1

Buddhism: A Brief Overview

Buddhism arose in north-eastern India some 2500 years ago. It developed

into one of the major religious forces of Asia, and in the twentieth century
made its presence felt in almost every country of the world. To get an initial
idea of how Buddhism developed it is helpful to look at its long history in
terms of five periods of roughly five hundred years each (see Conze, 1980).

The Formative Period (500–0 BCE)

Buddhism originated as one of the Śrāmaňa movements revolting against the
traditional religious life of Brahmanical India (see Chapter 2). The Śrāmaňas
introduced a new religious goal: ultimate salvation or liberation, and a new
way of life for pursuing this goal: the life of religious drop-outs as homeless
wanderers and ascetics. While early Buddhism shared many of the Śrāmaňa
motives and ideas – particularly their anti-Brahmanical attitude – it managed
to combine the ‘otherworldliness’ of the Śrāmaňas with a ‘this-worldly’ ori-
entation: Active missionary efforts consciously promoted and propagated
the Buddha’s teachings ‘within the world’, and the establishment of the
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Saģgha, i.e. the ‘four-fold community’ (catuş parişad), brought together the
monks and nuns of the monastic orders with their secular supporters, the
male and female laity. Buddhist teachings were directed to monastics and
to lay-people, and practical rules and guidelines were developed for both.
Thereby Buddhism rapidly became a major religious factor in India. When
Emperor Aśoka (272–232 BCE) united most of the Indian peninsula under
his rule, he adopted Buddhism and became its strongest patron. Under Aśoka
Buddhism spread throughout the country and was – with imperial support –
exported to non-Indian countries, entering Sri Lanka to the southeast where
it is still present today, and reaching the Hellenistic kingdoms of Bactria and
Sogdia to the north and northwest. Towards the end of its first five hundred
years Buddhism became firmly established in Central Asia; the mission of
the Dharmaguptakas, one of the early Buddhist schools, extended even as
far as eastern Iran.
During this formative period the foundation for a progressively growing
and expanding teaching was laid. It is difficult to say which of the early

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 2   Understanding Buddhism

Buddhist doctrines can be directly attributed to the Buddha himself, but

certainly not all of them. For several hundred years the Buddhist sūtras
(the texts claiming to preserve the Buddha’s words) were not written down
but memorized and transmitted orally. Whatever was truly important in
life had to be learned by heart so that it could always be available. As the
Buddhist doctrines became more elaborate, Buddhists did begin to write
out their earlier, hitherto only memorized texts and scholastic-systematic
treatises, apologetical and commentarial texts appeared on the scene. The
Pāli Canon, an early scriptural collection accepted by the Theravāda School
as its canonical work, was written down in the first century BCE in Sri Lanka
in order to preserve the true teaching during a time of increasing doctrinal
disputes (see Mhv 33:100f ). Yet the ancient tradition of memorizing and
commonly reciting the sūtras was never completely abolished.
Evidently at no stage of its history was Buddhism a homogenous
movement. The Pāli Canon reports that sometimes whole groups of other
masters with their disciples joined the early Buddhists and accepted the
Buddha as their enlightened teacher. Surely however these groups brought
their own pre-Buddhist heritage with them. Differences over important issues
of doctrine and practice can be detected even in the oldest strata of Buddhist
texts. Such differences became increasingly visible after Aśoka, and we hear
about eighteen or perhaps more than twenty schools which clashed over
doctrinal as well as practical issues. A major institutional schism occurred
roughly a hundred years after the Buddha’s death based on a dispute between
the more liberal Mahāsaģghikas and the more conservative Sthaviravādins
as to the exact status of the Arhat, the enlightened saint, as well as over
matters of monastic discipline. While the Sthaviravādins are forerunners
of the Theravādins (now the most important Buddhist school in South and
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South-East Asia) the Mahāsaģghikas are often seen as preparing the ground
for Mahāyāna Buddhism, which dominates eastern Asia today.

