Religion · Indian

Buddhism

A path to freedom from suffering taught by Siddhartha Gautama in the Ganges plain. Carried by monks, kings and merchants, it spread to Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, along the Silk Road to China, Korea and Japan, and to Tibet and Mongolia, while fading in the land of its birth.

c. 528 BCE – today
52 places reached
Living faith

See it spread on the atlas All religions Wikipedia

2026

Every path it took: 51 places reached, 35 still held; faint where it has gone

FaithMain faithFootholdArrival

Trade routesRoadSea laneRiver or canal

Wonders

Wonders of the world on the atlas in the story of Buddhism: built for it, long used by it, or standing on its holy ground.

Built c. 250 – 50 BCE
The Great Stupa at Sanchi
Sanchi, India
A stupa begun under the emperor Ashoka to hold relics of the Buddha and enlarged over the next two centuries; it is among the oldest stone buildings in India.
Built 745 – 758 CE
The Great Buddha Hall of Tōdai-ji
Nara, Japan
The hall of the Great Buddha of Nara, built for Emperor Shōmu as the head of a network of state temples across Japan; still one of the largest wooden buildings in the world.
Built c. 780 – 833 CE
Borobudur
Magelang, Indonesia
The largest Buddhist temple in the world, built under Java's Shailendra kings as a stepped mountain of carved galleries crowned by a great stupa ringed by 72 smaller ones.
Built c. 1113 – 1150
Angkor Wat
Siem Reap, Cambodia
Built as a temple to Vishnu, it became a Buddhist temple from the end of the 12th century as the Khmer turned to Buddhism, and Theravada monks have kept it since.
Built 1645 – 1694
The Potala Palace
Lhasa, Tibet, China
The winter palace of the Dalai Lamas, heads of Tibet's government and of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, from the 17th century until 1959.

Trade routes that carried it

Routes on the atlas that its missionaries, merchants and pilgrims travelled. The map above draws them in the years they ran.

c. 500 BCE – today · by land
Grand Trunk Road
It follows the Uttarapatha, the northern road along which the Buddha's teaching went from Magadha to Taxila and Gandhara under Ashoka.
c. 130 BCE – 1453 CE · by land
Silk Road
Monks and merchants carried it from Gandhara over the mountains to Khotan, Kucha and Dunhuang and on to China; pilgrims such as Xuanzang came back the same way for its scriptures.
c. 200 BCE – 1500 CE · by sea and river
Maritime Silk Road
Monks sailed with merchants between India, Sri Lanka, Sumatra and China: Faxian came home this way in 412, and Yijing stayed at Srivijaya's Palembang in 671 and again for years after.

Symbol meaning

Dharma wheel

The dharmachakra, the wheel of the teaching, recalls the Buddha's first sermon at Sarnath, when he set the wheel of dharma turning. Its eight spokes stand for the Noble Eightfold Path. It is among the oldest Buddhist signs, carved on the emperor Ashoka's pillars in the 3rd century BCE.

Timeline

52 places in order of arrival: when the first believers came, from where and how; when it became the main faith there, and when it faded.

