History of Buddhism

The Buddhism , which it is about a Religion, of a Philosophie or a practice often centered on the Méditation, was founded by Siddharta Gautama. It is born approximately in -556 and will be diffused more widely two centuries later. It is the one of oldest religions still largely practiced nowadays. Being developed apart from its area of origin, India of the North-East, it touched at one time or another it quasi totality of the continent of Asia, growing rich by elements resulting from the cultures from Central Asia, of the Far East, of Southeast Asia, hellenistic and Himalayan. In spite of first contacts at the time of the Gréco-Buddhism, it is at the 19th century that the well-read men mediums of Europe started to be interested in it seriously. With the 21e century, although the large majority of the Buddhists always reside in Asia, one finds of it on all the continents, whether they are autochtones or resulting from the Asian emigration. With the wire of the time of many schools appeared. Current Buddhism can be divided into three large currents: Theravada, Mahāyāna and Vajrayana.

General chronology

See the detailed chronological plank: History of the Buddhist schools.

In India

Time of Gautama

Context

Buddhism is born in the context from vedic India : the Veda S are very respected books. India is marked by a system of castes.

Various Masters develop their vision of the Nirvāna, and present a means of reaching it.

Various notions of the Hindouisme will be seen altered in Buddhism; like the concept of Reincarnation, Karma, the Dhyanas, the statute of gods like Brahma.

Old Buddhism considers various schools, being born at the same moment as him, of which the Jainisme, only of these schools having survived nowadays.

the Brahmājālasūtta enumerates various contemporary sights of Buddhism.

Birth of Buddhism

The Bouddhisme was founded in India at fifth century BC

Siddharta Gautama has as a father the chief of Kapilavatsu. He knows initially the life of palate before leaving there in order to seek the solution with the suffering.

The Bouddha was influenced by the concepts of its time. It had as a Master the Brahmane Arada Kalama, but what it learned - to control the seventh dhyana, the sphere of nothing - did not seem him sufficient. It went to Rajagrha and took as second Master Udraka Ramaputra, who taught the eighth dhyana to him, the sphere of neither perception nor not-perception. There still, the Buddha estimated not to have found the way towards the nirvana.

During six years, it practiced the austerities with five other meditating ascetics. It failed to die and decided to find another way; his/her friends thought that he forsook the practice.

The Buddha reached the awakening however and could convince the five meditating of his achievement, pronouncing the first Sutra. Thereafter, it could convince of very many people who joined the Sangha.

The Buddha did not write anything itself, but it stated very many speeches. At the time of its death, its teaching knows already a great popularity, and the burial of the Buddha will be the occasion of a division of relics, contained in Stupa S.

After the death of Gautama

The history of the Buddhist current before the time of Asoka is rather obscure. It seems to have occupied only one minor place in the philosophical and religious landscape before the patronage of the large king does not propel it on the front of the scene. Three councils would have taken place between the death of Gautama and the end of the reign of Asoka, but information with regard to them, definitely posterior with the events, is prone to guarantee.

First Council

It would have taken place with Rajagrha in Ve front century J.C., shortly after the death of the Buddha. It was initially the occasion to put the Tipitaka in writing. thus “three baskets are written”:

the Vinaya pitaka , which gathers the monastic rules;
the Sutta pitaka , which gathers the speeches allotted to the Buddha;
the Abhidhamma pitaka , an important sum of comments.

According to the Buddhist approach, Ananda restored head the Sutta pitaka , Upali stated the Vinaya pitaka and Mahâkâshyapa restored the Abhidhamma .

Second Council

The council of Vaisali proceeded towards 367.

Third council

The Concile of Pāṭaliputra raises question. The texts which mention it are not agreement on the dates (generally towards 250 before J. - C.) nor on the events. Moreover, the sources of Mahayana do not mention it and make follow the second council of the council of the Cashmere (2nd century).

The third council was one moment of dissension. It marked the creation of at least two groups: a group of “old hand”, the Sthavira from which the current Theravada would go down, and a group “majority”, the Mahasanghika, in favor of reforms.

Another version gives birth to from the start four groups which then subdivided in Eighteen old schools .