The Rise of Mahāyāna (0–500 CE)

The literal meaning of ‘Mahāyāna’ is ‘Great Vehicle’ – ‘Great’ in the sense

of ‘noble’ or ‘eminent’ as in Mahārāja, the ‘Great King’, and ‘Vehicle’ with
reference to the doctrine and discipline leading to salvation. Correspondingly
the Mahāyānins called the non-Mahāyānins and their teachings ‘Hīnayāna’,
i.e., ‘Small’ or ‘Inferior Vehicle’, a derogatory term which should not be
used in any scholarly treatment of Buddhism.
The roots of Mahāyāna certainly extend far back into the earliest period
of Buddhist history though their distinguishing features are still a matter of
much scholarly debate. The possibly major influence of the Mahāsaģghikas
notwithstanding, it seems that the basic ideas of Mahāyāna emerged among
several pre-Mahāyāna schools and cannot be traced back to merely one of

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 Buddhism: A Brief Overview   3

them. Mahāyānins themselves understood their teachings as a revelation

of the true and deeper meaning of traditional Buddhist doctrines, surfacing
later only because the time had not yet been ripe for them. These Mahāyāna
ideas took shape in a number of new sūtras which, it was claimed, were
revealed by the Buddha to an elect circle of disciples and afterwards hidden
for several centuries. Some of the earliest layers of these texts – sections of
the ‘Perfection of Wisdom-Sūtras’ (Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras) for instance, or
of the Lotus-Sūtra (Saddharmapuňđarīka-Sūtra) – may have been composed
already in the first century BCE. But it was during the second period of
Buddhist history that ever more Mahāyāna texts, often quite voluminous
ones, were written and became public.
This increase of doctrinal diversity fostered the development of Buddhist
philosophy. The crucial and most influential figure of the nascent Mahāyāna
philosophy was Nāgārjuna, who probably lived between 150 and 250 CE.
His thought laid the foundation for the Madhyamaka School (‘Middle
Way’ School), though his influence stretched far beyond that, even inspir-
ing indirectly the philosophical renaissance of Hinduism set in motion by
Śankara (8–9th cent. CE). The fourth century witnessed the development of
the second major school of Mahāyāna philosophy, the so-called Yogācāra
(‘Yoga-Practice’) or Vijñānavāda School (‘Consciousness-School’), based
on the writings of Asaģga and Vasubandhu. By this point, non-Mahāyāna
schools were also producing systematic treatises offering philosophically
sophisticated presentations of their doctrines: Vasubandhu’s important
Abhidharmakośabhāşya (‘Commentary on the Treasure House of the Higher
Doctrine’), for example. According to a Mahāyāna tradition this Vasubandhu
is identical with Vasubandhu the Yogācārin, alleged to have converted to
Mahāyāna after the completion of this work (though modern scholarship has
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raised considerable doubts about the identity of the two Vasubandhus). We

can also cite Buddhaghosa’s Visuddhimagga (‘The Path of Purity’) composed
in fifth-century Sri Lanka. Thanks to this work and to his extensive commen-
taries on the Pāli Canon he became the major representative – indeed a kind
of ‘Church-Father’ – of Theravāda orthodoxy.
This second period of Buddhist history is also a period of tremendous
geographical expansion. Beginning in the first century CE, Buddhism pro-
gressed from Central Asia into China, and by the end of the fifth century it
had spread throughout the country. More than 1300 Buddhist works were
translated into Chinese during this time, the most eminent of the transla-
tors being Kumārajīva (344–413). From China Buddhism was introduced to
Vietnam in the third century and to Korea in the fourth/fifth century. Between
the second and fifth centuries Indian Buddhist missionaries took Buddhism
to Cambodia and Burma, whence it gradually gained entry into Thailand.