c. 528 BCE, until 1300 · Bodh Gaya
Where Siddhartha Gautama is said to have reached awakening under the Bodhi tree; monks kept the shrine into the 13th century.
c. 528 BCE, until 1200 · Sarnath
In the deer park at Isipatana the Buddha gave his first sermon to five ascetics, who became the first monks.
from Bodh Gaya · with its founder
c. 528 BCE, until 1200 · Rajagriha
King Bimbisara of Magadha gave the Buddha the Bamboo Grove here, and tradition holds the first council of monks here after his death.
from Bodh Gaya · with its founder
c. 525 BCE, until 1200 · Shravasti
The merchant Anathapindika bought the Jetavana grove for the Buddha, who spent more rainy seasons here, in the Kosala capital, than anywhere else.
from Rajagriha · with its founder
c. 484 BCE, main faith from 260 BCE, until 1200 · Magadha (Pataliputra)
The Buddha is said to have blessed the village of Pataligama on his last journey; as Ashoka's capital it hosted the third council of monks.
from Rajagriha · with its founder
c. 250 BCE, at once the main faith · Sri Lanka (Anuradhapura)
Mahinda, a son of the emperor Ashoka, led a mission that converted King Devanampiya Tissa, and the island became a home of the Theravada.
from Pataliputra · by mission · Theravada
c. 250 BCE, until 470 CE · Gandhara (Taxila)
Ashoka, once viceroy here, is said to have raised the Dharmarajika stupa, and Gandhara's monasteries grew under Indo-Greek, Saka and Kushan kings.
from Pataliputra · by mission
c. 250 BCE, until 1400 · Kashmir (Srinagar)
Tradition credits the monk Majjhantika, sent by Ashoka's council, with bringing the faith to Kashmir, later a centre of Sarvastivada learning.
from Pataliputra · by mission
c. 250 BCE · Suvarnabhumi (Thaton)
Ashoka's council sent the monks Sona and Uttara to Suvarnabhumi, which Mon tradition places at Thaton, later a seat of Theravada learning.
from Pataliputra · by mission · Theravada
c. 200 BCE, until 1350 · Andhra (Amaravati)
The great stupa beside the Satavahana city of Dhanyakataka made the lower Krishna a centre of the faith whose monks and art went overseas.
from Pataliputra · by mission
c. 84 BCE, main faith from 401 CE, until 1006 · Khotan
Khotanese tradition says a monk from Kashmir converted King Vijaya Sambhava; in 401 Faxian found the kingdom devoted to the Mahayana.
from Srinagar · by mission
c. 50 BCE, until 800 CE · Bactria (Bactra)
Buddhism spread among the Yuezhi of Bactria, whose Kushan kings later ruled Gandhara, and Balkh's Nava Vihara drew monks from far away.
from Taxila · by trade and mission
c. 68 CE · Luoyang
Tradition says envoys of Emperor Ming of Han brought the monks Kasyapa Matanga and Dharmaratna here, and the White Horse Temple was built for them.
from Bactra · by mission
c. 127 CE, until 1000 · Purushapura
Kanishka, the Kushan king, built a great stupa at his capital, and Buddhist tradition holds that he called a council of monks.
from Taxila · by mission
c. 190 CE, main faith from 1009 · Jiaozhi (Luy Lâu)
The capital of Han Jiaozhi was reached by Indian monks and merchants by sea; much later the Lý kings of Đại Việt made the faith their court's.
from Amaravati · by trade and mission
c. 200 CE, main faith from 350 CE, until 1400 · Kucha
Kucha's kings followed the Sarvastivada school of Kashmir, and the city was home to Kumarajiva, who later translated many sutras into Chinese.
from Srinagar · by mission
247 CE · Jiankang
Kang Senghui, a Sogdian monk raised in Jiaozhi, came to Jianye, the Wu capital, in 247 and founded its first temple under Sun Quan.
from Luy Lâu · by mission
c. 250 CE · Dunhuang
The oasis at the head of the Silk Road had Buddhist families by the 3rd century, and from 366 monks cut the Mogao caves into the cliffs nearby.
from Bactra · by trade and migration
c. 266 CE · Chang'an
Dharmaraksa of Dunhuang translated sutras here from about 266, and in 401 the Later Qin ruler brought Kumarajiva to lead a translation bureau.
from Dunhuang · by mission
c. 300 CE, main faith from 630 CE, until 1000 · Bamiyan
Monasteries filled the valley's cliffs, where two giant Buddhas were carved in the 6th century; Xuanzang found king and people devout in 630.
from Bactra · by mission
372 CE, main faith from 375 CE · Goguryeo (Gungnae)
Fu Jian of Former Qin sent the monk Sundo with images and sutras to King Sosurim of Goguryeo, who built temples for the monks.
from Chang'an · by mission
384 CE, main faith from 385 CE · Baekje (Hanseong)
The foreign monk Marananta came from Eastern Jin and was welcomed by King Chimnyu of Baekje, who built a temple for him the next year.
from Jiankang · by mission
c. 400 CE · Kathmandu Valley (Lalitpur)
Licchavi inscriptions record monasteries in the Kathmandu Valley, where Newar Buddhists still keep a Mahayana and Vajrayana tradition from India.
from Pataliputra · by mission
c. 400 CE · Funan (Óc Eo)
Buddha images and Indian goods at this Funan port show the faith arriving with sea trade; Funan monks later translated sutras at the Liang court.
from Amaravati · by trade
c. 427 CE, until 1200 · Nalanda
Gupta kings founded a monastery here that grew into the leading centre of Buddhist learning, drawing scholars such as Xuanzang and Yijing.
from Rajagriha · by mission
527 CE, at once the main faith · Silla (Gyeongju)
Monks from Goguryeo had preached in Silla, but only after the courtier Ichadon was executed for the faith did King Beopheung accept it in 527.
from Gungnae · by mission
c. 538 CE, main faith from 594 CE · Japan (Asuka)
King Seong of Baekje sent a Buddha image and sutras to the Yamato court; the Soga clan championed the faith, and Prince Shōtoku made it the court's.
from Hanseong · by mission
c. 550 CE · Dvaravati (Nakhon Pathom)
The Mon kingdom of Dvaravati left Pali inscriptions and stone wheels of the law around Nakhon Pathom, which Thai tradition calls Ashoka's Suvarnabhumi.
from Thaton · by mission · Theravada
c. 600 CE · Champa (Indrapura)
Sui troops took over a thousand Buddhist texts from Champa in 605, and in 875 King Indravarman II founded a Mahayana monastery at his capital, Indrapura.
from Amaravati · by trade
641 CE, main faith from 779 CE · Lhasa
Princess Wencheng of Tang and a Nepali princess brought Buddha images to King Songtsen Gampo, who built the Jokhang and Ramoche temples for them.
from Chang'an · by mission
c. 659 CE, main faith from 1616 · Bhutan (Kyichu Lhakhang)
Tradition says Songtsen Gampo founded this temple in the Paro valley; the Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, arriving in 1616, made Bhutan a Drukpa Buddhist state.
from Lhasa · by mission
671 CE, main faith from 684 CE, until 1450 · Srivijaya (Palembang)
Yijing found over a thousand monks at the Srivijaya capital in 671, and its king's inscriptions of the 680s are Buddhist prayers in Old Malay.
from Nalanda · by trade and mission · Mahayana
778 CE, at once the main faith, until 1527 · Java (Borobudur)
The Sailendra kings, patrons of the Mahayana, dedicated a Tara temple at Kalasan in 778 and built Borobudur, a stupa of carved terraces, by about 830.
from Palembang · by trade and mission · Mahayana
c. 779 CE, at once the main faith · Tibet (Samye)
King Trisong Detsen invited the Nalanda abbot Shantarakshita and the tantric master Padmasambhava, founded Samye, and made Buddhism Tibet's state faith.
from Nalanda · by mission · Vajrayana
c. 800 CE, until 1203 · Vikramashila
The Pala king Dharmapala founded this monastic university, home of Atisha, who left it in 1040 to teach in Tibet.
from Nalanda · by mission
c. 950 CE, main faith from 1181 · Cambodia (Angkor)
Buddhists served at the Hindu court by the 10th century; Jayavarman VII made the Mahayana his state's faith in 1181, and Theravada became the people's by the 14th.
from Óc Eo · by mission
996 CE, at once the main faith · Western Tibet (Tholing)
King Yeshe-Ö of Guge founded Tholing monastery and sent Rinchen Zangpo to study in Kashmir, starting the later spread of Buddhism in Tibet.
from Srinagar · by mission · Vajrayana
1056, at once the main faith · Burma (Pagan)
The Mon monk Shin Arahan converted King Anawrahta to Theravada in 1056, and after taking Thaton in 1057 the king brought its monks and scriptures to Pagan.
from Thaton · by mission and conquest · Theravada
c. 1279, at once the main faith · Siam (Sukhothai)
King Ram Khamhaeng invited a forest monk of the Sri Lankan order from Nakhon Si Thammarat, making Theravada the faith of the Thai court.
from Anuradhapura · by mission · Theravada
1353, at once the main faith · Lan Xang (Luang Prabang)
Fa Ngum, raised at Angkor, founded Lan Xang with Khmer monks, and the Phra Bang image sent from Cambodia later gave the royal city its name.
from Angkor · by mission · Theravada
1578, at once the main faith · Southern Mongolia (Hohhot)
Altan Khan met Sonam Gyatso at Kokonor in 1578, gave him the title Dalai Lama, and made the Gelug teaching the faith of his Tümed Mongols.
from Lhasa · by mission · Vajrayana
1585, at once the main faith · Khalkha Mongolia (Erdene Zuu)
Abtai Sain Khan of the Khalkha built Erdene Zuu beside the ruins of Karakorum in 1585, the first large monastery of northern Mongolia.
from Hohhot · by mission · Vajrayana
c. 1615, at once the main faith · Dzungaria (Ghulja)
Oirat princes adopted the Gelug school about 1615, and the Oirat monk Zaya Pandita, trained in Tibet, later gave them scriptures in their own script.
from Lhasa · by mission · Vajrayana
c. 1630, at once the main faith · Kalmykia (Elista)
Torghut Oirats moved to the lower Volga about 1630 and kept their Buddhism, making the Kalmyks the one Buddhist people of Europe.
from Ghulja · by migration · Vajrayana
1642, at once the main faith · Sikkim (Yuksom)
Three Tibetan lamas consecrated Phuntsog Namgyal as the first Chogyal of Sikkim here in 1642, founding a Buddhist kingdom that lasted until 1975.
from Lhasa · by mission · Vajrayana
c. 1712 · Buryatia (Ulan-Ude)
Mongolian and Tibetan lamas came to the Buryats in the early 18th century, and in 1741 the Russian crown recognised their lamas and monasteries.
from Erdene Zuu · by mission · Vajrayana
1889 · Hawaii (Hilo)
The Jodo Shinshu priest Kagahi Soryu came in 1889 to serve Japanese plantation workers and opened a temple at Hilo, the first in Hawaii.
from Asuka · by migration and mission · Mahayana
1891 · Bodh Gaya
Anagarika Dharmapala of Ceylon founded the Maha Bodhi Society to win the temple back for Buddhists, who have shared its management since 1949.
from Anuradhapura · by mission · Theravada
1899 · San Francisco
The Jodo Shinshu priests Sonoda Shuye and Nishijima Kakuryo founded the Buddhist Mission of North America here in 1899 for Japanese immigrants.
from Asuka · by migration and mission · Mahayana
1907 · London
The Buddhist Society of Great Britain and Ireland formed in 1907 to welcome Ananda Metteyya, an English monk ordained in Burma, who arrived in 1908.
from Pagan · by mission · Theravada
1956 · Nagpur
B. R. Ambedkar and several hundred thousand Dalit followers took the Buddhist vows here on 14 October 1956, starting a mass movement of conversion.
from Bodh Gaya · by mission
1960 · Dharamshala
After the 1959 uprising the 14th Dalai Lama fled to India, and from 1960 Dharamshala has been the seat of the Tibetan government in exile.
from Lhasa · by migration · Vajrayana

Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya (transl. "doctrines and disciplines"), is an Indian religion and philosophy based on teachings attributed to the Buddha, a śramaṇa (wandering ascetic) and religious teacher who lived in the 6th or 5th century BCE. It is the world's fourth-largest religion, with an estimated 320 million to 540 million followers, representing approximately 4.1%–6.7% of the global population. It originated in the eastern Gangetic plain as a śramaṇa movement in the 5th century BCE, and gradually spread throughout much of Asia via the Silk Road. Buddhism has since played a significant role in Asian culture and spirituality, eventually spreading to the West in the 19th century.

According to tradition, the Buddha taught a path of cultivation that leads to awakening and liberation from dukkha (lit. 'suffering', also rendered 'unsatisfactoriness'; in context "unreliable", "precarity, instability, an unreliable place to stand") by attaining nirvana, the 'blowing out' (extinguishing) of the passions. He regarded this path as a Middle Way between extreme asceticism and sensory indulgence, and also between the extremes of eternalism and nihilism. Teaching that dukkha arises alongside attachment or clinging, the Buddha advised meditation practices and ethical precepts rooted in non-harming. Widely observed teachings include the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, and the doctrines of dependent origination, karma, and the three marks of existence. Other commonly observed elements include the Triple Gem, the taking of monastic vows, and the cultivation of perfections (pāramitā).

The Buddhist canon is vast, with philosophical traditions and textual collections in different languages (such as Sanskrit, Pali, Tibetan, and Chinese). Buddhist schools vary in their interpretation of the paths to liberation (mārga, "path") as well as the relative importance assigned to various Buddhist texts, and their specific teachings and practices. Two major extant branches of Buddhism are generally recognised by scholars: Theravāda (lit. 'School of the Elders') and Mahāyāna (lit. 'Great Vehicle'). The Theravada tradition emphasises the attainment of nirvāṇa (lit. 'extinguishing') as a means of transcending the individual self and ending the cycle of death and rebirth (saṃsāra), while the Mahayana tradition emphasises the Bodhisattva ideal, in which one works for the liberation of all sentient beings. Additionally, Vajrayāna (lit. 'Indestructible Vehicle'), a body of teachings incorporating esoteric tantric techniques, may be viewed as a separate branch or as a tradition within Mahāyāna.

The Mahāyāna branch, which includes the traditions of Tiantai, Chan, Pure Land, Zen, Nichiren and Tendai, is the largest branch of Buddhism, being predominantly practised in Nepal, Bhutan, China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan. The second-largest branch, Theravada, is followed mainly in Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka. Tibetan Buddhism, a form of Vajrayāna, is practised in the Himalayan states as well as in Mongolia and Russian Kalmykia and Tuva. Japanese Shingon also preserves the Vajrayana tradition as transmitted to China. Historically, until the early 2nd millennium, Buddhism was widely practised in the Indian subcontinent before declining there; it also had a foothold to some extent elsewhere in Asia, namely Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan.

Etymology

The terms Buddhadharma and Bauddhadharma come from Sanskrit: बुद्ध धर्म and बौद्ध धर्म respectively ("doctrine of the Enlightened One" and "doctrine of Buddhists"). The term Dharmavinaya comes from Sanskrit: धर्मविनय, literally meaning "doctrines [and] disciplines".

The Buddha ("the Awakened One") was a Śramaṇa who lived in South Asia c. 6th or 5th century BCE. Followers of Buddhism, called Buddhists in English, referred to themselves as Sakyan-s or Sakyabhiksu in ancient India. Buddhist scholar Donald S. Lopez asserts they also used the term Bauddha, although the scholar Richard Cohen asserts that that term was used only by outsiders to describe Buddhists.

The Buddha

Details of the Buddha's life are mentioned in many Early Buddhist Texts, but these accounts are inconsistent. His social background and life details are difficult to substantiate, and the precise dates are uncertain, although the 5th century BCE seems to be the best estimate.

Early texts have the Buddha's family name as "Gautama" (Pali: Gotama), while some texts present Siddhartha as his surname. He was born in Lumbini, (present-day Nepal) and grew up in Kapilavastu, a town in the Ganges Plain, near the modern Nepal–India border, and he spent his life in what is now modern Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Some hagiographic legends state that his father was a king named Suddhodana and his mother was Queen Maya. Scholars such as Richard Gombrich consider this claim dubious because a combination of evidence suggests he was born in the Shakya community, which was governed by a small oligarchy or republic-like council where there were no ranks but where seniority mattered instead. Some stories about the Buddha, his life, his teachings, and claims about the society he grew up in may have been invented and interpolated at a later time into the Buddhist texts.

Various aspects of the Buddha's background are contested in modern scholarship. For instance, Buddhist texts assert that the Buddha described himself as a kshatriya (warrior class), but Gombrich writes that little is known about his father and there is no proof that his father even knew the term kshatriya. (Mahavira, whose teachings helped establish Jainism, is also claimed by his early followers to have been a kshatriya.)

According to early texts such as the Pali Ariyapariyesanā-sutta ("The discourse on the noble quest", MN 26) and its Chinese parallel at MĀ 204, Gautama was moved by the suffering (dukkha) of life and death, and its endless repetition due to rebirth. He therefore set out on a quest to find liberation from suffering (also known as "nirvana"). Early texts and biographies state that Gautama first studied under two meditation teachers, Āḷāra Kālāma (Sanskrit: Arada Kalama) and Uddaka Ramaputta (Sanskrit: Udraka Ramaputra), learning meditation and philosophy, particularly the meditative attainment of "the sphere of nothingness" from the former and "the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception" from the latter.

Finding these teachings insufficient to attain his goal, he turned to the practice of severe asceticism, which included a strict fasting regime and various forms of breath control. This too did not lead to his goal, and he then turned to the meditative practice of dhyana. He sat in meditation under a Ficus religiosa tree now called the Bodhi Tree – in the town of Bodh Gaya and attained "Awakening" (Bodhi).

According to various early texts, such as the Mahāsaccaka-sutta, and the Samaññaphala Sutta, upon awakening the Buddha gained insight into the workings of karma and his former lives, as well as achieving the ending of the mental defilements (asavas), the ending of suffering, and the end of rebirth in saṃsāra. This event also confirmed for him the Middle Way as the correct path of spiritual practice to end suffering. As an awakened Buddha, he attracted followers and founded a Sangha (monastic order). He spent the rest of his life teaching the Dharma he had discovered, and then died, achieving "final nirvana", at the age of 80 in Kushinagar, India.

The Buddha's teachings were propagated by his followers. In the last centuries of the 1st millennium BCE, these teachings developed into various Buddhist schools of thought, each with its own collection of texts containing different interpretations and of the Buddha's authentic teachings. Over time, these evolved into many traditions, of which the more well-known and widespread in the modern era are Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism.

