The history of Buddhism can be traced back to the 5th century BCE. Buddhism originated in ancient India, in and around the Kingdom of Magadha, and is based on the teachings of the renunciate Siddhārtha Gautama. The religion evolved as it spread from the northeastern region of the Indian subcontinent throughout Central, East, and Southeast Asia. At one time or another, it influenced most of Asia.
The history of Buddhism is also characterized by the development of numerous movements, schisms, and philosophical schools. Among them were the Theravāda, Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna traditions, with contrasting periods of expansion and retreat.
Shakyamuni Buddha (5th cent. BCE)
Siddhārtha Gautama (5th cent. BCE) was the historical founder of Buddhism. The early sources state he was born in the small Shakya (Pali: Sakya) Republic, which was part of the Kosala realm of ancient India, now in modern-day Nepal. He is thus also known as the Shakyamuni (literally: "The sage of the Shakya clan").
The Early Buddhist Texts contain no continuous life of the Buddha, only later after 200 BCE were various "biographies" with much mythological embellishment written. All texts agree however that Gautama renounced the householder life and lived as a śramana ascetic for some time studying under various teachers, before attaining nirvana (extinguishment) and bodhi (awakening) through meditation.
For the remaining 45 years of his life, he travelled the Gangetic Plains of eastern-central India (the region of the Ganges River and its tributaries), teaching his doctrine to a diverse range of people from different castes and initiating monks into his order. The Buddha sent his disciples to spread the teaching across India. He also initiated an order of nuns. He urged his disciples to teach in the local language or dialects. He spent a lot of his time near the cities of Sāvatthī, Rājagaha and Vesālī (Skt. Śrāvastī, Rājagrha, Vāiśalī). By the time of his death at 80, he had thousands of followers.
Early Buddhism
After the death of the Buddha, the Buddhist sangha (monastic community) remained centered on the Ganges valley, spreading gradually from its ancient heartland. The canonical sources record various councils, where the monastic sangha recited and organised the orally transmitted collections of the Buddha's teachings and settled certain disciplinary problems within the community. Modern scholarship has questioned the accuracy and historicity of these traditional accounts.Berkwitz, Stephen C. South Asian Buddhism: A Survey, Routledge, 2012, p. 43.
The first Buddhist council is traditionally said to have been held just after Buddha's Parinirvana, and presided over by Mahākāśyapa, one of his most senior disciples, at Rājagṛha (today's Rajgir) with the support of king Ajātasattu. According to Charles Prebish, almost all scholars have questioned the historicity of this first council.
Mauryan Empire (322–185 BCE)
Second Buddhist council and first schism
After an initial period of unity, divisions in the sangha or monastic community led to the first schism of the sangha into two groups: the Sthavira (Elders) and Mahasamghika (Great Sangha). Most scholars agree that the schism was caused by disagreements over points of vinaya (monastic discipline). Over time, these two monastic fraternities would further divide into various Early Buddhist Schools.
Lamotte and Hirakawa both maintain that the first schism in the Buddhist sangha occurred during the reign of Ashoka.Lamotte, Étienne (1988) History of Indian Buddhism: From the Origins to the Śaka Era, translated from the French by Sara Boin-Webb, Louvain: Peeters PressHirakawa, Akira (1990), A History of Indian Buddhism: From Sakyamuni to Early Mahāyāna, tr. Paul Groner, University of Hawaii Press According to scholar Collett Cox "most scholars would agree that even though the roots of the earliest recognized groups predate Aśoka, their actual separation did not occur until after his death." According to the Theravada tradition, the split took place at the Second Buddhist council, which took place at Vaishali, approximately one hundred years after Gautama Buddha's parinirvāṇa. While the second council probably was a historical event, traditions regarding the Second Council are confusing and ambiguous. According to the Theravada tradition the overall result was the first schism in the sangha, between the Sthavira nikāya and the Mahāsāṃghikas, although it is not agreed upon by all what the cause of this split was.
The Sthaviras gave birth to a large number of influential schools including the Sarvāstivāda, the Pudgalavāda (also known as Vatsīputrīya), the Dharmaguptakas and the Vibhajyavāda (the Theravādins being descended from these). The Mahasamghikas meanwhile also developed their own schools and doctrines early on, which can be seen in texts like the Mahavastu, associated with the Lokottaravāda, or 'Transcendentalist' school, who might be the same as the Ekavyāvahārikas or "One-utterancers". This school has been seen as foreshadowing certain Mahayana ideas, especially due to their view that all of Gautama Buddha's acts were "transcendental" or "supramundane", even those performed before his Buddhahood.
In the third century BCE, some Buddhists began introducing new systematized teachings called Abhidharma, based on previous lists or tables (Matrka) of main doctrinal topics. Unlike the Nikayas, which were prose sutras or discourses, the Abhidharma literature consisted of systematic doctrinal exposition and often differed across the Buddhist schools who disagreed on points of doctrine. Abhidharma sought to analyze all experience into its ultimate constituents, phenomenal events or processes called dharmas. These texts further contributed to the development of sectarian identities. The various splits within the monastic organization went together with the introduction and emphasis on Abhidhammic literature by some schools. This literature was specific to each school, and arguments and disputes between the schools were often based on these Abhidhammic writings. However, actual splits were originally based on disagreements on vinaya (monastic discipline), though later on, by about 100 CE or earlier, they could be based on doctrinal disagreement. Pre-sectarian Buddhism, however, did not have Abhidhammic scriptures, except perhaps for a basic framework, and not all of the early schools developed an Abhidhamma literature.