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 4   Understanding Buddhism

The Rise of Tantric Buddhism (500–1,000 CE)

During its third 500 years Buddhist expansion in Asia proceeded yet further,
and in some of the countries added to the Buddhist world during this period
Buddhism continues to thrive even today.
In the sixth century Buddhism was officially recognized in Korea;
between the seventh and tenth centuries it enjoyed royal patronage in the
newly unified kingdom of Silla. In the middle of the sixth century Buddhism
spread from Korea to Japan where Prince Shōtoku (574–622) became a dedi-
cated supporter. In the seventh century Buddhism entered Tibet in two move-
ments: Buddhist missionaries arrived from the flourishing Buddhist cultures
of North India and Central Asia, and there was Buddhist influence coming
from China as well. The Indian strand proved stronger. During the ninth
century Buddhism in Tibet suffered a brief but vigorous persecution, yet it
survived and subsequently became even more robust. China, though main-
taining unbroken contact with India so as to have access to as many Indian
Buddhist scriptures as possible, also furthered the evolution of new doctri-
nal schools (T’ien-t’ai, centred around the Lotus-Sūtra; Hua-yen, centred
around the Avataķsaka-Sūtra) and of new or modified forms of practice
(Ch’an = Zen, with meditative practice as the focal point; Ching-t’u = Pure
Land, with the veneration of Amida Buddha as the focal point). While these
new schools and practices were clearly rooted in Indian sources, they also
developed their own typical Chinese flavour, spiced by Taoist and Confu-
cian ingredients. In mid-ninth-century China, Buddhism was subjected to
severe persecution instigated by Taoist and Confucian circles, and never
regained its former power. Both Ch’an and Pure Land Buddhism did survive
however and now sought even more actively to link up with Confucian-
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ism and Taoism. Chinese forms of Buddhism also entered Vietnam where
they gradually superseded non-Mahāyāna forms of Buddhism, while further
to the south Buddhism flourished in Indonesia, where the remains of the
famous Borobudur temple compound have left us with an unmistakeable
sign of its strength during that period. Westward expansion, however, had
come to a halt: the Muslim countries constituted an impenetrable barrier.
This period witnessed the heyday of Buddhist philosophy in India. Large
monastic universities as, for example, Nālandā, Vikramaśīla or Odantapurī,
became vibrant centres of a highly sophisticated intellectual culture. Both
strands of Mahāyāna philosophy, Madhyamaka as well as Yogācāra,
produced an array of splendid thinkers: Bhāvaviveka (6th cent.), Candrakīrti
(7th cent.), Dignāga (6th cent.) and Dharmakīrti (7th cent.) – to mention but
a few.
Apart from its continued expansion and its burgeoning religious and intel-
lectual life, the most startling feature of the third period of Buddhist history
is the rise of Tantric Buddhism (Tantra = ‘loom’ or ‘warp’, but also ‘under-
lying principle’ or ‘main point’), also called Vajrayāna (Vajra = ‘diamond’

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 Buddhism: A Brief Overview   5

or ‘thunderbolt’, though the term is properly applied only to a later form of

Tantric Buddhism). Tantrism is not an exclusively Buddhist phenomenon
but developed synchronically in Hinduism and Buddhism. Within Buddhism
it usually presupposes Mahāyāna teachings, which were expanded into psy-
chological and/or cosmological systems. It emphasizes particular forms of
ritual and meditational practice promising a more rapid path to enlighten-
ment. Some Tantric texts make frequent use of erotic symbolism, and Tantric
techniques at times entail provocatively antinomian elements. Tantra’s reli-
gious ideal is the Siddha (‘perfected’, ‘accomplished’), someone who is not
only perfect in wisdom and compassion but also possesses extraordinary
supernatural powers.
Tantrism not only spread swiftly over India, but in fact made its presence
felt throughout the Buddhist world within a fairly short time. At the end of
this period we find forms of Tantric Buddhism in Central Asia, China, Korea,
Japan (where Kūkai, 774–835, established the small but influential Tantric
Shingon School), Vietnam, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. Nowhere however
did it become so powerful and successful as in Tibet. The eighth-century
Buddhist mission to Tibet was carried out by an interesting mix of philo-
sophically minded monks, such as the famous Śāntarakşita and his disciple
Kamalaśīla, along with Tantric masters like the mysterious Padmasambhava
whom the oldest of the Tibetan orders, Nyingma, designates as its founder.
The symbiosis of scholarly Buddhism and Buddhist Tantrism, so typical for
the North Indian and Central Asian Buddhism of that time, found its perfect
continuation – and preservation – in Tibetan Lamaism.

