It isn’t always easy to get a grasp the circumstances surrounding the Buddha’s teachings. What events —spiritual, philosophic and political— where unfolding at the birth and spread of the Dharma?
Here is a timeline that may help you see a better picture of that environment.
It also sketches out the highlights of the spread of Buddhism and the timing of its reach across Asia — mostly carried by traders and travelling monks.
Details have been taken from various sources and you should be aware that many historians disagree on the specifics of dates, especially those based on poems and legends. So this is not an historical document; it only aims to build a context that shows you where and when events roughly unfolded.
| YEAR | Significant Events During Relevant Half-Century | ||||
| -800 | Composition of earliest Upanishads Vedic Period |
c 800-500 BCE | Nubians conquer Egypt Rise of Greek city-states Greece, archaic period (800 – 480 BCE) |
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| -750 | Rome “founded” by Romulus (753 BCE) | First recorded Olympic games | 776 BCE | ||
| -700 | The caste system emerges, with the Brahman priests at the top | Acropolis built in Athens | |||
| -650 | Thales (636-546 BCE) Pythagoras (570-495 BCE) |
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| -600 | Life of Confucius | 552-479 BCE | Upanishads composed in Sanskrit | ||
| -550 | Lao-tze reputed author of the Tao Te Ching, founder of Taoism – dates uncertain | 6th/5th cent BCE | Mahavira, ascetic prince, reforms Jainism in northern India | ||
| -500 | Birth of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, in Kapilavastu | c 480 BCE | Socrates (469-399 BCE) Plato (427-347 BCE) |
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| -450 | Death of the Buddha | c 405 BCE | Afghani merchant brothers receive lay vows from the Buddha, return to Bactria establish teachings in Afghanistan | ||
| -400 | First Buddhist Council —Rajagriha | c 405 BCE | Aristotle (384-322 BCE) Euclid (c 325-265 BCE) |
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| -350 | Second Buddhist Council —Vaisali | c 350 BCE | Alexander the Great in India | 327-325 BCE | |
| -300 | Buddhism arrives in SE Asia | c 300 BCE | Ramayana said to be composed | ||
| -250 | Third Buddhist Council —Pataliputra, Bihar. Great Schism- Theravada | Mahasanghika |
250 BCE | Emperor Ashoka adopts and promotes Buddhism as India’s state religion | c 261 BCE | |
| Ashoka sends monks to 9 places including Kashmir, Greece, Sri Lanka, Burma (Myanmar), Egypt, and Thailand | |||||
| -200 | Mahinda introduces Buddhism to Sri Lanka | 250 BCE | The reign of Sri Lankan King Devaanampiya Tissa (250-210 BCE) | ||
| -150 | “Questions of Milinda” Indo-Greek King (165?-130 BCE) and Nagasena | Buddhism flourishes | c 100 BCE | 1st Han Emperor, Kao Tsu, who established Silk Road to Syria, dies | 195 BCE | |
| -100 | Julius Ceasar assassinated | 44 BCE | Mount Vesuvius erupts, buries Pompeii Rome city on fire —Nero “fiddles” |
79 BCE 64 BCE |
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| -50 | Pali canon is written down in Sri Lanka | 29 BCE | …during the reign of King Vattagamini (Theravada Buddhist Canon) | ||
| 2 important monasteries founded in Sri Lanka: Mahaviranhara (Theravadin) | Abhayagiri (Mahayana) | c 24 BCE | ||||
| 0 | Indo-Greek rule of north-west India ends | 1 BCE | Herod The Great dies | 3 BCE | |
| 50 | Buddhism reaches China | 67 | Temple of the White Horse established by Emperor Ming | 58-75 CE | |
| 100 | Buddhism takes root in China | …during the Han Dynasty | 206 BCE – 220 | ||
| 150 | Life of Nagarjuna | 150-250 | Marcus Aurelius | 121-180 | |
| 200 | Buddhism begins to reach Tibet | Buddhism begins to reach Indonesia | |||
