Spread of Buddhism in the context of Eastern Iranian people

Spread of Buddhism in the context of Eastern Iranian people

⭐ Core Definition: Spread of Buddhism

Mahayana Buddhism entered Han China via the Silk Road, beginning in the 1st or 2nd century CE. The first documented translation efforts by Buddhist monks in China were in the 2nd century CE via the Kushan Empire into the Chinese territory bordering the Tarim Basin under Kanishka. These contacts transmitted strands of Sarvastivadan and Tamrashatiya Buddhism throughout the Eastern world.

Theravada Buddhism developed from the Pāli Canon in Sri Lanka Tamrashatiya school and spread throughout Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, Sarvastivada Buddhism was transmitted from North India through Central Asia to China. Direct contact between Central Asian and Chinese Buddhism continued throughout the 3rd to 7th centuries, much into the Tang period. From the 4th century onward, Chinese pilgrims like Faxian (395–414) and later Xuanzang (629–644) started to travel to northern India in order to get improved access to original scriptures. Between the 3rd and 7th centuries, parts of the land route connecting northern India with China was ruled by the Xiongnu, Han dynasty, Kushan Empire, the Hephthalite Empire, the Göktürks, and the Tang dynasty. The Indian form of Buddhist tantra (Vajrayana) reached China in the 7th century. Tibetan Buddhism was likewise established as a branch of Vajrayana, in the 8th century.

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Spread of Buddhism in the context of Buddhist texts

Buddhist texts are religious texts that belong to, or are associated with, Buddhism and its traditions. There is no single textual collection for all of Buddhism. Instead, there are three main Buddhist Canons: the Pāli Canon of the Theravāda tradition, the Chinese Buddhist Canon used in East Asian Buddhist tradition, and the Tibetan Buddhist Canon used in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism.

The earliest Buddhist texts were not committed to writing until some centuries after the death of Gautama Buddha. The oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts are the Gandhāran Buddhist texts, found in Pakistan and written in Gāndhārī, they date from the first century BCE to the third century CE. The first Buddhist texts were initially passed on orally by Buddhist monastics, but were later written down and composed as manuscripts in various Indo-Aryan languages (such as Pāli, Gāndhārī, and Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit). These texts were collected into various collections and translated into other languages such as Buddhist Chinese (fójiào hànyǔ 佛教漢語) and Classical Tibetan as Buddhism spread outside of India.

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Spread of Buddhism in the context of Southern, Eastern and Northern Buddhism

Southern Buddhism, Eastern Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism are geographical terms sometimes used to describe the three main schools of Buddhism: Theravāda, Mahāyāna, and Vajrayāna. Buddhism is an Indian religion and dhārma that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs, and spiritual practices based on teachings attributed to Gautama Buddha (5th century BCE), but diversified since then in a wide variety of schools and traditions. Buddhism originated in ancient India, from where the Buddhadhārma spread from the northeastern region of the Indian subcontinent throughout Central Asia, East Asia, Mainland Southeast Asia, and Maritime Southeast Asia.

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LINKED FROM (PARENTS)
← Buddhist texts ← Suttas ← Southern, Eastern and Northern Buddhism ← Buddhist scriptures
LINKS TO (CHILDREN)
Mahayana Buddhism → Chinese Buddhism → Chinese Empire → Han dynasty → Silk Road → Kushan Empire → Maritime Southeast Asia → Central Asia → Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves → Albert von Le Coq → Blue-eyed → Red-haired → Tocharians → Caucasian race → Sogdia → Eastern Iranian people → Turfan → Tang dynasty → Kingdom of Qocho → Mahayana → Buddhism → Han China → China → Tarim Basin → Kanishka → Sarvastivada → Tamrashatiya → Eastern world → Theravada Buddhism → Pāli Canon → Sri Lanka → Southeast Asia → Central Asian Buddhism → Chinese Buddhism → Faxian → Xuanzang → Xiongnu → Han dynasty → Hephthalite Empire → Göktürks → Tantra → Vajrayana → Tibetan Buddhism →