Asoka

Ashoka became emperor in -268. After having carried out a war against the Kalinda costing the life of 100.000 men, it converts with Buddhism and made engrave an edict on a stone, in -260. Ashoka spent one year with the community of the monks and made build many Stupa S.

This emperor was responsible for the broad diffusion of Buddhism Theravada in India and Asia.

Mahayana in India

The Large Vehicle appears around the first century after J-C.

Diffusion

Buddhism was diffused throughout the world and took many faces.

India

The king Açoka (274-236), by his conquests and his influence, contributed to the extension of Buddhism towards the Cachemire, the Afghanistan, Ceylon and the Burma. The Hellénisme in contact with India is subject to an influence of this religion, as well at the artistic level, as intellectual (talks of Ménandre with the Nâgasena monk).

Because in this country so religious, where the texts declare that “all the Buddhas are born in India, preach in India and reach there Nirvâna”, the Sâkyamuni Buddha does not make exception. During many centuries (of Ve century in VIIe century apr. J. - C.), Buddhism will be popularized and transmitted in all the areas of India. The sovereigns will also agree them to support this religion, even against the Hindouisme. At that time, and in this climate of consensus, the Art, the Architecture, the Painting, and all the cultural activities of India will know an incomparable glare. But the buddhist monks will become too rich, their message will lose his coherence.

In 1973, India includes/understands nothing any more but 0,6% of Buddhists, the majority in the Bengal of north.

Sri Lanka and South Asia Are

Sri Lanka

Buddhism appears in Sri Lanka in -250, with Anuradhapura, following a mission sent by the emperor Asoka. A first monastery, the Mahavihara was built. The Theravada developed quickly. At the first century of our era many texts Pali S. were fixed in writing. At the 5th century. was able at Sri Lanka Buddhaghosa in order to collect and to translate comments. It wrote the Visuddhimagga, comment more respected by the Theravada.

Mahayana and Vajrayana nevertheless will be introduced on the island at the 8th century and will remain until the 11th century. Buddhism weakens considerably the centuries which followed under the effect of the invasions of Tamouls, Hindus, Portuguese, English Dutchman then. Theravada nowadays knows an undeniable revival, marked by a very strong orthodoxy. Let us quote for example the monk Walpola Rahula.

Burma

A first contact between the Burma and Buddhism takes place under the reign of the emperor Ashoka.

Between, Buddhism penetrates in this country, in various forms.

After having supported the vajrayâna, the king Anawrahta adopts Buddhism Theravada.

In 1091, is built with Pagan a large temple, by the king Kyanzittha.

Shortly after 1260, the Sangha bursts in several groups. Its harmony is restored at the end of the 14th century, under the orthodoxy of the Mahavihara.

Between 1868 and 1871 is held a council for the safeguarding of the Canon faded theravada with Mandalay.

In 1956 is held the sixth council, in the 2500 years honor of the parinirvana of the Buddha. The texts of Canon faded, existing under various versions, are revised and published in Burmese.

Thailand

Buddhism theravada appears in Thailand at the 5th century. It develops to with it in the kingdom My of Dvaravati.

At the 12th century, the king Rama Kamheng of the kingdom Sukhothai converts with the Theravada and invents the writing thaïe. At the next century, the king Thai Lu becomes monk; consequently Buddhism inhabitant of Thailand will be exclusively theravadin.

In 1782, the king Chao Phaya Cakkri convenes a council in order to revise the gun faded.

Kampuchea

As of the 5th century, the Kampuchea adopts the Hindouisme then the Bouddhisme mahâyâna.

At the 13th century, the king Jayavarman VII chooses the mahhâyâna and makes build the temples of Angkor Thom and the Bayon.

But, little by little, Buddhism Theravada is established.

Buddhism became a central institution of Kampuchea, as under the reign of king Prea Thomno Reachea.

The invasion of the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979 however made him suffer great damage.

Indonesia

The city-State of Sriwijaya (today Palembang) in the south of Sumatra was an important center of Buddhist studies mahayana. There the traveller and buddhist monk Chinese Yi Jing, on the way for the Buddhist university of Nalanda in the south of India, made there stopover into 673 and notes there the presence of thousands of co-religionists come to study Sanskrit and the crowned texts of Buddhism. The Buddhist Master of religion Atisha (982-1054 after J. - C.) there comes in 1011, accompanied of more than 100 disciples, to become the disciple of the Master Dharmarakshita (in Tibetan of Serlingpa), near whom it will remain 12 years. The decline of the power of Sriwijaya also results in that of Buddhism with Sumatra.

