buddhism / timeline
Buddhism Timeline
| c. 800-500 BCE | Composition of Hindu Upanishads |
| 552-479 BCE | Life of Confucius |
| c. 500 BCE | Life of Lao-tzu |
| c. 480 BCE | Birth of the Buddha in Kapilavastu. |
| c. 450 BCE | The Buddha's enlightenment and first sermon. |
| c. 405 BCE | Death of the Buddha. |
| c. 405 BCE | First Buddhist Council, at Rajagrha. |
| c. 350 BCE | Second Buddhist Council, at Vaisali. |
| 327-325 BCE | Alexander the Great in India. |
| c. 300 BCE | Buddhism arrives in SE Asia. |
| 272 BCE | Emperor Asoka takes throne. |
| 250 BCE | Third Buddhist Council, resulting in Great Schism and Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism |
| 247 BCE | Mahinda introduces Buddhism to Sri Lanka. |
| 200-0 BCE | Stupa construction at Sanci. |
| 1st cent. BCE | Theravada Buddhist Canon (Tripitaka) completed in Sri Lanka. |
| 1st cent. CE | Indian Buddhists settle in Southeast Asia. |
| 150-250 CE | Life of Nagarjuna. |
| 4th cent. | Rise of Vajrayana Buddhism. |
| 350-650 | Gupta dynasty in India; Buddhist philosophy and art flourish. |
| 372 CE | Chinese monks bring Buddhism to Korea. |
| 399-414 | Fa-hsien travels to India. |
| c. 420 | Schools of Tiantai, Huayan, Chan, and Jingtu appear in China. |
| 520 | Bodhidharma arrives in China. |
| 526 | Viniaya school founded in Korea. |
| 527 | Korea accepts Buddhism. |
| 6th cent. | Burma adopts Theravada Buddhism. |
| 552 | Buddhism enters Japan from Korea. |
| 572-621 | Prince Shotoku sponsors Buddhism in Japan. |
| c. 589 | Chinese Buddhist commentaries written. |
| c. 600 | First diffusion of Buddhism in Tibet. |
| 618-50 | Life of Songtsen Gampo; establishment of Buddhism in Tibet. |
| 618-907 | Chinese T'ang Dynasty; golden age of Buddhism in China. |
| 7th cent. | Mahayana Buddhism adopted in Indonesia. |
| 8th cent. | Buddhism becomes state religion of Japan. |
| 741 | Japanese emperor orders a temple be built in every province. |
| c. 792-94 | The Great Samye Debate decides on Indian Mahayana Buddhism as the form for Tibet. |
| 836-842 | King Langdharma persecutes Tibetan Buddhists. |
| 845 | Chinese emperor suppresses Buddhism. |
| early 10th cent. | Korea institutes a Buddhist constitution |
| 11th cent. | King of Burma restores Theravadin monasticism. Mahayana Buddhism declines. |
| mid-12th cent. | Buddhism is virtually extinct in India. |
| 1185-1333 | During the Kamakura period in Japan, schools of Rinzai, Soto Zen, Jodo Shu (Pure Land), Jodo Shinshu (True Pure Land), and Nichiren develop. |
| 1231-59 | Mongols invade Korea, destroy Buddhist scriptures. |
| 1253 | Mongolian leader Kublai Khan accepts Tibetan Buddhism. |
| 1360 | Theravada Buddhism becomes state religion of Thailand. |
| 14th cent. | Theravada Buddhism introduced in Laos. |
| 15th cent. | Theravada Buddhism dominant in Cambodia. |
| 1578 | Sonam Gyatso is titled the Dalai Lama by the Mongolian leader Altan Khan. |
| 1592-98 | Japanese invade Korea. |
| 1617-82 | Life of the fifth Dalai Lama and beginning of rule of Tibet by Dalai Lamas. |
| 1617-82 | Life of Basho; Buddhist influence on haiku and the arts in Japan |
| 17-18th cent. | Korean Buddhism revives after regaining independence. |
| 1749 | Mongolian Buddhist canon translated from Tibetan. |
| 1868 | Shinto reinstated as national religion of Japan. |
| 1910-45 | Reformations of Korean and Chinese Buddhism. |
| 1945 | Religious freedom introduced in Japan, with no official national religion. |
| 1949 | Buddhism suppressed by Chinese communist government. |
| 1950 | Tenzin Gyatso becomes the fourteenth Dalai Lama. China invades Tibet and suppresses Buddhism. |
| 1959 | The Dalai Lama goes into exile. |
| 1976 | Upon the death of Mao, Buddhism begins to revive in China. |
| 1989 | International Network of Engaged Buddhists founded. |
| 1995 | UK Association of Buddhist Studies founded. |
| 2001 | Destruction of standing Buddha statues at Bamiyan by Taliban regime. |
Sources
- John Bowker, ed., The Cambridge Illustrated History of Religions (Cambridge UP, 2002).
- Damien Keown, A Dictionary of Buddhism (Oxford UP, 2003), Appendix VI, pp. 355-57.
Buddhist timeline, chronology, timeline of Buddhism
