Centuries of Buddhism: A Chronology of Events of the Buddha Dhamma

    The Bodhisatta or Buddha-to-be, was born in Lumbini (in present-day Nepal) as Siddhattha, a prince of the Sakya clan. He was born a prince (c. 563 BC; Kapilavastu, Nepal) into the Gautama family of the Sakya clan.

     During one of his few excursions from the protection of his father's palace, Prince Siddhattha saw an old man, a sick man, a dead man, which shocked him greatly. This revelation caused him to begin a search for truth and He renounced the householder life. (age 29)

   The Future Buddha, the ascetic Siddhattha,sat cross-legged at the foot of the Bodhi tree with the firm resolution that he would not get up from his seat until he attained the supreme wisdom of a Buddha, and went into deep meditation. On Wednesday the full moon day of Vesakha (April-May) 589 B.C., He attained the Supreme Enlightenment of a Buddha.(Age 35)

    The Buddha went to the Deer Park at Isipatana near Benares, in Ancient India/ Nepal, about 18 yojanas (1 yojana =about 8 miles) away and preached his First Sermon, 'Dhammacakkappavattana'to this "Group of Five Disciples" before sunset on the full moon day of 'Waso' (June-July). Kondanna was established in the first noble stage of theAriyan Path; i.e., the Sotapatti stage of Ariyahood.

    The Second Discourse, Anattalakkhana Sutta, followed the first one. At the end of this Discourse about Anatta (soullessness), all five Ascetics attained Arahantship.

    After the Buddha had kept his retreat at the Deer Park at Isipatana during the first rainy season, there were fully sixty Arahants besides the Blessed One. "O Bhikkhus, wander for the gain of the many, for the good of the many, for the gain and welfare of gods and men. Preach, O Bhikkhus, the doctrine which is glorious in the beginning, glorious in the middle, glorious at the end, in spirit and in letter. Proclaim the Holy Life altogether perfect and pure. There are beings with a little dust in their eyes, who, not hearing the Doctrine will fall away. There will be those who will understand the Doctrine". With this exhortation the Buddha despatched His first missionary monks abroad.

     From the date of His Enlightenment, the Buddha's successful ministry lasted 45 years. When He attained His 80th year the Buddha had an attack of dysentery and lay down on a couch with its head to the north between twin sal-trees in the Sala Grove of Kusinara State.(now Kusinagar, India) (age 80)

    Just before the Buddha passed away, he made a resolute wish that, "the bones of my body may be left over as relics in small bits" so that posterity may reverence them. Then as agreed by the rulers of the eight states, Dona the Brahmin Teacher distributed the sacred relics to them. They took the relies away and placed them inside pagodas and shrines and revered them as objects of worship.

     Subhadda, who became a bhikkhu in his old age, disparaged the Buddha's Teachings on the seventh day after the Buddha had passed away. " Venerable Mahakassapa was very alarmed and concerned about the future of the Buddha's Teachings. He suggested to hold a Council of leading Arahants to collect, classify and rehearse the teachings of the Buddha in order to protect and fortify the Buddha's Teachings. King Ajatasattu was informed of the intention of the Samgha, and with his help, the First Buddhist council was held in Sattapanni Cave Pavilion at Mount Vebhara at Rajagaha with 500 Arahants, including Venerable Upali and Venerable Ananda. It started on the fifth waning day of 'Wagaung' (August) and lasted seven months. Venerable Ananda who had the special privilege of hearing all the discourses of the Buddha recited the Dhamma (Suttas), whilst the Venerable Upali recited the Vinaya, the disciplinary rules of conduct for the Samgha.

     The Second Council was held at Valukarama monastery, near the city of Vesali in 100 B.E. (443 B.C), during King Kalasoka. It was held because the bhikkhus of the Vajji clan from Vesali preached and practised ten unlawful modifications in the Rules of the Order (Vinaya). The seven hundred arahats led by Venerable Yasa. Venerable Sabbakami and Venerable Revata took part in that council while King Kalasoka and the people gave necessary supports to that council, it lasted eight months. The first schism of the Sangha occurs, in which the Mahasanghika school parted ways with the traditionalist Sthaviravadins.The orthodox monks said nothing should be changed while others insisted on modifying some rules. In this Second Council, only Vinaya matters were discussed and no controversy about the Dhamma was reported. But after this Council, different schools of Buddhism emerged.

