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. 1153–1186

   Monastic reorganization under Parakramabahu I

   During his reign in Sri Lanka, Parakramabahu I brought rival monastic communities into a reformed organization. This episode of patronage does not summarize Theravada transmission across Southeast Asia.

2. 1175

   Honen and Jodo-shu

   Honen founds a Japanese Pure Land school centered on Amida and accessible to varied publics.

3. c. 1191

   Eisai and Japanese Zen

   Eisai returns from China and teaches Zen; later Zen schools are not one uniform tradition.

4. c. 1201–c. 1300

   Nalanda’s functional end

   UNESCO places Nalanda’s sack, abandonment, and functional end in the thirteenth century; this entry records the institutional outcome without assigning the whole transformation to a single cause.

5. c. 1224

   Shinran and Jodo Shinshu

   Shinran develops a Japanese Pure Land form reshaping community, practice, and religious authority.

6. 1227

   Dogen and Soto Zen

   Dogen returned from China to Japan in 1227 after receiving Rujing’s approval. His teaching and subsequent monastic communities were foundational for the Soto tradition.

7. 1236–1271

   Medieval patronage of Sri Pada

   Sri Lanka’s nomination submitted to UNESCO attributes pilgrimages, village grants, and a canopy for the footprint to Parakramabahu II during his reign. This documents medieval patronage of the shrine, not the origin date of all Asian footprint cults.

8. 1236–1251

   Tripitaka Koreana

   Goryeo’s second woodblock edition preserves a major canonical corpus and monumental editorial technology.

9. 1253

   Nichiren and a new Japanese teaching

   In 1253 Nichiren began the teaching from which Nichiren-shu grew. This current coexisted with Tendai, Zen, and Pure Land.

10. 1260

    Phagpa, Kublai, and court patronage

    After Kublai took power in 1260, Phagpa received preceptor titles and served as a religious instructor at court; this is a specific teacher-patron relationship, not a complete description of all Tibetan or Mongol communities.

11. 1271–1368

    Tibetan patronage under Yuan

    The Mongol court linked political authority with patronage of Tibetan teachers, including Phagpa. This court relationship alone does not describe the practices of all communities under the Yuan.

12. 1392

    Joseon transition

    The Joseon state reorders patronage toward Neo-Confucianism; Buddhism persists in monastic and popular forms.

13. 1403–1424

    Buddhist art under Yongle

    Arhat paintings, sculptures, and sutra containers document Buddhist production during Yongle’s reign. The ensemble draws on Chinese, Tibetan, and Nepalese repertoires.

14. 1409

    Ganden and Gelug formation

    Tsongkhapa’s 1409 foundation of Ganden lays the basis for what would later be called the Gelug order; this entry does not stand for all Tibetan Buddhisms.

15. 1645–1694

    Rebuilding and expansion of the Potala

    Potala is rebuilt and expanded in the seventeenth century, linking political, monastic, and artistic authority.

16. 1782–1819

    Bodawpaya and the Thudhamma council

    According to Roger Bischoff’s survey, Bodawpaya settled a dispute over monastic dress and appointed a council of senior monks. The date covers his reign and does not assign a single year to every reform.

17. 1833–1902

    Siamese monastic reforms

    Mongkut founded the Thammayut fraternity in 1833. Subsequent reforms of monastic registration and administration culminated in Chulalongkorn’s first Sangha Act in 1902.

18. 1868

    Shinbutsu separation and Meiji

    Policies separating kami and buddhas reorder Japanese Buddhist institutions; shared practices do not automatically disappear.

19. 1880

    Olcott and Buddhist networks in Sri Lanka

    Henry Steel Olcott and Helena Blavatsky arrive in Sri Lanka in 1880 and meet monastic and lay leaders. That year the Colombo branch of the Theosophical Society, known as the Buddhist Theosophical Society, is founded. BPS’s commemorative history documents this episode of organization under colonial rule.

20. 1891

    Maha Bodhi Society

    Anagarika Dharmapala advances a modern network for Bodh Gaya recovery and transnational Buddhist contacts.

21. 1893

    World Parliament of Religions

    From 11 to 27 September 1893, Anagarika Dharmapala and Soyen Shaku participated in Chicago alongside other religious representatives. The gathering documents exchange and public representation, not the beginning of Western Buddhism.

22. 1950–1959

    Tibetan political reconfiguration

    The Dalai Lama’s office links his 1959 exile to the suppression of the Lhasa uprising following China’s 1950 military entry. China’s 2015 state white paper frames the 1951–1959 process as peaceful liberation and democratic reform. These are competing interpretations by involved actors.

23. 1950

    World Fellowship of Buddhists founded

    The World Fellowship of Buddhists is founded in Sri Lanka as an international organization; it documents a transnational platform, not a single representation of all Buddhist communities.

24. 1953–1957

    National Buddhist and Daoist associations

    The Buddhist Association of China was founded in 1953 and the Chinese Taoist Association in 1957 within a new institutional relationship with the state. They did not encompass all communities, lineages, temples or practices.

25. Oct 14, 1956

    Ambedkar conversion and Navayana

    B. R. Ambedkar and many followers convert in Nagpur, articulating caste critique and a modern Buddhist form.

26. c. 1960–c. 1969

    Engaged Buddhism

    Networks linked, among others, to Thich Nhat Hanh connect practice with peace, justice, and care; they are not one school.

27. 1962

    San Francisco Zen Center founded

    Shunryu Suzuki and his students founded San Francisco Zen Center in 1962. This is a documented case of Zen institutionalization in the United States, not the beginning of all Western communities.

28. 1965

    Asian migration and Buddhist communities

    The 1965 U.S. law ends national-origin quotas and changes migration conditions; it does not itself count Buddhists.

29. 1969–1976

    Global vipassana networks

    S. N. Goenka began teaching in India in 1969; the Insight Meditation Society opened its Massachusetts center in 1976. These are two distinct networks spreading meditation retreats internationally.

30. 1973–1983

    International restoration of Borobudur

    UNESCO-linked restoration makes Buddhist heritage, international cooperation, and tourism visible.