Buddhist traditions

Topics represented

Religion (99) · Buddhist traditions (97) · Korean Buddhist traditions (7) · State (7) · Theravāda (6) · Japanese Buddhist traditions (5) · Mahāyāna (5) · Art and monasticism (3) · Chinese Buddhist traditions (3) · Tibetan Buddhist traditions (3) · Chan (3) · Vajrayāna (3)

Records and sources

Ordered by start date. Long lives and processes may begin before the period you want to study.

1. 401

   Kumarajiva arrives in Chang’an

   Kumarajiva reached Chang’an in 401 and led a translation team that influenced Chinese Buddhism. His death is dated to 409 or 413; this entry dates his arrival, not a certain duration for all his activity.

2. c. 401–c. 800

   Longmen Grottoes

   Longmen documents Chinese Buddhist patronage and art over several dynasties.

3. c. 401–c. 1300

   Nalanda as a monastic-scholastic network

   Nalanda joins learning, monasticism, and trans-Asian contacts for centuries; it is not equivalent to a modern university.

4. c. 460–c. 520

   Yungang Grottoes

   Yungang makes adoption and transformation of Buddhist repertoires visible in north China.

5. c. 501–c. 600

   Formation of Tiantai

   Tiantai organizes doctrinal reading and practice in China; it does not represent all Chinese Mahayanas.

6. c. 501–c. 1100

   Dvaravati networks

   Communities and polities in present-day central Thailand participated in Southeast Asian Buddhist networks. Their boundaries and relationships differed from today’s national borders.

7. 528

   Silla officially sanctions Buddhism

   Silla officially sanctions Buddhism; the three kingdoms already had distinct histories.

8. 538 or 552

   Introduction to Japan via Korea

   Sources differ on 538 or 552; transmission comes via Korea and China and adapts to Japan.

9. c. 601–c. 1000

   Development of Chan

   Chan develops in diverse Chinese settings and later transforms in Korea, Japan, and Vietnam; it is not a universal synonym for meditation.

10. c. 601–c. 700

    Founding of Jokhang

    Jokhang was founded to promote Buddhism and combines Tibetan, Chinese, Indian, and Nepalese influences.

11. c. 601–c. 900

    Nalanda patronage

    Harsha and Pala rulers patronized Nalanda. The documentation includes support from Dharmapala and Devapala, and a monastery for Javanese monks promoted by Balaputradeva.

12. c. 601–c. 700

    First dissemination in Tibet

    Seventh-century temples and royal patronage anchor the first dissemination; this evidence does not by itself date every doctrine or lineage.

13. 629–645

    Xuanzang’s journey to India

    Xuanzang’s journey documents networks of study, translation, and pilgrimage between China and South Asia.

14. 676–935

    Unified Silla Buddhism

    State-sanctioned Buddhism profoundly influences arts, temples, and elites while maintaining exchanges with Tang and Japan.

15. c. 701–c. 900

    Borobudur

    Borobudur materializes a Mahayana Buddhist cosmology in Java within local and maritime contexts.

16. c. 701–c. 800

    Seokguram and Bulguksa

    The ensemble shows Korean forms of Buddhist architecture and sculpture in a Silla context.

17. c. 701–c. 800

    Tang esoteric Buddhisms

    Mandalas, rituals, and deities of Indic/Central Asian provenance flourish alongside Chan, Pure Land, and Tiantai.

18. 710–794

    Nara state Buddhism

    The Nara court supports temples, texts, and rites in a changing relation to local cults and imperial politics.

19. 752

    Consecration of Todaiji’s Great Buddha

    The consecration marks imperial Japanese Buddhist patronage and transregional material mobilization.

20. c. 779

    Samye and Tibetan translation

    Samye is associated with monasticism and major Sanskrit-to-Tibetan translation projects; different traditions recount details of its foundation and debate.

21. 804–806

    Kukai and Shingon

    Kukai studied in China between 804 and 806 and developed Shingon in Japan. Transmission included doctrinal, ritual, and institutional adaptations.

22. 804

    Saicho’s mission to China

    Saicho was sent to China on an official mission in 804. After returning he advanced Tendai in Japan, centered on the Lotus Sutra; this entry dates the journey.

23. 816

    Founding of Koyasan, by tradition

    Tradition associates the foundation with Kukai; Koyasan becomes a Shingon and pilgrimage centre.

24. 845–846

    Tang restrictions on temples and clergy

    In 845–846, the Tang state imposes especially severe measures on Buddhist temples and clergy; this state intervention does not reduce diverse Chinese communities to one experience.

25. 845

    Wuzong’s edict and religious regulation

    Wuzong’s eighth-month edict treated Buddhist institutions as a religious, fiscal and political issue. The source records the emperor’s Daoist devotion, while the suppression reflected imperial policy and institutional competition rather than a shared position of all Daoists.

26. 868

    Printed copy of the Diamond Sutra

    A printed copy of Kumarajiva’s translation of the Diamond Sutra is dated to 868; the object preserves a documented milestone in Buddhist reproduction and does not by itself mark the origin of all printing.

27. c. 901–c. 1100

    Second Tibetan dissemination

    New translations, teachers, and monastic networks reconfigure Tibetan traditions after political fragmentation; the new networks do not form a single school.

28. c. 1001–c. 1300

    Bagan and Burmese Buddhisms

    Bagan preserves a major concentration of Buddhist temples and production linked to regional networks and changes in patronage.

29. c. 1011–c. 1087

    First Goryeo Tripitaka

    The Goryeo court sponsors a complete woodblock canon, linking state protection and textual authority.

30. 1042

    Atisha in Tibet

    Atisha arrives from Bengal and his teachings become important in Tibetan lineages; they do not encompass the full diversity of schools.