In the center of the island of Java, a king of the dynasty Sailendra builds at the 8th century the temple of Borobudur, largest Stupa of the world. In Java, the worship and the clergy Buddhists coexisted with their counterparts of the hindouism. In particular, the kings of Majapahit to Java Is were regarded as the incarnation, at the same time of Buddha and Shiva. Buddhism disappears gradually from Java with the rise of the Moslem harbor principalities at the 15th century.

There exists always a Buddhist minority in Indonesia, especially made up of Indonésiens of Chinese origin which adopted Buddhism when the mode of Soeharto made compulsory the declaration of membership to one of the five recognized religions (Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, hindouism, Buddhism) but also of Javanese.

Malaysia

About 1400, Parameswara, a Buddhist prince of Palembang, fleeing the Javanese domination, takes refuge on the west coast of the Malayan Péninsule and founds Malacca there. The conversion of the sovereigns of Malacca to Islam at the beginning of the 15th century results in the disappearance of Buddhism of the peninsula.

Today, the Buddhist community of Malaysia consists of Chinese.

Laos

Laos emerges at the 14th century; Buddhisms Mahayana and Theravada were côtoyaient there. The marriage of a king with a Kampuchean princess marked the beginning of the adoption of the Theravada by the majority the population.

Central Asia

The Gréco-Buddhism is a Syncrétisme between the Culture Hellénistique and the Bouddhisme which developed over one period of almost 800 years in Central Asia, in the area corresponding to current the Afghanistan and Pakistan, between the IV {{E}} century before J. - C. and the 5th century of the Christian era.

Gréco-Buddhism influenced the development artistic (and perhaps conceptual) of Buddhism, in particular of the branch mahayana, before its expansion as from the 1st century in Central Asia and Asia of the North-East, then in China, Korea and with the Japan.

China and Japan

Buddhism in China

Into China, so of the first texts are translated as of, the diffusion will start really only at the 4th century, after the translation of the work of Nagarjuna. It is in China that the large currents of the Mahayana at the origin of the Japanese schools and Buddhisms Korean and Vietnamese took their rise: Amidisme, Chan/Zen, Tiantai/Tendai. It is also in China that Kobo Daishi was initiated with the current Shingon. The influence of Buddhism did not cease fluctuating according to the sovereign dynasties: rather supported by the Mongolian and the Manchu and rather fought by the Ming. Like all the religions, it underwent a sharp opposition on behalf of communist China until the end of the years 1970, before being réadmis in the company, duly framed.

Buddhism in Japan

According to the legend, the introduction of Buddhism to the country of the rising sun would have taken place in 552, when a sovereign of Korea sent to the sovereign Yamato a statue of Buddha out of gilded bronze accompanied by Buddhist texts. In 592, after fights of influence with the Shintō, Buddhism was declared religion of State.

Japanese Buddhism includes/understands 12 principal schools, which one classifies according to their time of appearance:

During the Period Nara, birth of the Buddhist schools Kucha (founded on Abhidharma-koça de Vasubandhu), Jojitsu (founded on satyasiddhi-castrated of Harivarman), Ritsu (founded on the observance of the discipline " vinaya" small vehicle), Hosso (Dharmalaksana " Vijnanavada"), Sanron (on the 3 will sastras fundamental of the school of vacuity " Madhyâmika"), Kégon (founded on the Avatamsaka will sutra ). The four first belong to the Indian tradition of Buddhism; Kusha follows in a completely clear way the tradition of the small vehicle; Jojitsu falls under a zone of transition between small and large vehicle; Hosso and Sanron, just like Kégon which finds its origins in Sérinde and China, belong to the large vehicle.

During the Period Heian, one attends the foundation of two new currents by returned monks of China: the Tendaï ( Tien Taï , " terrace céleste" , name of the place where Tiantai), based on the Saddharma pundarika was born the Chinese school will sutra or Sutra of the Lotus , following the voyage of Saichō Kogyo Daishi, and the Shingon, running vajrayana founded by Kūkaï Kobo Daïshi which had gone to China in 804 and brought back the Vajrasekhara of it will sutra that it associated with the Tantra de Vairocana , Mahavairocanabhisambodhi will tantra , to make the base of its teaching of it.