Worldview

The term "Buddhism" is an occidental neologism, commonly (and "rather roughly" according to Donald S. Lopez Jr.) used as a translation for the Dharma of the Buddha, fójiào in Chinese, bukkyō in Japanese, nang pa sangs rgyas pa'i chos in Tibetan, buddhadharma in Sanskrit, buddhaśāsana in Pali.

Four Noble Truths – dukkha and its ending

The Four Noble Truths, or the truths of the Noble Ones, express the basic orientation of Buddhism: everything is impermanent, yet we crave and cling to impermanent states and things, which is dukkha, "incapable of satisfying" and painful", - or which are dukkha, "unreliable", 'precarious', 'unstable'. This keeps us caught in saṃsāra, metaphysically interpreted as the endless cycle of repeated rebirth, dukkha and dying again, also interpreted as a psychological cycle of repetitious rebirth of the ego.

But there is a way to liberation from this endless cycle to the state of nirvana, namely following the Noble Eightfold Path.

The truth of dukkha is the basic insight that life in this mundane world, with its clinging and craving to impermanent states and things is - or which are - dukkha, and unsatisfactory. Dukkha can be translated as "incapable of satisfying", "the unsatisfactory nature and the general insecurity of all conditioned phenomena"; or "painful". Dukkha is most commonly translated as "suffering", but this is inaccurate, since it refers not to episodic suffering, but to the intrinsically unsatisfactory nature of temporary states and things, including pleasant but temporary experiences. We expect happiness from states and things which are impermanent, and therefore cannot attain real happiness.

Jonathan C. Gold argues that "unreliable" and "precarity" ("the state of being uncertain or likely to get worse") makes better sense in the Buddhist teachings such as the three marks of existence, indicating the futility of basing one's sense of selfhood on things and elements that impermant, unreliable (changing), devoid of an unchanging essence.

The Four Noble Truths are:

dukkha (lit. "suggering", also rendered "not being at ease"; from dushsta, 'standing unstable', in context "unreliable", "precarity, instability, an unreliable place to stand") is an innate characteristic of the perpetual cycle (samsara, lit. 'wandering') of grasping at things, ideas and habits
samudaya (origin, arising, combination; "cause"): dukkha is caused by, or arises with, taṇhā ("craving," "desire" or "attachment," literally "thirst")
nirodha (cessation, ending, confinement): dukkha can be ended or contained by the confinement or letting go of taṇhā
marga (path, "way leading to the ending of pain") is the path leading to the confinement of taṇhā and dukkha, classically the Noble Eightfold Path but also summarised in other paths to liberation

Three marks of existence

Buddhism teaches that the idea that anything is permanent or that there is self in any being is ignorance or misperception (avijjā), and that this is the primary source of clinging and dukkha.

Ignorance is countered by insight (paññā); most schools of Buddhism, therefore, teach three marks of existence, which fundamentally characterise all phenomena:

Anicca: impermanence
Dukkha: unsatisfactoriness
Anattā: non-self; living things have no permanent immanent soul or essence

Some schools describe four characteristics or "four seals of the Dharma", adding to the above

Nirvana is peaceful/peace (śānta/śānti)

The cycle of rebirth

Saṃsāra

Saṃsāra means "wandering" or "world", with the connotation of cyclic, circuitous change. It refers to the theory of rebirth and "cyclicality of all life, matter, existence", a fundamental assumption of Buddhism, as with all major Indian religions. Samsara in Buddhism is considered to be dukkha, unsatisfactory and painful, perpetuated by desire and avidya (ignorance), and the resulting karma. Liberation from this cycle of existence, nirvana, has been the foundation and the most important historical justification of Buddhism.

Buddhist texts assert that rebirth can occur in six realms of existence, namely three good realms (heavenly, demi-god, human) and three evil realms (animal, hungry ghosts, hellish). Samsara ends if a person attains nirvana, the "blowing out" of the afflictions through insight into impermanence and "non-self".

Rebirth

Rebirth refers to a process whereby beings go through a succession of lifetimes as one of many possible forms of sentient life, each running from conception to death. In Buddhist thought, this rebirth does not involve a soul or any fixed substance. This is because the Buddhist doctrine of anattā (Sanskrit: anātman, no-self doctrine) rejects the concepts of a permanent self or an unchanging, eternal soul found in other religions.

The Buddhist traditions have traditionally disagreed on what it is in a person that is reborn, as well as how quickly the rebirth occurs after death. Some Buddhist traditions assert that "no self" doctrine means that there is no enduring self, but there is avacya (inexpressible) personality (pudgala) which migrates from one life to another. The majority of Buddhist traditions, in contrast, assert that vijñāna (a person's consciousness) though evolving, exists as a continuum and is the mechanistic basis of what undergoes the rebirth process. The quality of one's rebirth depends on the merit or demerit gained by one's karma (i.e., actions), as well as that accrued on one's behalf by a family member. Buddhism also developed a complex cosmology to explain the various realms or planes of rebirth.

Karma

In Buddhism, karma (from Sanskrit: "action, work") drives saṃsāra—the endless cycle of suffering and rebirth for each being. Good, skilful deeds (Pāli: kusala) and bad, unskilful deeds (Pāli: akusala) produce "seeds" in the unconscious receptacle (ālaya) that mature later either in this life or in a subsequent rebirth. The existence of karma is a core belief in Buddhism, as with all major Indian religions, and it implies neither fatalism nor that everything that happens to a person is caused by karma. (Diseases and suffering induced by the disruptive actions of other people are examples of non-karma suffering.)

A central aspect of Buddhist theory of karma is that intent (cetanā) matters and is essential to bring about a consequence or phala "fruit" or vipāka "result". The emphasis on intent in Buddhism marks a difference from the karmic theory of Jainism, where karma accumulates with or without intent. The emphasis on intent is also found in Hinduism, and Buddhism may have influenced karma theories of Hinduism.

In Buddhism, good or bad karma accumulates even if there is no physical action, and just having ill or good thoughts creates karmic seeds; thus, actions of body, speech or mind all lead to karmic seeds. In the Buddhist traditions, life aspects affected by the law of karma in past and current births of a being include the form of rebirth, realm of rebirth, social class, character and major circumstances of a lifetime. According to the theory, it operates like the laws of physics, without external intervention, on every being in all six realms of existence including human beings and gods.

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Text from the Wikipedia article “Buddhism”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Wonders

Wonders of the world on the atlas in the story of Buddhism: built for it, long used by it, or standing on its holy ground.

Built c. 250 – 50 BCE
The Great Stupa at Sanchi
Sanchi, India
A stupa begun under the emperor Ashoka to hold relics of the Buddha and enlarged over the next two centuries; it is among the oldest stone buildings in India.
Built 745 – 758 CE
The Great Buddha Hall of Tōdai-ji
Nara, Japan
The hall of the Great Buddha of Nara, built for Emperor Shōmu as the head of a network of state temples across Japan; still one of the largest wooden buildings in the world.
Built c. 780 – 833 CE
Borobudur
Magelang, Indonesia
The largest Buddhist temple in the world, built under Java's Shailendra kings as a stepped mountain of carved galleries crowned by a great stupa ringed by 72 smaller ones.
Built c. 1113 – 1150
Angkor Wat
Siem Reap, Cambodia
Built as a temple to Vishnu, it became a Buddhist temple from the end of the 12th century as the Khmer turned to Buddhism, and Theravada monks have kept it since.
Built 1645 – 1694
The Potala Palace
Lhasa, Tibet, China
The winter palace of the Dalai Lamas, heads of Tibet's government and of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, from the 17th century until 1959.

