Buddhism in the Ancient World

Related civilizations: India, China, Japan, Tibet, Korea.

Date: beginning in the sixth or fifth century b.c.e.

Locale: South and East Asia

Buddhism in the Ancient World

Buddhism was founded in northeastern India by Siddhārtha Gautama, known as the Buddha, during the sixth or fifth century b.c.e. The religion spread throughout much of Asia, and by the end of antiquity, it had become one of the continent’s dominant faiths.

The life of the Buddha

Siddhārtha Gautama, also known as Śākyamuni, was born in the in the kingdom of the Śakyas in northeastern India. The most commonly accepted dates for his life are circa 566 to circa 486 b.c.e. According to tradition, the Brahmans, or priests, at his father’s court foretold that the young prince would either become a world-conquering monarch or a buddha, which means “awakened one” or “enlightened one” in Sanskrit. Wishing to keep his son from taking up the life of a holy man, King Śuddhodana attempted to surround the child with luxury and comfort. Nevertheless, as a young man, Siddhārtha saw old age, sickness, and death, which convinced him of the misery of the world. He also saw a wandering holy man and was inspired to leave home to seek wisdom.

For a time, Siddhārtha starved himself and followed a regimen of extreme asceticism and self-mortification. He decided that his self-imposed suffering would not lead him to enlightenment, and he began to live in a more moderate manner. One morning, he sat down under a banyan tree (the Bodhi tree), and according to Buddhist teaching, he vowed not to rise until he had achieved enlightenment. After struggles with the evil spirit Mara, the lord of passion, Siddhārtha realized the truth about existence.

The Buddha, as he had become, meditated on his realization for several weeks and then began to teach others. The full-time disciples of the Buddha became monks and were known as the Saṅgha (“community” or “order”). At the age of eighty, the Buddha became sick and died.

Essential teachings

The essence of Buddha’s realization is usually described as the Four Noble Truths. The first truth is that life is suffering. Suffering continues through an endless chain of rebirths. The second truth is that suffering is caused by desire. The third is that desire can be ended, and the fourth is that right living according to Buddhist precepts (known as the Eightfold Path) is the way to end desire. With the ceasing of desire, beings enter Nirvana, a state of release from existence.

Buddhists from the earliest times onward have been dedicated to the Three Jewels. The first jewel was the Buddha himself. The second was the dharma, or “law,” the truth taught by the Buddha. The Saṅgha, or community of monks, was the third.

Buddhism in ancient India

After the death of the Buddha, his teachings began to spread through northeastern India. Two early councils, gatherings of Buddhist monks, began to compose the Buddhist scriptures and to discuss controversies in doctrine. One of these was held immediately after the Buddha’s death, and another was held about a century later. At the second, the Council of Vesālī held about 383 b.c.e., Buddhism began to split over issues of doctrine. This split would gradually lead to the development of the two major sects or schools of Buddhism, Theravāda (also called Hināyāna) and Mahāyāna.

In the fourth century b.c.e., the rulers of the Mauryan Dynasty united much of northern India in a single empire. The Mauryan emperor Aśoka (r. 269-238 b.c.e.) supported the Buddhist teachings and became the ideal of the Buddhist king. During Aśoka’s reign, the Third Buddhist Council was convened at Pāṭaliputra in 250 b.c.e. At this third council, monks completed the collection of the writings that made up the basic canon, known as the Tipiṭaka, or “Three Baskets,” after its three divisions. Participants also made the decision to send missionaries to other lands.

As a result of the Indian origins of Buddhism, ancient Indian languages became the sacred languages for Buddhists of all nationalities. Some Buddhist scriptures were written in Sanskrit, an ancient language used for Hindu religious texts. The Tipiṭaka (collected c. 250 b.c.e.; English translation in Buddhist Scriptures, 1913) was written in Pāli, a popular language derived from Sanskrit.