The time Kamakura is that of the introduction of the Zen coming from China starting from two schools: the Rinzai by the monk Eisaï and the Soto by Dogen. Two of this month inspired by the Amidisme Chinese are born, the Jodo under the impulse of Honen and Shin Buddhism by Shinran. At the same time a school develops bearing the name of its founder, Nichiren, which wishes to return to a practice only centered on the Sutra of the lotus , already popularized at the time Heian by Tendaï. Always at the same period, the Shugendo, way of the ascetics of the mountains, Yamabushis, experiences an important development.

So that the table is complete, it is still necessary to mention a particular school of Zen, which developed in Japan at the 17th century during the Period Edo: Obaku. It was rested by a Master famous Chinese Chan, Yinyuan Longqi (Ingen), and its Muyan disciple who had fled China with the fall of the Ming in front of the Manchu . Obaku is the transcription of the name of the Huangbo mount in the Fujian where Yinyuan had been abbot, but also the name of the Master of Linji (founder of Rinzai), Huanbo Xiyun, which had settled there. The practitioners of Obaku regarded themselves as disciples of Linji, while including in their practice the amidism and of the elements drawn from Semi Zong, Buddhism esoteric Chinese.

For a few years, the Japan, inspired in that by the American constitution, has seen a significant development of new religious movements. In general one can classify them in three categories: those of inspiration shintoïste, like Mahikari or Tenrikyo, with at their head a person inspired by a god or a particular kami, and those of Buddhist inspiration based on the Sutra of the Lotus like Buddhism Reiyukai or the Soka Gakkaï, those claiming Buddhism esoteric like Shinnyo. The syncretic ones mixing various aspects are found around an emblematic figure as it was the case for Aum Shinrikyo. The situation is still complicated by the fact that the universities, because of the system of the lines, themselves are subdivided in a multitude of schools and currents, with the result that there is currently more than 184.000 religious groups indexed with the Japan.

Nepal

The populations Nepal eases of origin Tibetans have since XIVe century adopted Buddhism Nyingmapa and Sakyapa.

Since Xe century, population of the Newar elaborate S.A. a clean form of Buddhism, influenced by the mahâyâna and the vajrayâna. The monks newars marry and adopt laic responsibilities. This Buddhism was a strong institution, but weakens nowadays.

Since the invasion of Tibet by the China in 1959, of many Tibetans are taken refuge in Nepal, in particular with Katmandou.

Tibet

The Buddhism, introduced in Tibet in 747, becomes religion of State at the end of the 8th century and competition the Good-Po. The Buddhist monasteries develop and become the base of the feudal Régime. But the dissensions within the clergy encourage the penetration of the Mongolian , which, already main from part of China, obtains suzerainty on Tibet (12th century-17th century). The Secte of the yellow Bonnets (lamaïstes reformed) increases its influence. It is in its center that the Dalai Lama is selected, religious leader and temporal of the country. The sect of the red Bonnets - from where the Panchen-lama is resulting - is driven out country in 1643. The Dalai Lama is from now on the political and religious representative of Tibet.

See the List of the Dalai Lama and the schools of the Buddhism Tibetan.

Occident

If there exist contacts which left artistic traces between Buddhism and the Greeks of the Gandhara, this religion remained a long time unknown in Occident. Specialists estimate however that the legend of holy Josaphat would be a Christian adaptation of the life of the Sakyamuni Buddha.

Of XVIe at the XVIIIe century, the Jésuites are interested in this religion.

With XIXe in Occident the first serious studies and translations appear. Philosophers like Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche are interested in it and are inspired some. This inspiration is nevertheless in the case of the first in the beginning of a confusion between the concept of vacuity in Buddhism and nothing. In France, Alexandra David-Néel reveals the world of spangled Tibetans. In 1912, it meets the Dalai Lama.

Beginning of the XXe century at the years 1960, the studies multiply. Little by little, the Occident sees appearing currents and Buddhists of Western stock, primarily of tantric line Zen or .

Buddhism today

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