Decline and Consolidation (1000–1500 CE)

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The next period can be distinguished by the formation and denominational

consolidation of the Buddhist world as it more or less persists in Asia up to
the present day (see Figs. 1 and 2). That is, Buddhism ceased to exist in some
of the formerly Buddhist countries while in other countries certain schools or
forms of Buddhism became dominant or even monopolist.
First of all, Buddhism gradually disappeared from its land of origin, India.
The reasons for this are manifold and have been the subject of considerable
speculation. For one thing, there was a mighty resurgence of Hinduism, par-
ticularly in its theistic variants though also in the form of Hindu Tantrism.
Moreover, Buddhism suffered some heavy blows from the advances of Islam
onto Indian territory. Several of the Buddhist universities were raided and
sacked by Muslim troops (Nālandā in 1197, Vīkramaśīla in 1203) and never
recovered. Such explanations however simply beg the question: Why could
Buddhism, which had survived heavy persecutions in other countries, not
recoup its losses on its own home turf, India? One possible answer is that
over the centuries it had become too similar to Hinduism such that it no
longer presented a vivid alternative. This, however, should be understood

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 6   Understanding Buddhism

1. Spread and current location of Buddhism in Asia.

not only in the sense of Buddhism’s excessive accommodation to Hinduism

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(as is often said of Buddhist Tantrism and late Indian Mahāyāna). Equally,
if not even more so, the similarity suggests that Hinduism had gained so
much and learned so profoundly from Buddhist spirituality and philosophy,
that much of what once made Buddhism formidably unique was now to be
found in Hinduism as well. If this is the case, then Buddhism never did dis-
appear from India, or at least not entirely. Only its institutional form died
out; much of its religious flavour remained. In addition to India, Buddhism
also declined and gradually died out in Central Asia and Indonesia where
it was superseded by Islam. But here again one may rightly ask whether
Buddhism did not indeed leave its particular imprint on the Islam of the
formerly Buddhist countries, inasmuch as Islam now developed a vibrant
tradition of contemplative mystical Sufism.
In China Buddhism continued in the form of Ch’an (Zen) and Pure Land
Buddhism. Learned Chinese Buddhists frequently maintained that Confu-
cianism, Taoism and Buddhism differ only in function and not in substance,
or that they are different manifestations of the same principle. While this
claim ensured centuries of a fairly stable cohabitation, it worked less well in

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 Buddhism: A Brief Overview   7

Non-Mahāyāna Mahāyāna Tantric Buddhism

Theravāda, Fusions of various Vajrayāna orders

dominant in: Mahāyāna traditions, (Nyingma, Kagyü, Sakya,
• Sri Lanka particularly Pure Land and Geluk)
• Thailand Ch’an, are dominant in: • Tibet
• Laos • China/Taiwan • Mongolia
• Cambodia • Korea • Ladakh, Sikkim,
• Myanmar (Burma) • Vietnam • Butan

Neo-Buddhism Lotus Schools (Tendai Fusions of Hindu and

/ Am­bedkar-Buddhism and Nichiren Schools) Buddhist Tantrism
• India (Maharashtra) • Japan • Nepal