Trade routes that carried it

Routes on the atlas that its missionaries, merchants and pilgrims travelled. The map above draws them in the years they ran.

c. 500 BCE – today · by land
Grand Trunk Road
It follows the Uttarapatha, the northern road along which the Buddha's teaching went from Magadha to Taxila and Gandhara under Ashoka.
c. 130 BCE – 1453 CE · by land
Silk Road
Monks and merchants carried it from Gandhara over the mountains to Khotan, Kucha and Dunhuang and on to China; pilgrims such as Xuanzang came back the same way for its scriptures.
c. 200 BCE – 1500 CE · by sea and river
Maritime Silk Road
Monks sailed with merchants between India, Sri Lanka, Sumatra and China: Faxian came home this way in 412, and Yijing stayed at Srivijaya's Palembang in 671 and again for years after.

Symbol meaning

Dharma wheel

Timeline

52 places in order of arrival: when the first believers came, from where and how; when it became the main faith there, and when it faded.

c. 528 BCE, until 1300 · Bodh Gaya
Where Siddhartha Gautama is said to have reached awakening under the Bodhi tree; monks kept the shrine into the 13th century.
c. 528 BCE, until 1200 · Sarnath
In the deer park at Isipatana the Buddha gave his first sermon to five ascetics, who became the first monks.
from Bodh Gaya · with its founder
c. 528 BCE, until 1200 · Rajagriha
King Bimbisara of Magadha gave the Buddha the Bamboo Grove here, and tradition holds the first council of monks here after his death.
from Bodh Gaya · with its founder
c. 525 BCE, until 1200 · Shravasti
The merchant Anathapindika bought the Jetavana grove for the Buddha, who spent more rainy seasons here, in the Kosala capital, than anywhere else.
from Rajagriha · with its founder
c. 484 BCE, main faith from 260 BCE, until 1200 · Magadha (Pataliputra)
The Buddha is said to have blessed the village of Pataligama on his last journey; as Ashoka's capital it hosted the third council of monks.
from Rajagriha · with its founder
c. 250 BCE, at once the main faith · Sri Lanka (Anuradhapura)
Mahinda, a son of the emperor Ashoka, led a mission that converted King Devanampiya Tissa, and the island became a home of the Theravada.
from Pataliputra · by mission · Theravada
c. 250 BCE, until 470 CE · Gandhara (Taxila)
Ashoka, once viceroy here, is said to have raised the Dharmarajika stupa, and Gandhara's monasteries grew under Indo-Greek, Saka and Kushan kings.
from Pataliputra · by mission
c. 250 BCE, until 1400 · Kashmir (Srinagar)
Tradition credits the monk Majjhantika, sent by Ashoka's council, with bringing the faith to Kashmir, later a centre of Sarvastivada learning.
from Pataliputra · by mission
c. 250 BCE · Suvarnabhumi (Thaton)
Ashoka's council sent the monks Sona and Uttara to Suvarnabhumi, which Mon tradition places at Thaton, later a seat of Theravada learning.
from Pataliputra · by mission · Theravada
c. 200 BCE, until 1350 · Andhra (Amaravati)
The great stupa beside the Satavahana city of Dhanyakataka made the lower Krishna a centre of the faith whose monks and art went overseas.
from Pataliputra · by mission
c. 84 BCE, main faith from 401 CE, until 1006 · Khotan
Khotanese tradition says a monk from Kashmir converted King Vijaya Sambhava; in 401 Faxian found the kingdom devoted to the Mahayana.
from Srinagar · by mission
c. 50 BCE, until 800 CE · Bactria (Bactra)
Buddhism spread among the Yuezhi of Bactria, whose Kushan kings later ruled Gandhara, and Balkh's Nava Vihara drew monks from far away.
from Taxila · by trade and mission
c. 68 CE · Luoyang
Tradition says envoys of Emperor Ming of Han brought the monks Kasyapa Matanga and Dharmaratna here, and the White Horse Temple was built for them.
from Bactra · by mission
c. 127 CE, until 1000 · Purushapura
Kanishka, the Kushan king, built a great stupa at his capital, and Buddhist tradition holds that he called a council of monks.
from Taxila · by mission
c. 190 CE, main faith from 1009 · Jiaozhi (Luy Lâu)
The capital of Han Jiaozhi was reached by Indian monks and merchants by sea; much later the Lý kings of Đại Việt made the faith their court's.
from Amaravati · by trade and mission
c. 200 CE, main faith from 350 CE, until 1400 · Kucha
Kucha's kings followed the Sarvastivada school of Kashmir, and the city was home to Kumarajiva, who later translated many sutras into Chinese.
from Srinagar · by mission
247 CE · Jiankang
Kang Senghui, a Sogdian monk raised in Jiaozhi, came to Jianye, the Wu capital, in 247 and founded its first temple under Sun Quan.
from Luy Lâu · by mission
c. 250 CE · Dunhuang
The oasis at the head of the Silk Road had Buddhist families by the 3rd century, and from 366 monks cut the Mogao caves into the cliffs nearby.
from Bactra · by trade and migration
c. 266 CE · Chang'an
Dharmaraksa of Dunhuang translated sutras here from about 266, and in 401 the Later Qin ruler brought Kumarajiva to lead a translation bureau.
from Dunhuang · by mission
c. 300 CE, main faith from 630 CE, until 1000 · Bamiyan
Monasteries filled the valley's cliffs, where two giant Buddhas were carved in the 6th century; Xuanzang found king and people devout in 630.
from Bactra · by mission
372 CE, main faith from 375 CE · Goguryeo (Gungnae)
Fu Jian of Former Qin sent the monk Sundo with images and sutras to King Sosurim of Goguryeo, who built temples for the monks.
from Chang'an · by mission
384 CE, main faith from 385 CE · Baekje (Hanseong)
The foreign monk Marananta came from Eastern Jin and was welcomed by King Chimnyu of Baekje, who built a temple for him the next year.
from Jiankang · by mission
c. 400 CE · Kathmandu Valley (Lalitpur)
Licchavi inscriptions record monasteries in the Kathmandu Valley, where Newar Buddhists still keep a Mahayana and Vajrayana tradition from India.
from Pataliputra · by mission
c. 400 CE · Funan (Óc Eo)
Buddha images and Indian goods at this Funan port show the faith arriving with sea trade; Funan monks later translated sutras at the Liang court.
from Amaravati · by trade
c. 427 CE, until 1200 · Nalanda
Gupta kings founded a monastery here that grew into the leading centre of Buddhist learning, drawing scholars such as Xuanzang and Yijing.
from Rajagriha · by mission
527 CE, at once the main faith · Silla (Gyeongju)
Monks from Goguryeo had preached in Silla, but only after the courtier Ichadon was executed for the faith did King Beopheung accept it in 527.
from Gungnae · by mission
c. 538 CE, main faith from 594 CE · Japan (Asuka)
King Seong of Baekje sent a Buddha image and sutras to the Yamato court; the Soga clan championed the faith, and Prince Shōtoku made it the court's.
from Hanseong · by mission
c. 550 CE · Dvaravati (Nakhon Pathom)
The Mon kingdom of Dvaravati left Pali inscriptions and stone wheels of the law around Nakhon Pathom, which Thai tradition calls Ashoka's Suvarnabhumi.
from Thaton · by mission · Theravada
c. 600 CE · Champa (Indrapura)
Sui troops took over a thousand Buddhist texts from Champa in 605, and in 875 King Indravarman II founded a Mahayana monastery at his capital, Indrapura.
from Amaravati · by trade
641 CE, main faith from 779 CE · Lhasa
Princess Wencheng of Tang and a Nepali princess brought Buddha images to King Songtsen Gampo, who built the Jokhang and Ramoche temples for them.
from Chang'an · by mission
c. 659 CE, main faith from 1616 · Bhutan (Kyichu Lhakhang)
Tradition says Songtsen Gampo founded this temple in the Paro valley; the Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, arriving in 1616, made Bhutan a Drukpa Buddhist state.
from Lhasa · by mission
671 CE, main faith from 684 CE, until 1450 · Srivijaya (Palembang)
Yijing found over a thousand monks at the Srivijaya capital in 671, and its king's inscriptions of the 680s are Buddhist prayers in Old Malay.
from Nalanda · by trade and mission · Mahayana
778 CE, at once the main faith, until 1527 · Java (Borobudur)
The Sailendra kings, patrons of the Mahayana, dedicated a Tara temple at Kalasan in 778 and built Borobudur, a stupa of carved terraces, by about 830.
from Palembang · by trade and mission · Mahayana
c. 779 CE, at once the main faith · Tibet (Samye)
King Trisong Detsen invited the Nalanda abbot Shantarakshita and the tantric master Padmasambhava, founded Samye, and made Buddhism Tibet's state faith.
from Nalanda · by mission · Vajrayana
c. 800 CE, until 1203 · Vikramashila
The Pala king Dharmapala founded this monastic university, home of Atisha, who left it in 1040 to teach in Tibet.
from Nalanda · by mission
c. 950 CE, main faith from 1181 · Cambodia (Angkor)
Buddhists served at the Hindu court by the 10th century; Jayavarman VII made the Mahayana his state's faith in 1181, and Theravada became the people's by the 14th.
from Óc Eo · by mission
996 CE, at once the main faith · Western Tibet (Tholing)
King Yeshe-Ö of Guge founded Tholing monastery and sent Rinchen Zangpo to study in Kashmir, starting the later spread of Buddhism in Tibet.
from Srinagar · by mission · Vajrayana
1056, at once the main faith · Burma (Pagan)
The Mon monk Shin Arahan converted King Anawrahta to Theravada in 1056, and after taking Thaton in 1057 the king brought its monks and scriptures to Pagan.
from Thaton · by mission and conquest · Theravada
c. 1279, at once the main faith · Siam (Sukhothai)
King Ram Khamhaeng invited a forest monk of the Sri Lankan order from Nakhon Si Thammarat, making Theravada the faith of the Thai court.
from Anuradhapura · by mission · Theravada
1353, at once the main faith · Lan Xang (Luang Prabang)
Fa Ngum, raised at Angkor, founded Lan Xang with Khmer monks, and the Phra Bang image sent from Cambodia later gave the royal city its name.
from Angkor · by mission · Theravada
1578, at once the main faith · Southern Mongolia (Hohhot)
Altan Khan met Sonam Gyatso at Kokonor in 1578, gave him the title Dalai Lama, and made the Gelug teaching the faith of his Tümed Mongols.
from Lhasa · by mission · Vajrayana
1585, at once the main faith · Khalkha Mongolia (Erdene Zuu)
Abtai Sain Khan of the Khalkha built Erdene Zuu beside the ruins of Karakorum in 1585, the first large monastery of northern Mongolia.
from Hohhot · by mission · Vajrayana
c. 1615, at once the main faith · Dzungaria (Ghulja)
Oirat princes adopted the Gelug school about 1615, and the Oirat monk Zaya Pandita, trained in Tibet, later gave them scriptures in their own script.
from Lhasa · by mission · Vajrayana
c. 1630, at once the main faith · Kalmykia (Elista)
Torghut Oirats moved to the lower Volga about 1630 and kept their Buddhism, making the Kalmyks the one Buddhist people of Europe.
from Ghulja · by migration · Vajrayana
1642, at once the main faith · Sikkim (Yuksom)
Three Tibetan lamas consecrated Phuntsog Namgyal as the first Chogyal of Sikkim here in 1642, founding a Buddhist kingdom that lasted until 1975.
from Lhasa · by mission · Vajrayana
c. 1712 · Buryatia (Ulan-Ude)
Mongolian and Tibetan lamas came to the Buryats in the early 18th century, and in 1741 the Russian crown recognised their lamas and monasteries.
from Erdene Zuu · by mission · Vajrayana
1889 · Hawaii (Hilo)
The Jodo Shinshu priest Kagahi Soryu came in 1889 to serve Japanese plantation workers and opened a temple at Hilo, the first in Hawaii.
from Asuka · by migration and mission · Mahayana
1891 · Bodh Gaya
Anagarika Dharmapala of Ceylon founded the Maha Bodhi Society to win the temple back for Buddhists, who have shared its management since 1949.
from Anuradhapura · by mission · Theravada
1899 · San Francisco
The Jodo Shinshu priests Sonoda Shuye and Nishijima Kakuryo founded the Buddhist Mission of North America here in 1899 for Japanese immigrants.
from Asuka · by migration and mission · Mahayana
1907 · London
The Buddhist Society of Great Britain and Ireland formed in 1907 to welcome Ananda Metteyya, an English monk ordained in Burma, who arrived in 1908.
from Pagan · by mission · Theravada
1956 · Nagpur
B. R. Ambedkar and several hundred thousand Dalit followers took the Buddhist vows here on 14 October 1956, starting a mass movement of conversion.
from Bodh Gaya · by mission
1960 · Dharamshala
After the 1959 uprising the 14th Dalai Lama fled to India, and from 1960 Dharamshala has been the seat of the Tibetan government in exile.
from Lhasa · by migration · Vajrayana

