How Well Do You Know the History of Buddhism?

Even though India is featured prominently in the story of the Buddha, the country has a small Buddhist population compared to its neighboring countries. Some scholars believe that’s because of the rise of Islam, which vied for converts among low-caste Hindus and eliminated Buddhist monks when the religion conquered parts of India. Today, less than 1% of Indians consider themselves Buddhist.

Buddhism made its way to China during the Han Dynasty (202 BCE to 220 CE). The religion got a major assist from Daoism, as early Chinese Buddhists borrowed concepts from the already-established religion to help spread the teachings of the Buddha throughout the mainland. Buddhism still plays a prominent role in modern-day China.

Vesak, also known as Buddha Day, is a sacred holiday for millions of Buddhists around the world, as it celebrates the birth, enlightenment, and death of the religion’s famous leader. Even though India sports a small Buddhist population, Vesak is a national holiday, as Hindus consider the Buddha to be an avatar of their god Vishnu.

During the California gold rush in the mid-1800s, thousands of Chinese immigrants arrived on the West Coast of the United States. By 1860, one-tenth of the population of California was Chinese, and they brought with them images of the Buddha and the philosophies of their home country. By 1875, there were eight Buddhist temples in San Francisco’s Chinatown neighborhood.

The origin of the Buddha begins when Siddhartha Gautama, who was a prince in his youth, ventured beyond his palace walls to better understand the world. On his journey, he came across a wandering ascetic, along with an old man, a sick man, and a dead man, and began to wonder about the meaning of life and its prevalent suffering. This experience is what inspired Gautama to become an ascetic himself and search for Nirvana.

Ashoka the Great lived in the third century BCE and was the last major emperor of the Mauryan Empire. Once a gruesome warrior, Ashoka saw the devastation of his military campaign against the Kingdom of Kalinga and had a drastic change of heart. The leader converted to Buddhism, built religious monuments throughout his kingdom, and developed a policy known as “dhamma” that detailed his benevolent rule.

Novelist and poet Jack Kerouac, an influential member of the Beat Generation, discovered Buddhism through Dwight Goddard's 1954 book, “A Buddhist Bible.” Some of Kerouac’s most influential works, including “On the Road” and “The Dharma Bums,” weave in threads of Buddhist philosophy. He even wrote a biography of Siddhartha Gautama, though it wasn’t published during Kerouac’s lifetime.

Buddhism is the primary religion in several countries, including Laos, Cambodia, and Mongolia. Malaysia, however, is overwhelmingly Islamic. According to a 2020 census, nearly 64% of Malaysians are Muslim — Buddhism comes in a distant second at 19%. Cambodia has the highest percentage of Buddhists overall at 97%, and China is home to the largest population of Buddhists, with around 244 million adherents.

Zen Buddhism originated in the sixth century CE in China, where it was known as “Chan Buddhism” due to its influences from Daoism and Confucianism. Although the religion first arrived on the island of Japan in the seventh century CE, Zen Buddhism didn’t become firmly established there until the 12th century. The religion soon flourished on the infamously reclusive island and influenced many aspects of modern Japanese culture.

As their close geographical origins might suggest, Buddhism and Hinduism embrace many of the same concepts, such as karma, dharma, moksha, nirvana, and reincarnation. However, Hinduism’s caste system and its pantheon of gods likely inspired a reaction that ultimately created Buddhism. And unlike Hinduism, Buddhism has a single founder in the Buddha, though he specifically stated that he wasn’t divine in any way.

Siddhartha Gautama was born in what is now the Lumbini province in southern Nepal in 564 BCE. Evidence shows that the Buddha’s birthplace became a place of pilgrimage as early as the third century BCE, and today, it is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Buddhist texts suggest that Maya, the Buddha’s mother, was traveling from Kapilavastu to her hometown of Devadaha when she stopped to rest in the Lumbini gardens and went into labor.

The Four Noble Truths — the truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the end of suffering, and the truth of the path that leads to the end of suffering — along with the Eightfold Path, a guide on how to live righteously, are the cornerstones of Buddhism. Karma is also a Buddhist idea that actions have consequences in this life and the next. Qi (pronounced “chi”), however, is a principle found in Daoism.

Today, the town of Bodh Gaya marks the spot in present-day southwestern India where the Buddha sat beneath a fig tree, known as the Bodhi tree, for 49 days until he reached enlightenment. Around 2,500 years later, the religious history of the sacred fig is embedded in its scientific name, Ficus religiosa.

The Dalai Lama is the leader of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. The first Dalai Lama, Gedan Drupa, lived in the 15th century. Today, Tenzin Gyatso is considered the 14th Dalai Lama, and he is the reincarnation of the Avalokiteśvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, like every Dalai Lama before him.

The sage known today as the Buddha, which means “enlightened one,” was born Siddhartha Gautama in the sixth century BCE. Like many ancient ascetics who founded major religions or philosophical movements, the Buddha is shrouded in myth. Legend says Gautama was born a prince who yearned for more than just material desire, though some scholars argue that he was simply a wise itinerant.