The Three Traditions of Buddhism
How Buddhism was propagated in Asia
After attaining enlightenment, Gautama became known as Buddha Shakyamuni. For the next 45 years and as a travelling teacher, he shared his insights with those who were receptive and interested from the nearby kingdoms. Buddha Shakyamuni taught people not to follow his teachings out of blind faith, but to only do so after examining them carefully. He also did not coerce others to denounce and give up their own religion and convert to a new one, for he was not seeking to establish his own religion. Buddha’s aim was merely to help others overcome the unhappiness and suffering that they were creating for themselves, due to their lack of understanding of reality. In this way, Buddhism remained confined to northern India for the next two hundred years after Buddha’s parinirvana or passing-away, until King Asoka’s influential power (274–232 BC) spread it across the Indian subcontinent, and from there far and wide throughout Asia.
Despite never developing a missionary movement, Buddha’s teachings were spread afar over the centuries: first to Southeast Asia, then through Central Asia to China and the rest of East Asia, and finally to Tibet and the further reaches of Central Asia.
The Three Traditions of Buddhism.
More precisely, there are two major divisions of Buddhism: Theravada (the Modest Vehicle), which emphasizes personal liberation, and Mahayana (the Vast Vehicle), which stresses working to become a fully enlightened Buddha to be able to benefit others. Both the Modest and Vast vehicles have many subdivisions.
- The Theravada tradition spread from India to Sri Lanka and Burma (Myanmar) in the 3rd century BCE. From there, it reached the rest of Southeast Asia (Thailand, Cambodia and Laos). Other Hinayana schools spread to modern-day Pakistan, Afghanistan, eastern and coastal Iran, and Central Asia.
- These forms of Theravada were later combined with Mahayana aspects that came through this same route from India. From Central Asia, they spread into China in the 2nd century CE, eventually, Mahayana became the dominant form of Buddhism in China and most of Central Asia. The Chinese form of Mahayana later spread to Korea, Japan and Vietnam. In addition, from the 2nd century CE, Indian forms of Mahayana Buddhism also spread to Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Sumatra and Java along the sea trade route from India to South China.
- The Tibetan Mahayana Tradition (commonly known as Vajrayana Tradition) started in the 7th century CE, inheriting the full historical development of Indian Buddhism. King Songtsen Gampo took Buddhist wives from Nepal and China, and learned about Buddhism through his new wives. King Songsten Gampo built Buddhist temples in Tibet, and ordered the translation of the suttas into their Tibetan Sanskrit dialect. In the late 8th century CE, Buddhism became the official religion of Tibet. Songsten Gampo also introduced Buddhism to Bhutan, building multiple temples. From Tibet, it spread throughout the Himalayan regions and to Mongolia, Central Asia, and several regions of Russia (Buryatia, Kalmykia and Tuva).
Today, out of the three traditions, the Mahayana Tradition has the most followers and mainly from China and East Asia. This is followed by the Theravada Tradition with followers mainly from Southeast Asia. The smallest, but growing numbers of followers, is the Vajrayana Tradition which is popularly practiced in the Himalayan Region, including Mongolia and parts of Russia. Over the last four decades, all traditions of Buddhism expanded their presence in the West too.