Wonders

Wonders of the world on the atlas in the story of Buddhism: built for it, long used by it, or standing on its holy ground.

Built c. 250 – 50 BCE
The Great Stupa at Sanchi
Sanchi, India
A stupa begun under the emperor Ashoka to hold relics of the Buddha and enlarged over the next two centuries; it is among the oldest stone buildings in India.
Built 745 – 758 CE
The Great Buddha Hall of Tōdai-ji
Nara, Japan
The hall of the Great Buddha of Nara, built for Emperor Shōmu as the head of a network of state temples across Japan; still one of the largest wooden buildings in the world.
Built c. 780 – 833 CE
Borobudur
Magelang, Indonesia
The largest Buddhist temple in the world, built under Java's Shailendra kings as a stepped mountain of carved galleries crowned by a great stupa ringed by 72 smaller ones.
Built c. 1113 – 1150
Angkor Wat
Siem Reap, Cambodia
Built as a temple to Vishnu, it became a Buddhist temple from the end of the 12th century as the Khmer turned to Buddhism, and Theravada monks have kept it since.
Built 1645 – 1694
The Potala Palace
Lhasa, Tibet, China
The winter palace of the Dalai Lamas, heads of Tibet's government and of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, from the 17th century until 1959.

Trade routes that carried it

Routes on the atlas that its missionaries, merchants and pilgrims travelled. The map above draws them in the years they ran.

c. 500 BCE – today · by land
Grand Trunk Road
It follows the Uttarapatha, the northern road along which the Buddha's teaching went from Magadha to Taxila and Gandhara under Ashoka.
c. 130 BCE – 1453 CE · by land
Silk Road
Monks and merchants carried it from Gandhara over the mountains to Khotan, Kucha and Dunhuang and on to China; pilgrims such as Xuanzang came back the same way for its scriptures.
c. 200 BCE – 1500 CE · by sea and river
Maritime Silk Road
Monks sailed with merchants between India, Sri Lanka, Sumatra and China: Faxian came home this way in 412, and Yijing stayed at Srivijaya's Palembang in 671 and again for years after.

Symbol meaning

Dharma wheel

Timeline

52 places in order of arrival: when the first believers came, from where and how; when it became the main faith there, and when it faded.

c. 528 BCE, until 1300 · Bodh Gaya
Where Siddhartha Gautama is said to have reached awakening under the Bodhi tree; monks kept the shrine into the 13th century.
c. 528 BCE, until 1200 · Sarnath
In the deer park at Isipatana the Buddha gave his first sermon to five ascetics, who became the first monks.
from Bodh Gaya · with its founder
c. 528 BCE, until 1200 · Rajagriha
King Bimbisara of Magadha gave the Buddha the Bamboo Grove here, and tradition holds the first council of monks here after his death.
from Bodh Gaya · with its founder
c. 525 BCE, until 1200 · Shravasti
The merchant Anathapindika bought the Jetavana grove for the Buddha, who spent more rainy seasons here, in the Kosala capital, than anywhere else.
from Rajagriha · with its founder
c. 484 BCE, main faith from 260 BCE, until 1200 · Magadha (Pataliputra)
The Buddha is said to have blessed the village of Pataligama on his last journey; as Ashoka's capital it hosted the third council of monks.
from Rajagriha · with its founder
c. 250 BCE, at once the main faith · Sri Lanka (Anuradhapura)
Mahinda, a son of the emperor Ashoka, led a mission that converted King Devanampiya Tissa, and the island became a home of the Theravada.
from Pataliputra · by mission · Theravada
c. 250 BCE, until 470 CE · Gandhara (Taxila)
Ashoka, once viceroy here, is said to have raised the Dharmarajika stupa, and Gandhara's monasteries grew under Indo-Greek, Saka and Kushan kings.
from Pataliputra · by mission
c. 250 BCE, until 1400 · Kashmir (Srinagar)
Tradition credits the monk Majjhantika, sent by Ashoka's council, with bringing the faith to Kashmir, later a centre of Sarvastivada learning.
from Pataliputra · by mission
c. 250 BCE · Suvarnabhumi (Thaton)
Ashoka's council sent the monks Sona and Uttara to Suvarnabhumi, which Mon tradition places at Thaton, later a seat of Theravada learning.
from Pataliputra · by mission · Theravada
c. 200 BCE, until 1350 · Andhra (Amaravati)
The great stupa beside the Satavahana city of Dhanyakataka made the lower Krishna a centre of the faith whose monks and art went overseas.
from Pataliputra · by mission
c. 84 BCE, main faith from 401 CE, until 1006 · Khotan
Khotanese tradition says a monk from Kashmir converted King Vijaya Sambhava; in 401 Faxian found the kingdom devoted to the Mahayana.
from Srinagar · by mission
c. 50 BCE, until 800 CE · Bactria (Bactra)
Buddhism spread among the Yuezhi of Bactria, whose Kushan kings later ruled Gandhara, and Balkh's Nava Vihara drew monks from far away.
from Taxila · by trade and mission
c. 68 CE · Luoyang
Tradition says envoys of Emperor Ming of Han brought the monks Kasyapa Matanga and Dharmaratna here, and the White Horse Temple was built for them.
from Bactra · by mission
c. 127 CE, until 1000 · Purushapura
Kanishka, the Kushan king, built a great stupa at his capital, and Buddhist tradition holds that he called a council of monks.
from Taxila · by mission
c. 190 CE, main faith from 1009 · Jiaozhi (Luy Lâu)
The capital of Han Jiaozhi was reached by Indian monks and merchants by sea; much later the Lý kings of Đại Việt made the faith their court's.
from Amaravati · by trade and mission
c. 200 CE, main faith from 350 CE, until 1400 · Kucha
Kucha's kings followed the Sarvastivada school of Kashmir, and the city was home to Kumarajiva, who later translated many sutras into Chinese.
from Srinagar · by mission
247 CE · Jiankang
Kang Senghui, a Sogdian monk raised in Jiaozhi, came to Jianye, the Wu capital, in 247 and founded its first temple under Sun Quan.
from Luy Lâu · by mission
c. 250 CE · Dunhuang
The oasis at the head of the Silk Road had Buddhist families by the 3rd century, and from 366 monks cut the Mogao caves into the cliffs nearby.
from Bactra · by trade and migration
c. 266 CE · Chang'an
Dharmaraksa of Dunhuang translated sutras here from about 266, and in 401 the Later Qin ruler brought Kumarajiva to lead a translation bureau.
from Dunhuang · by mission
c. 300 CE, main faith from 630 CE, until 1000 · Bamiyan
Monasteries filled the valley's cliffs, where two giant Buddhas were carved in the 6th century; Xuanzang found king and people devout in 630.
from Bactra · by mission
372 CE, main faith from 375 CE · Goguryeo (Gungnae)
Fu Jian of Former Qin sent the monk Sundo with images and sutras to King Sosurim of Goguryeo, who built temples for the monks.
from Chang'an · by mission
384 CE, main faith from 385 CE · Baekje (Hanseong)
The foreign monk Marananta came from Eastern Jin and was welcomed by King Chimnyu of Baekje, who built a temple for him the next year.