Ashokan missions
During the reign of the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka (268–232 BCE), Buddhism gained royal support and began to spread more widely, reaching most of the Indian subcontinent. After his invasion of Kalinga, Ashoka seems to have experienced remorse and began working to improve the lives of his subjects. Ashoka also built wells, rest-houses and hospitals for humans and animals. He also abolished torture, royal hunting trips and perhaps even the death penalty. Ashoka also supported non-Buddhist faiths like Jainism and Brahmanism. Ashoka propagated religion by building stupas and pillars urging, among other things, respect of all animal life and enjoining people to follow the Dharma. He has been hailed by Buddhist sources as the model for the compassionate chakravartin (wheel turning monarch).
Another feature of Mauryan Buddhism was the worship and veneration of stupas, large mounds which contained relics (Pali: sarīra) of the Buddha or other saints within. It was believed that the practice of devotion to these relics and stupas could bring blessings. Perhaps the best-preserved example of a Mauryan Buddhist site is the Great Stupa of Sanchi (dating from the 3rd century BCE).
According to the plates and pillars left by Aśoka (known as the Edicts of Ashoka), emissaries were sent to various countries in order to spread Buddhism, as far south as Sri Lanka and as far west as the Greek kingdoms, in particular the neighboring Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, and possibly even farther to the Mediterranean.
Third council Theravadin sources state that Ashoka convened the third Buddhist council around 250 BCE at Pataliputra (today's Patna) with the elder Moggaliputtatissa. The objective of the council was to purify the Saṅgha, particularly from non-Buddhist ascetics who had been attracted by the royal patronage.Centāraśśēri, Ṭi Ecc Pi (1998). History of the Indigenous Indians, p. 64. APH Publishing. . Following the council, Buddhist missionaries were dispatched throughout the known world, as is recorded in some of the edicts of Ashoka.
Proselytism in the Hellenistic world
Some of the Edicts of Ashoka describe the efforts made by him to propagate the Buddhist faith throughout the Hellenistic world, which at that time formed an uninterrupted cultural continuum from the borders of India to Greece. The edicts indicate a clear understanding of the political organization in Hellenistic territories: the names and locations of the main Greek monarchs of the time are identified, and they are claimed as recipients of Buddhist proselytism: Antiochus II Theos of the Seleucid Empire (261–246 BCE), Ptolemy II Philadelphos of Egypt (285–247 BCE), Antigonus Gonatas of Macedonia (276–239 BCE), Magas (288–258 BCE) in Cyrenaica (modern Libya), and Alexander II (272–255 BCE) in Epirus (modern Northwestern Greece). One of the edicts states:
"The conquest by Dharma has been won here, on the borders, and even six hundred yojanas (5,400–9,600 km) away, where the Greek king Antiochos rules, beyond there where the four kings named Ptolemy, Antigonos, Magas and Alexander rule, likewise in the south among the Cholas, the Pandyas, and as far as Tamraparni (Sri Lanka)." (Edicts of Aśoka, 13th Rock Edict, S. Dhammika).
Furthermore, according to the Mahavamsa (XII), some of Ashoka's emissaries were Greek (Yona), particularly one named Dhammarakkhita. He also issued edicts in the Greek language as well as in Aramaic. One of them, found in Kandahar, advocates the adoption of "piety" (using the Greek term eusebeia for Dharma) to the Greek community.
It is not clear how much these interactions may have been influential, but authors like Robert Linssen have commented that Buddhism may have influenced Western thought and religion at that time. Linssen points to the presence of Buddhist communities in the Hellenistic world around that period, in particular in Alexandria (mentioned by Clement of Alexandria), and to the pre-Christian monastic order of the Therapeutae (possibly a deformation of the Pāli word "Theravāda"), who may have "almost entirely drawn (its) inspiration from the teaching and practices of Buddhist asceticism""Zen living", Robert Linssen and may even have been descendants of Aśoka's emissaries to the West."The Original Jesus" (Element Books, Shaftesbury, 1995), Elmar R Gruber, Holger Kersten Philosophers like Hegesias of Cyrene and Pyrrho are sometimes thought to have been influenced by Buddhist teachings.Adrian Kuzminski, Pyrrhonism: How the Ancient Greeks Reinvented Buddhism (Studies in Comparative Philosophy and Religion) 2008
Buddhist gravestones from the Ptolemaic period have also been found in Alexandria, decorated with depictions of the Dharma wheel.Tarn, The Greeks in Bactria and India The presence of Buddhists in Alexandria has even drawn the conclusion that they influenced monastic Christianity.Robert Linssen, Zen living In the 2nd century CE, the Christian dogmatist, Clement of Alexandria recognized Bactrian śramanas and Indian gymnosophists for their influence on Greek thought.
Establishment of Sri Lanka Buddhism