Buddhism in the world

When Siddhartha Gautama - Buddha - dies, his apprentices start spreading his teachings. At this time India is Hindu. Hinduism has so many gods that at first the people here believe that Buddhism is a kind of Hinduism too. But Buddha's teachings spread quickly, and it becomes apparent that this is a new religion. Pretty soon Buddhism splits into three divisions which look a little different: Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana.

In the third century BCE India gets an emperor called Ashoka. Ashoka spends a lot of time at war, and after a while feels that everything is just suffering. So he becomes a Buddhist and starts spreading the teachings. He sends out missionaries - for instance to Sri Lanka and Burma. Buddhism survives in India until the 13th Century CE when Muslim rulers persecute the monks and destroy monasteries and temples.

Most Buddhists escape to other countries. But during the time when Buddhism still had a stronghold in India it also spread to Southeast Asian countries. In the second century, Mahayana Buddhism reaches China, and in the 4th century Korea. And in the 6th century Mahayana reaches Japan. Now there's also a new kind of Mahayana.

It's this monk, Bodhidharma, that brings this with him to China. In China this new branch of Mahayana is called Chan - but it's mostly known by the name it gets in Japan: Zen Buddhism. Chan or Zen means meditation. This seems odd. Isn't all Buddhism about meditation?

Yes, but this is Mahayana; and in Mahayana, Bodhisattvas and realms of heaven are important. Zen Buddhism doesn't place importance on these, but focuses on meditation. Zen meditation is also rather special. There are many breathing exercises, and also a special kind of riddle - koan - that the practitioners are meant to ponder over. For example: What is the sound of one hand clapping?

Well, that is something to think about. The countries Thailand, Laos and Cambodia at first become Mahayana Buddhist; but eventually Theravada missionaries arrive here from Sri Lanka, and change that. It's in the high mountains of Tibet that the third division of Buddhism is born. At the end of the 2nd century the first Mahayana scriptures arrive here. But it's not until the 8th century that Buddhism establishes here properly.

In Tibet there is already a folk religion - Bon - and it's when Mahayana mixes with Bon, that Vajrayana develops. Vajrayana eventually spreads outside Tibet, too. Today the three divisions Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana have spread like this. So which division has the most followers? Mahayana is the largest.

Theravada comes second, and Vajrayana is the smallest. Look at this. There is a small region in Europe that is also Buddhist. It's the Russian Federal Republic of Kalmykia. They are also Vajrayana Buddhists even though they live this far away from Tibet.

Speaking of Tibet. Is that a country of it's own? That depends on who you ask. China states that Tibet is part of China; while the Tibetans claim that it's a country of its own. Many Tibetans have been put in prison or executed in China.

This is the spiritual leader of Tibet: The Dalai Lama. He was forced to escape persecution by the Chinese regime, so he has lived in India since 1959. He received the Nobel Peace Prize for his fight for Tibetan independence using peaceful, non-violent action. Many Westerners are also interested in Buddhism. This is largely due to the image of Buddhism as a peaceful religion.

Others are attracted by the fact that in Buddhism there is no god that interferes in humans' lives. They see Buddhism as more of a philosophy than a religion.