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300 BCE Buddhism arrives in SE Asia
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Buddhism was founded by Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) in 520 BC
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Buddha died unknown causes on circa 483 BC
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The Buddha's enlightenment and first sermon 450 BCE
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Fourth Buddhist Council was held in Jalandhar, northern India.
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1st century CE Buddhism first enters China
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Buddhism reached Korea.
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7th to 8th century Vajrayana Buddhism established in Tibet.
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rue Sect of Pure Land was founded in Japan by Shinran Shonin (1173 - 1261), whose followers rely upon the Buddha's grace for salvation rather than personal effort.
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1199 Nalanda University destroyed; demise of Buddhism in India.
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The Soto Zen sect of Buddhism was founded in Japan by Dogen (1200 - 1253), who emphasized a gradual process of enlightenment rather than a sudden experience.
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In Japan Nichiren (1222 - 1253) founds a Buddhist sect that will become named after him. This nationalistic sect teaches that all other forms of Buddhism will lead Japan to ruin.
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Control of Japanese Buddhism by Tokugawa Shögunate (the ruling feudal government) (I603-1867)
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Hakuin (1686-1769) monk, writer and artist who helped revive the Rinzai Zen Sect in Japanese Buddhism.
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Buddhist Society of Great Britain, founded (1907).
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The Chinese Communist government began to attack Buddhism.
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Buddhaghosa's Visuddhimagga was translated into English.
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806: the monk Kukai (Kobo Daishi) introduces the Shingon (Tantric) school into Japan
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269-231 BCE Reign of King Ashoka, patron of Buddhism; sends first Buddhists to Sri Lanka in the third century.
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538 Buddhism enters Japan from Korea.