| 250 | Sri Lankan King Sirisangabo (251-253) follower of the bodhisattva path gifts his own head to peasant | King Mahasena ignites sectarianism Romans re-invade Britain |
274-301 296 |
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| 300 | Constantine establishes his capital at Byzantium | 330 | Buddhist scriptures reach North Tibet – during King Lhatotori Nyentsen’s reign | ||
| 350 | Chinese monks bring Buddhism to Korea | 372 | Gupta Empire rules India: Hinduism becomes the major religion | 350-650 | |
| 400 | Rise of Vajrayana Buddhism | 4th cent | Fa-hsien travels to India and Sri Lanka, collects texts (Mahaparinirvana-sutra) | 399-414 | |
| 450 | Constantine withdraws Roman troops from Britain | 407 | Attila The Hun defeated Vandals Sack Rome |
451 455 |
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| 500 | Bodhidharma arrives in China | 520 | Sri Lankan King Silakala (518-531) studies at Bodh Gaya monastery and becomes a Mahayana follower | ||
| 550 | Viniaya school founded in Korea | Buddhism enters Japan from Korea | 552 | ||
| 600 | Burma adopts Theravada Buddhism | 6th cent | Chinese T’ang Dynasty; golden age of Buddhism in China | 618-907 | |
| 650 | Life of Songtsen Gampo; Buddhism established in Tibet | 618-50 | Mohammed flees Mecca (the Hegira) year one: Muslim calendar | 622 | |
| 700 | Chandrakirti active in India / Mahayana Buddhism adopted in Indonesia | 7th cent | Dharmakirti, Sumatran prince/monk, moves to India to teach at Nalanda University | ||
| 750 | King Trisong Detsen invites Padmasambhava to Tibet | 744 | The Great Samye Debate decides on Indian Mahayana Buddhism as the form for Tibet | c 792-94 | |
| 800 | Buddhism becomes state religion of Japan | 8th cent | Al Khwarizmi invents Algebra | 820 | |
| 850 | King Langdharma persecutes Tibetan Buddhists | 836-842 | Taoist Chinese emperor Wu-Tsung suppresses Buddhism | 845 | |
| 900 | Tibetan Dynasties destroyed — Buddhism practically wiped out in Tibet | 877 | Vikings discover Greenland | c 900 | |
| 950 | Second Buddhist period starts in Tibet | 978 | Sung Dynasty founded | 960 | |
| 1000 | Atisha comes to Tibet founds Kadampa school (later becomes Gelugpa order). | 1038 | Korea institutes a Buddhist constitution | early 10th cent |
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| 1050 | Birth of Milarepa, 2nd hierarch of Kagyu order and renowned yogi poet | 1040 | Battle of Hastings | 1066 | |
| 1100 | King of Burma restores Theravadin monasticism — Mahayana declines | 11th cent | First Crusades | 1096 – 1099 | |
| 1150 | Paris: first streets paved | 1184 | Richard The Lionheart killed by arrow | 1199 | |
| 1200 | Buddhism is virtually extinct in India | mid 12th cent |
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| 1250 | Mongols invade Korea, destroy Buddhist scriptures | 1231-59 | Kublai Khan accepts Tibetan Buddhism Marco Polo lands in Sri Lanka |
1253 late 13th cent |
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| 1300 | Hundred Year War (1337 – 1453) The Black Death/Plague (1347 – 1353) |
The Ottoman Empire founded | 1326 | ||
| 1350 | Theravada Buddhism becomes state religion of Thailand | 1360 | Portugal wins freedom from Spain | 1385 | |
| 1400 | Theravada Buddhism introduced in Laos | 14th cent | Joan of Arc- burned alive | 1431 | |
| 1450 | Ganden, first Gelug monastery, built by Tsongkhapa (1357-1419) | 1409 | Guttenberg invents the printing press | 1450 | |
| 1500 | Theravada Buddhism dominant in Cambodia | 15th cent | Mogul Empire begins: unifies much of south India with north | 1526 | |
| 1550 | Sonam Gyatso is titled the Dalai Lama by the Mongolian leader Altan Khan | 1578 | Queen Mary succeeded by Elizabeth | 1558 | |
| 1600 | Life of the fifth Dalai Lama and beginning of rule of Tibet by Dalai Lamas | 1617-82 | Holland, Great Britain and France establish trading posts in India | ||