King Asoka was the third emperor of the Mauryan dynasty of India and the best known ancient ruler of India, born in 304 BC and came to the throne in 270 BC, after a power struggle that resulted in the death of one of his brothers. In 260 BC, Asoka attacked Kalinga (present day Orissa) and was successful, but resulted in a horrible loss of life. In remorse for his bloody attack on Kalinga, Asoka renounced war forever and became a Buddhist. He sent missionaries to South East Asia, Cyrene (present day Libya), Egypt, Syria, and Macedonia. His son, Mahinda, became a Theraveda monk and was sent to introduce Buddhism to Sri Lanka. Buddhism became a dominant religious force under Asoka. Some of Asoka's edicts, carved on pillars and rocks, form the earliest known epigraphs in the subcontinent and there are 20 known pillars that Asoka commissioned. These pillars display Buddhist symbols such as the wheel and the lion. Asoka had a sculpture of four lions placed on top of each of his pillars. These lions remain a national symbol of India today. He was the first powerful monarch to practice Buddhism. He united most of the subcontinent and introduced it to Buddhism.

    The Third Council was held at Asokarama Monastery in the city of Pataliputta in India. Sixty thousand ascetics infiltrated into the Sangha Order, polluted the Sasana by their corrupt lives and heretical views. That is the main reason why the Third Council was held by one thousand arahats in order to protect the Sasana. At this Council, differences in the Dhamma as well as the Vinaya were discussed. The President of the Council was Venerable Moggaliputta Tissa and a book called Kathavatthu was written, refuting the heretical, false views and theories held by some disciples.

     Venerable Mahamoggaliputta Tissa presided over the council and King Siridhamm Asoka of Pataliputta gave the necessary support to the council. It lasted nine months. After the Third Council, nine missions were sent to nine different places to propagate the Sasana. The mission of five arahats to Suvannabhumi, believed to be Burma (Myanmar), was led by Venerable Sona Thera and Venerable Uttara Thera. The teaching approved and accepted by this council was known as Theravada. The Abhidhamma Pitaka was also discussed and included at this Council.

    Buddhism was believed to have been introduced to Afghanistan in the third century B.C. by Emperor Asoka. It found fertile soil in the former Gandhara province (nowadays, East Afghanistan and North Pakistan) around the first and second centuries A.D. under the rule of the great Kushan ruler Kanishka. Buddhist monks came and went, teaching their religion along the Chinese Silk Route. In the second century AD with the ascension of Kanishka to the throne, Afghanistan became a great seat of Buddhist learning and the arts. From this pivotal centre Buddhism reached Sinkiang, China and Mongolia. Kanishka became a Buddhist. During his long and epoch-making rulership (120 to 160 AD), Buddhism and Buddhist art and culture became the life-blood of his far-flung empire.

    There were evidence of flourishing Buddhism in year 2 B.C. in Yueh-chi, the ancient Afghanistan, as a Chinese diplomat was recorded to have sent certain Buddhist Texts to China from that area. The inscriptions on urns and earthern jars reveled the donors of non-indian races, viz: Greeks, Persians, etc. The Buddhist monuments are strewn along the tract of the great highway along the Kabul Valley. The Colossal Buddha statues, the Buddhas of Bamiyan, each Buddha being over 200 feet in height (53 metre and 38 metre high, respectively), were discovered in the Bamiyan Valley, situated 230 km NW of Kabul at an altitude of 2500 metres. It was one of the major Buddhist centres from the second century up to the time that Islam entered the valley in the ninth century. Buddha of Bamiyan The two statues were hewn out of the rock (estimates of dates vary, but most probably around the fourth and fifth centuries A.D.)

     The famous Chinese pilgrim monk, Xuan Zang, visited Afghanistan in the seventh century AD. He describes that great many monasteries were ubiquitous in Bamiyan, and the smaller statue at Bamiyan. and the stupa at its feet (no longer in existence). Early in the thirteenth century, the city of Bamiyan and all its inhabitants were swept off the face of the valley by Genghis Khan, the Mongol.

     References: 'Buddhism and Buddhist Monuments in Afghabistan', JA Will Perera,The Light of Buddha Magazine, Vol. III, Burma Buddhist Society, 1958)

     'The Buddhas of Bamiyan', JET VAN KRIEKEN-PIETERS, 2000.

    Tradition has it that the Buddha visited the island three times to bless it . Their Chronicles also recorded the first immigrants from India reaching the island on the day of Hisparinibbana. But it was not till two centuries later that Buddhism was firmly established when the Arahant Mahinda, son of emperor Asoka, came over from India, and converted King Devanampiyatissa. Emperor Asoka despatched his daughter, Sanghamitta, who had become a nun, together with a branch of the Sacred Bodhi-Tree. Dagobhas were built all over the country to enshrine the Relics of the Buddha from the main land India. It is believed that the first images of the Buddha were made in Sri Lanka. So Sri Lanka was converted to Buddhism in the 3d cent. B.C., and Buddhism has remained its national religion.

  Maha Vihara of Great Minister at Anuradhapura and Abhayagiri Vihara were famous places. The Indian Monk, Buddhaghosa spent many years at the former and wrote many Pali Commentaries on books of Tipitaka. One of his works is the Visuddhi Magga (Path of Purity). He went across to Burma, according to Burmese tradition, to help in firm establishment of Buddhism in that land.