from Jiankang · by mission
c. 400 CE · Kathmandu Valley (Lalitpur)
Licchavi inscriptions record monasteries in the Kathmandu Valley, where Newar Buddhists still keep a Mahayana and Vajrayana tradition from India.
from Pataliputra · by mission
c. 400 CE · Funan (Óc Eo)
Buddha images and Indian goods at this Funan port show the faith arriving with sea trade; Funan monks later translated sutras at the Liang court.
from Amaravati · by trade
c. 427 CE, until 1200 · Nalanda
Gupta kings founded a monastery here that grew into the leading centre of Buddhist learning, drawing scholars such as Xuanzang and Yijing.
from Rajagriha · by mission
527 CE, at once the main faith · Silla (Gyeongju)
Monks from Goguryeo had preached in Silla, but only after the courtier Ichadon was executed for the faith did King Beopheung accept it in 527.
from Gungnae · by mission
c. 538 CE, main faith from 594 CE · Japan (Asuka)
King Seong of Baekje sent a Buddha image and sutras to the Yamato court; the Soga clan championed the faith, and Prince Shōtoku made it the court's.
from Hanseong · by mission
c. 550 CE · Dvaravati (Nakhon Pathom)
The Mon kingdom of Dvaravati left Pali inscriptions and stone wheels of the law around Nakhon Pathom, which Thai tradition calls Ashoka's Suvarnabhumi.
from Thaton · by mission · Theravada
c. 600 CE · Champa (Indrapura)
Sui troops took over a thousand Buddhist texts from Champa in 605, and in 875 King Indravarman II founded a Mahayana monastery at his capital, Indrapura.
from Amaravati · by trade
641 CE, main faith from 779 CE · Lhasa
Princess Wencheng of Tang and a Nepali princess brought Buddha images to King Songtsen Gampo, who built the Jokhang and Ramoche temples for them.
from Chang'an · by mission
c. 659 CE, main faith from 1616 · Bhutan (Kyichu Lhakhang)
Tradition says Songtsen Gampo founded this temple in the Paro valley; the Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, arriving in 1616, made Bhutan a Drukpa Buddhist state.
from Lhasa · by mission
671 CE, main faith from 684 CE, until 1450 · Srivijaya (Palembang)
Yijing found over a thousand monks at the Srivijaya capital in 671, and its king's inscriptions of the 680s are Buddhist prayers in Old Malay.
from Nalanda · by trade and mission · Mahayana
778 CE, at once the main faith, until 1527 · Java (Borobudur)
The Sailendra kings, patrons of the Mahayana, dedicated a Tara temple at Kalasan in 778 and built Borobudur, a stupa of carved terraces, by about 830.
from Palembang · by trade and mission · Mahayana
c. 779 CE, at once the main faith · Tibet (Samye)
King Trisong Detsen invited the Nalanda abbot Shantarakshita and the tantric master Padmasambhava, founded Samye, and made Buddhism Tibet's state faith.
from Nalanda · by mission · Vajrayana
c. 800 CE, until 1203 · Vikramashila
The Pala king Dharmapala founded this monastic university, home of Atisha, who left it in 1040 to teach in Tibet.
from Nalanda · by mission
c. 950 CE, main faith from 1181 · Cambodia (Angkor)
Buddhists served at the Hindu court by the 10th century; Jayavarman VII made the Mahayana his state's faith in 1181, and Theravada became the people's by the 14th.
from Óc Eo · by mission
996 CE, at once the main faith · Western Tibet (Tholing)
King Yeshe-Ö of Guge founded Tholing monastery and sent Rinchen Zangpo to study in Kashmir, starting the later spread of Buddhism in Tibet.
from Srinagar · by mission · Vajrayana
1056, at once the main faith · Burma (Pagan)
The Mon monk Shin Arahan converted King Anawrahta to Theravada in 1056, and after taking Thaton in 1057 the king brought its monks and scriptures to Pagan.
from Thaton · by mission and conquest · Theravada
c. 1279, at once the main faith · Siam (Sukhothai)
King Ram Khamhaeng invited a forest monk of the Sri Lankan order from Nakhon Si Thammarat, making Theravada the faith of the Thai court.
from Anuradhapura · by mission · Theravada
1353, at once the main faith · Lan Xang (Luang Prabang)
Fa Ngum, raised at Angkor, founded Lan Xang with Khmer monks, and the Phra Bang image sent from Cambodia later gave the royal city its name.
from Angkor · by mission · Theravada
1578, at once the main faith · Southern Mongolia (Hohhot)
Altan Khan met Sonam Gyatso at Kokonor in 1578, gave him the title Dalai Lama, and made the Gelug teaching the faith of his Tümed Mongols.
from Lhasa · by mission · Vajrayana
1585, at once the main faith · Khalkha Mongolia (Erdene Zuu)
Abtai Sain Khan of the Khalkha built Erdene Zuu beside the ruins of Karakorum in 1585, the first large monastery of northern Mongolia.
from Hohhot · by mission · Vajrayana
c. 1615, at once the main faith · Dzungaria (Ghulja)
Oirat princes adopted the Gelug school about 1615, and the Oirat monk Zaya Pandita, trained in Tibet, later gave them scriptures in their own script.
from Lhasa · by mission · Vajrayana
c. 1630, at once the main faith · Kalmykia (Elista)
Torghut Oirats moved to the lower Volga about 1630 and kept their Buddhism, making the Kalmyks the one Buddhist people of Europe.
from Ghulja · by migration · Vajrayana
1642, at once the main faith · Sikkim (Yuksom)
Three Tibetan lamas consecrated Phuntsog Namgyal as the first Chogyal of Sikkim here in 1642, founding a Buddhist kingdom that lasted until 1975.
from Lhasa · by mission · Vajrayana
c. 1712 · Buryatia (Ulan-Ude)
Mongolian and Tibetan lamas came to the Buryats in the early 18th century, and in 1741 the Russian crown recognised their lamas and monasteries.
from Erdene Zuu · by mission · Vajrayana
1889 · Hawaii (Hilo)
The Jodo Shinshu priest Kagahi Soryu came in 1889 to serve Japanese plantation workers and opened a temple at Hilo, the first in Hawaii.
from Asuka · by migration and mission · Mahayana
1891 · Bodh Gaya
Anagarika Dharmapala of Ceylon founded the Maha Bodhi Society to win the temple back for Buddhists, who have shared its management since 1949.
from Anuradhapura · by mission · Theravada
1899 · San Francisco
The Jodo Shinshu priests Sonoda Shuye and Nishijima Kakuryo founded the Buddhist Mission of North America here in 1899 for Japanese immigrants.
from Asuka · by migration and mission · Mahayana
1907 · London
The Buddhist Society of Great Britain and Ireland formed in 1907 to welcome Ananda Metteyya, an English monk ordained in Burma, who arrived in 1908.
from Pagan · by mission · Theravada
1956 · Nagpur
B. R. Ambedkar and several hundred thousand Dalit followers took the Buddhist vows here on 14 October 1956, starting a mass movement of conversion.
from Bodh Gaya · by mission
1960 · Dharamshala
After the 1959 uprising the 14th Dalai Lama fled to India, and from 1960 Dharamshala has been the seat of the Tibetan government in exile.
from Lhasa · by migration · Vajrayana

