. 124 Direct cultural exchange is described by a dialogue called the Debate of King Milinda (Milinda Pañha) which recounts the discussion between Menander and the Buddhist monk Nāgasena, who was himself a student of the Greek Buddhist monk Mahadharmaraksita. Upon Menander's death, the honor of sharing his remains was claimed by the cities under his rule, and they were enshrined in stupas, in a parallel with the historic Buddha.Plutarch, Praec. reip. ger. 28, 6 Several of Menander's Indo-Greek successors inscribed "Follower of the Dharma," in the Kharoṣṭhī script, on their coins.Foreign Impact on Indian Life and Culture (c. 326 B.C. to C. 300 A.D.) Satyendra Nath Naskar, Abhinav Publications, 1996, p. 69 During the two centuries of their rule, the Indo-Greek kings combined the Greek and Indian languages and symbols, as seen on their coins, and blended Greek and Indian ideas, as seen in the archaeological remains."A vast hoard of coins, with a mixture of Greek profiles and Indian symbols, along with interesting sculptures and some monumental remains from Taxila, Sirkap and Sirsukh, point to a rich fusion of Indian and Hellenistic influences", India, the Ancient Past, Burjor Avari, p. 130 The diffusion of Indo-Greek culture had consequences which are still felt today, particularly through the influence of Greco-Buddhist art.Ghose, Sanujit (2011). "Cultural links between India and the Greco-Roman world" . Ancient History Encyclopedia
Following the foundation of the Kushan empire by the invading Yuezhi nomads in the 1st century BCE, the Kushans adopted elements of the Hellenistic culture of the Indo-Greeks.Xinru Liu, The Silk Road in World History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 42. During Kushan rule, Gandharan Buddhism was at the height of its influence and a significant number of Buddhist centers were built or renovated.Kurt A. Behrendt, The Buddhist architecture of Gandhara, Handbuch der Orientalistik Brill, 2004, p. 13
The Buddhist art of Gandhara was a synthesis of Hellenistic and Indian elements.Kurt Behrendt, Pia Brancaccio, Gandharan Buddhism: Archaeology, Art, and Texts, 2006 p. 10 The Gandhāran Buddhist texts also date from this period. Written in Gāndhārī Prakrit, they are the oldest Buddhist manuscripts yet discovered (c. 1st century CE)."UW Press: Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhara" . Retrieved 2008-09-04. According to Richard Salomon, most of them belong to the Dharmaguptaka school.Richard Salomon. Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhāra: The British Library Kharosthī Fragments, with contributions by Raymond Allchin and Mark Barnard. Seattle: University of Washington Press; London: The British Library, 1999. p. 181 Emperor Kanishka is particularly known for his support of Buddhism. During his reign, stupas and monasteries were built in the Gandhāra.Heirman, Ann; Bumbacher, Stephan Peter (editors). The Spread of Buddhism, Brill, p. 57 Kushan royal support and the opening of trade routes allowed Gandharan Buddhism to spread along the Silk Road to Central Asia, the Tarim Basin and thus to China.
Between the 5th and 8th centuries, Chinese scholars traveling through the region, such as Faxian, Xuanzang, Yijing, Hui-sheng, and Sung-Yun, began to speak of a decline of the Buddhist Sangha in the northwestern parts of Indian subcontinent, especially in the wake of the Alchon Hun invasion from Central Asia in the 6th century CE. Xuanzang wrote that numerous monasteries in north-western Indian subcontinent had been reduced to ruins by the Huns.
The Alchons apparently undertook the mass destruction of Buddhist monasteries and stupas at Taxila, a high center of learning, which never recovered from the destruction. Virtually all of the Alchon coins found in the area of Taxila were found in the ruins of burned down monasteries, where apparently some of the invaders died alongside local defenders during the wave of destructions. It is thought that the Kanishka stupa, one of the most famous and tallest buildings in antiquity, was destroyed by them during their invasion of the area in the 460s CE. The Mankiala stupa was also vandalized during their invasions.
Mihirakula in particular is remembered by Buddhist sources to have been a "terrible persecutor of the religion". During the reign of Mihirakula, over one thousand Buddhist monasteries are said to have been destroyed. In particular, the writings of Chinese monk Xuanzang from 630 CE explained that Mihirakula ordered the destruction of Buddhism and the expulsion of monks. Indeed, the Buddhist art of Gandhara, in particular Greco-Buddhist art, becomes essentially extinct around that period. When Xuanzang visited Gandhara in CE, he reported that Buddhism had drastically declined, and that most of the monasteries were deserted and left in ruins.
According to Peter Harvey, the religion recovered slowly from these invasions during the 7th century, with the "Buddhism of Punjab and Sindh remaining strong".
However, the religion further declined following the Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent.Levy, Robert I. Mesocosm: Hinduism and the Organization of a Traditional Newar City in Nepal. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1990 1990. As early as the 8th century, Arab conquerors conquered the southern part of present-day Pakistan. The Buddhist monk Xuanzang observed that Buddhism was already declining in the Sindh region when he visited in the 7th century.Shu Hikosaka, G. John Samuel, Can̲ārttanam Pārttacārati (ed.), Buddhist themes in modern Indian literature, Inst. of Asian Studies, 1992, p. 268 While Buddhism declined and ultimately disappeared after Arab conquest mainly due to conversion of almost all of the Buddhist population of Sindh to Islam. Derryl Maclean attributes the decline of Buddhism in Sindh to the socio-economic differences between Hinduism and Buddhism in the region, with Buddhism being mainly urban and mercantile, while Hinduism was rural and non-mercantile. The Arabs attracted and converted the Buddhist classes, but for the rural and non-mercantile parts, they promoted a more decentralized authority and appointed Brahmins for the task.
In a second wave, from the 10th through the 12th centuries, the Ghaznavids overtook Gandhara and Punjab. The Persian traveller Al Biruni's memoirs suggest Buddhism had vanished from the medieval Punjab region by the early 11th century. By the end of the twelfth century, Buddhism had further disappeared, with the conquest of the Ghaznavids. Buddhism survived confined in the northern region of Gilgit Baltistan until 13–14th century, perhaps slightly longer in the nearby Swat Valley.
Destruction of Buddhist relics