  The Sacred Tooth Relic of the Buddha arrived in A.D. 312. From the 5th to 9th centuries, missionery monks and nuns travelled from Sri Lanka to many countries in South East Asia. In the 10th century, the order of Monks and monasteries were almost wiped out by the invading Cholas from Southern India. But King Vijayabahu I drove them away in A.D. 1055 and invited 20 elders from Burma ( then called Ramanna) to restore the Sasana in Ceylon.

Reference: Dr. G.P. Malalasekara, 'Buddhism in Ceylon', The Light of Buddha Magazine, Vol. III, No.8, Burma Buddhist Society, 1958) .

     The Buddhism Canon is reduced to writing

     The Fourth Council was held at Cave Aloka in Malaya district, Sri Lanka, in 450 B.E (94 B.C)(80 B.C by some).

     The people of Sri Lanka were hard hit by rebels, hunger and starvation for twelve years. So the Bhikkhus had to make strong efforts to maintain the Buddha's Teachings. The elder bhikkhus foresaw that if there would appear such danger in future, the bhikkhus would not be able to memorize the discourses and the disciplines by heart because of the declination of their power of mindfulness, concentration and wisdom. Therefore, they held the Fourth Great Council.

     It was during the reign of King Vattagamani Abbaya, that five hundred bhikkhus, led by Venerable Mahadhammarakkhita, inscribed the entire words of the Buddha's Teachings on palm leaves.

     The heads and elders as well as the people of Malaya district gave all-round sup port to the council. The Fourth Great Council continued for one year.

     The Mahayana emerges as a definable movement in the 1st century B.C., with the appearance of a new class of literature called the Mahayana sutras. The main philosophical tenet of the Mahayana is that all things are empty, or devoid of self-nature (sunyata). Its chief religious ideal is the bodhisattva, which supplanted the earlier ideal of the arahant, and is distinguished from it by the vow to postpone entry into nirvana (although meriting it) until all other living beings are similarly enlightened and saved.

     During the 1st century A.D. Buddhism entered China along trade routes from central Asia. Chinese Buddhism encountered resistance from Confucianism and Taoism.

     Buddhist entered Vietnam in two significant waves. The first was a missionary wave of scholars from India during the early millennia. These were primarily Mahayana scholars. The second wave of Buddhist thought occurred about two hundred years after the common era. It is probably Chinese Master Meou-Po who was responsible for introducing Buddhism into Vietnam from China in 189 A.D. and the country was ruled by China at that time. This was a style of Buddhism filtered first through China, the Theravada school. Both of these schools of Buddhist thought co-existed throughout Vietnam.

     References:

     'Buddhism in Vietnam', Mai-Tho-Truyen, The Light of Buddha Magazine, Vol. III, No. 2, Burma Buddhist Society, 1958)

     'Vietnamese Buddhism', Laura Clark and Suzanne Brown.

     Buddhist monastic university at Nalanda flourishes; remains a world center of Buddhist study for over 1,000 years.

    According to the Mahavamsa, a Pali Chronicle of the fifth century Ceylon, the Emperor Asoka sent two Buddhist Monks, Sona and Uttara, to Suvannabhumi. An inscription of the Ikshavaku Dynasty of thr Andhra region, of about the 3rd century A.D. refers to the conversion of the Kiratas to Buddhism. (Kiratas were thought to be the Tibeto-Burma peoples of Burma). Early Chinese texts of about the same date speak of a "Kingdom of Liu-Yang", where all people worshipped the Buddha and there were several thousand samanas. This kingdom has been identified with a region somewhere in Central Burma. A series of epigraphic records in Pali, Sanskrit, Pyu and Mon datable in the 6th and 7th centuries, has been recovered from Central and Lower Burma (Prome and Rangoon).

    From the 11th to 13th centuries, the kings and queens of Pagan dynasty built countless numbers of stupas and temples.

References: U Tha Myat, 'Buddhism in South East Asia', The Light of Buddha Magazine, Vol. III, No.8, No.1, Burma Buddhist Society, 1958

    It is believed that Buddhism first arrived on the Korean peninsular in 372 A.D. when a monk arrived from China bringing Chinese texts and statues. In 384 the King of Paekje was converted to Buddhism and decreed that his subjects should follow suit. It was not until 527, however, that Buddhism became established in Shilla where it flourished. In 668 A.D. Shilla conquered the other kingdoms and Korea was unified.

    Ven. Buddhaghosa collates the various Sinhalese commentaries on the Canon translating into Pali. He also composed the Visuddhimagga (The Path of Purity) which eventually becomes the classic Sri Lankan textbook on the Buddha's teachings.

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