Buddhism gradually began to disappear from its native land. Although the religion received some of its support from kings, such as Aśoka, its greatest support came from India’s merchant classes. As the trading economies of India declined over the course of the first centuries of the common era, Buddhism gradually lost this basis. Moreover, the new religion had to compete with India’s older religion, Hinduism. Hinduism absorbed some elements of Buddhism, recognizing the Buddha as an incarnation of the god Vishnu (Viṣṇu). At the same time, the Brahmans of India opposed Buddhist philosophy and practice and, by about 700 c.e., Indian Buddhism had mostly withered away, only to reappear in modern times.

Buddhism outside India

Although Buddhism ceased to be a major faith in India, it spread to many other lands. The Mauryan Dynasty maintained close ties with Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka), an island kingdom off the southern tip of India. In 251 b.c.e., Aśoka’s son Mahinda went to Ceylon as a Buddhist missionary. Buddhism would later spread from Ceylon to the Southeast Asian lands of Burma, Siam (modern Thailand), Laos, and Cambodia.

By about 200 b.c.e., Buddhism had begun to spread to central Asia. The religion apparently entered China about 61 c.e. According to tradition, this occurred because the Chinese emperor Mingdi (r. 58-75 c.e.) had a dream in which he saw a golden figure flying down from heaven; this figure was identified as the Buddha. About 426 c.e., a persecution of Buddhists began in China, but this was short-lived. Between 470 and 527 c.e., the Buddhist missionary Bodhidharma entered China from India and began to preach a meditative form of Buddhism that later became known as Zen. About 518 c.e., Chinese translations of the Tipiṭaka began to appear. From China, Buddhism entered Korea and Vietnam in about the fourth century c.e. Some time after 500 c.e., the Japanese began to receive the Buddhist faith from Korea.

About 600 c.e., the people of Tibet began to adopt Buddhism, just as it was dying out in India. Between circa 627 and circa 650 c.e., Tibet proclaimed Tantric Buddhism to be the state religion. Many of the gods of Tibet’s old religion, Bonism, were incorporated into the new faith. During the eighth century c.e., the first Tibetan Buddhist monastery was built, and Buddhism began to play a central role in Tibetan culture.

The schools of Buddhism

Disagreement over questions of how salvation is to be achieved appeared in Buddhism almost immediately after the Buddha’s death. By the first century of the common era, there were as many as five hundred sects of Buddhism. The major split that emerged during the first half-century of the religion was between Theravāda (“the way of the elders”) and Mahāyāna (“the great vehicle”) Buddhism. Theravāda is sometimes referred to as Hināyāna (“the lesser vehicle”). One of the major distinctions between these two schools or sects has to do with the role of the bodhisattva (literally, “enlightened being”). To simplify a complex doctrinal issue, bodhisattvas, in Mahāyāna Buddhism, are individuals who have achieved enlightenment but delay passing over into Nirvana in order to help with the salvation of others. The position of Theravāda Buddhism is that each individual must achieve enlightenment and salvation by his or her own efforts.

For centuries, Theravāda and Mahāyāna orders existed side by side, frequently in rivalry. In 24 b.c.e., the two most important monasteries in Ceylon—one Theravāda and one Mahāyāna—were founded. Gradually, however, Theravāda Buddhism replaced its rival in Ceylon and became the form of Buddhism that took root in Southeast Asia. Mahāyāna Buddhism is often referred to as the northern form of Buddhism because it established itself in China, Japan, and Korea.

A third school of Buddhism, Vajrayāna (the “thunderbolt vehicle”), developed in eastern India from about the fifth to the seventh centuries c.e. and became dominant in Nepal and Tibet. It was the result of the adoption of the magical rites of a fertility cult known as Tantricism. Therefore, Vajrayāna is often referred to as Tantric Buddhism and relies heavily on seemingly magical practices, such as the recitation of names or phrases.

Bibliography

Keay, John. India: A History. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2000.

Nelson, Walter H. Buddha: His Life and Teaching. Los Angeles: J. P. Tarcher, 2000.

Reat, Noble R. Buddhism: A History. Fremont, Calif.: Asian Humanities Press, 1995.

Skilton, Andrew. A Concise History of Buddhism. Trumbull, Conn.: Weatherhill, 1997.