Pure Land (Jōdo shū and Shingon

Jōdo Shin shū) • Japan
• Japan

Zen (Rinzai, Sōtō,

Ōbaku)
• Japan

2. Major currently existent schools and their main areas.

Korea. Though at first greatly promoted during Korea’s Koryo period (10th–
14th cent.) Buddhism subsequently became the target of a hostile Confucian
reaction which deprived it of most of its former privileges.
In the Japan of the Kamakura period (1185–1333) Buddhism enjoyed
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its religiously most fruitful phase. All three of the great popular forms
of Japanese Buddhism: Pure Land, Lotus and Zen, received their major
impulses during this period, primarily through such outstanding religious
personalities as the Pure Land Buddhists Hōnen (1133–1212) and Shinran
(1173–1263), the Zen Buddhists Eisai (1141–1215) and Dōgen (1200–53),
and the energetic propagator of the Lotus Sūtra, Nichiren (1222–83).
Something similar can be said for Tibet. A range of extraordinary per-
sonalities laid the foundation for Buddhism in its present form: Atīśa (11th
cent.) played a crucial role in re-establishing Buddhism after the heavy per-
secution of the ninth century, spearheading in fact a missionary campaign
which is remembered in Tibet as the “second diffusion” of the Dharma. The
teachings of Marpa (1012–97), his disciple Milarepa (Mi-la-ras-pa, 1040–
1123), and Milarepa’s disciple Gampopa (sGam-po-pa, 1079–1153) led to
the establishment of the Kagyü Order. The Sakya Order was founded by
Konchok Gyalpo (11th cent.) and his son Gunga Nyingpo (12th cent.). In the
fourteenth century, the great reformer of Tibetan Buddhism, Tsong Khapa
(1357–1419), established the Geluk Order, the leaders of which became also

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 8   Understanding Buddhism

the political rulers of Tibet in the fifteenth century with the title ‘Dalai Lama’
(‘Ocean [of wisdom] Teacher’).
Buddhism enjoyed one further geographical expansion: In its Tibetan
form it was introduced into Mongolia in the thirteenth century, becoming
firmly established there during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
In a number of South and South-East Asian countries the Theravāda form
of Buddhism prevailed and gradually displaced all other schools. This is true
of Sri Lanka, Myanmar (Burma), Laos, Cambodia and Thailand as well as
of some smaller regions in bordering countries (as for example Chittagong
in Bangladesh). In Vietnam, on the other hand, despite strong and ongoing
Theravāda influence, the dominant form of Buddhist doctrine remained
Mahāyāna as inspired by China.

Buddhism Encounters the West (1,500–2,000 CE)

The arrival of the Portuguese in Sri Lanka in 1505 opened a new and
exciting, though all too often painful, chapter of Buddhist history: Bud-
dhism’s encounter with the West. Until that time only a handful of adven-
turers had managed to traverse the barrier presented by the Islamic cultures.
Now, however, the Western nations were able to proceed to the East by sea,
and arrived as religious and political conquerors. Sri Lanka experienced
three successive phases of Western colonial rule of roughly 150 years each:
first the Portuguese (1505–1658), followed by the Dutch (1658–1795) and
then the British (1795–1948), until it finally regained its independence.
In 1549 Christian missionaries entered Japan. In 1557 the Portuguese
colony of Macao was established, whence the missionaries entered China in
1583. Apart from a few notable exceptions the encounter between Buddhists
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and Christians was hostile. In Sri Lanka the Portuguese began a sanguinary
persecution of Buddhists. In Japan Christians encouraged newly converted
regional rulers to suppress Buddhism, and as a result the Japanese authorities
finally forbade Christianity: During the seventeenth century Japanese Chris-
tians (approx. 300,000) suffered one of the worst persecutions Christianity
had ever seen, leading to the almost total extinction of Christianity. Subse-
quently the country isolated itself from virtually all foreign influence until
the United States forced it to reopen in the middle of the nineteenth century.
Though in China anti-Christian reactions were comparatively milder, Chris-
tianity was nevertheless officially forbidden in 1724.
During the nineteenth century Western colonialism in Asia reached its
climax. Britain controlled Sri Lanka and Burma, France ruled over Vietnam,
Laos and Cambodia and both nations, together with Portugal, Germany and
Russia, controlled parts of China. Japan followed the Western example and
established colonial rule in Korea and parts of China.
On the plus side, the missionary and imperialist activities of Western
countries in Asia increased the knowledge of Buddhism in the West consid-