Etymology

The Buddha

Worldview

Four Noble Truths – dukkha and its ending

But there is a way to liberation from this endless cycle to the state of nirvana, namely following the Noble Eightfold Path.

The Four Noble Truths are:

dukkha (lit. "suggering", also rendered "not being at ease"; from dushsta, 'standing unstable', in context "unreliable", "precarity, instability, an unreliable place to stand") is an innate characteristic of the perpetual cycle (samsara, lit. 'wandering') of grasping at things, ideas and habits
samudaya (origin, arising, combination; "cause"): dukkha is caused by, or arises with, taṇhā ("craving," "desire" or "attachment," literally "thirst")
nirodha (cessation, ending, confinement): dukkha can be ended or contained by the confinement or letting go of taṇhā
marga (path, "way leading to the ending of pain") is the path leading to the confinement of taṇhā and dukkha, classically the Noble Eightfold Path but also summarised in other paths to liberation

Three marks of existence

Buddhism teaches that the idea that anything is permanent or that there is self in any being is ignorance or misperception (avijjā), and that this is the primary source of clinging and dukkha.

Ignorance is countered by insight (paññā); most schools of Buddhism, therefore, teach three marks of existence, which fundamentally characterise all phenomena:

Anicca: impermanence
Dukkha: unsatisfactoriness
Anattā: non-self; living things have no permanent immanent soul or essence

Some schools describe four characteristics or "four seals of the Dharma", adding to the above

Nirvana is peaceful/peace (śānta/śānti)

The cycle of rebirth

Saṃsāra

Rebirth

Karma

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Text from the Wikipedia article “Buddhism”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.