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 Buddhism: A Brief Overview   9

erably, at first through the extensive reports of missionaries and travellers,

and in the course of the nineteenth century through the study of Buddhist
scriptures as well. The spread of these texts together with the appearance of
the first Western books on Buddhism led a number of Europeans to identify
themselves as Buddhists, most notably among them the German philosopher
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860). German Buddhists founded the first
‘Buddhist Missionary Association’ for Germany in 1903, and the influential
‘Buddhist Society of Great Britain and Ireland’ was established in 1907.
Buddhism had reached Europe without a single Asian missionary setting
foot on European soil. In the United States the situation was quite different:
Buddhism entered the country with Buddhist immigrants from China and
Japan, first through California and later primarily through Hawaii.
The massive presence of Westerners and Western ideas in the East and
the far humbler and ‘cleaner’ but nevertheless influential presence of Bud-
dhists and Buddhist ideas in the West proved to be a productive challenge
for both sides. Is Buddhism more suitable to the modern world than Chris-
tianity, such that it should replace the latter? Or could Christianity receive
vital impulses from the less dogmatic spirituality of Buddhism and its wealth
of meditative experience? While these are major questions in the West, the
East started to ask its own questions: How much could and should Buddhism
learn from Western culture in order to renew itself and successfully resist the
pressure from Christianity?
While the encounter with Christianity was and still is a crucial feature of
Buddhism’s encounter with the West, many Buddhist countries in Asia had
to face another Western phenomenon which brought tremendous suffering:
the post-Christian ideology of atheist and materialist Communism. Particu-
larly in the second half of the twentieth century the vast majority of Asian
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Buddhist countries: China, Tibet, Mongolia, North-Korea, Vietnam, Laos,

Cambodia, came under Communist rule. As a consequence Buddhism was
subjected to many forms of restriction and suppression, and in some places,
particularly in Cambodia, was even threatened with total extinction. Yet
Buddhism survived in all these lands, and in Mongolia it was even declared
the ‘main’ or state-religion after the country regained its independence and
freedom from Communist rule.
In any event we have no certain knowledge as to the exact numbers of
Buddhists in some Communist countries. We cannot assess the reliability of
the official statistics in these countries, for it may well be the case that for
various reasons the inhabitants do not readily identify themselves as Buddhists.
Given China’s large population this uncertainty makes it eminently difficult
to produce a good estimate of the total number of Buddhists throughout the
world. However it may be somewhere in the neighbourhood of 500 million
(see Harvey, 1998, p. 5f ).
Last but not least, one side-effect of the modern encounter between
Buddhism and the West needs to be mentioned: the rebirth of Buddhism

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 10   Understanding Buddhism

in India. Bhimrao Ambedkar (1891–1956), the first minister of justice in

modern India, put together a highly political synthesis of traditional Buddhist
ideas and Western Enlightenment ideals – particularly as regards the dignity
and liberty of each individual being. For Ambedkar, this synthesis offered
the most effective ‘faith’ for combating the Indian caste system with all its
inhuman consequences. Indeed, Ambedkar’s Neo-Buddhism gained much
ground among the so-called Untouchables, the ‘caste’ of the casteless or
outcasts. It is particularly robust today in the Indian state of Maharashtra.
Buddhism has shaped the face of Asia as no other religion, inspiring
and guiding the lives of innumerable people in cultures as diverse as India
and Japan, for example, or Mongolia and Thailand. Moreover it has begun
to filter into the spirituality of growing numbers of people in the West.
‘Why did Buddhism spread so successfully?’ asks Oxford scholar Richard
Gombrich (1988, p. 151). Several answers have been proposed. Many
experts point to general sociological factors, to specific situations of social
transition and change and, particularly, to political patronage – and clearly
there is an element of truth in all of this. But to my mind the most simple and
convincing answer is the one given by Gombrich himself: ‘The major factor
has no doubt been the power and beauty of its thought’ (ibid.). To this we
will now turn. But first we must look at the religious climate during the time
of the Buddha under the influence of and in response to which he proclaimed
his insight.

For further reading: Bechert and Gombrich (1984); Conze (1980); Conze (2001);
Habito (2005); Harvey (1998); Skilton (1997).
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