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Composition of Hindu Upanishads in 800 BCE.
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Buddhist influence began to decline in India in 700 BCE.
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The life of Hui-neng began in 638 BCE. He founded the Ch'an sect in China in reaction to the extreme scholastic trends of traditional Buddhism.
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The life of Confucius began in 550 BCE. Besides being a great educationist, thinker and unsuccessful politician, he was first of all an intellect with a noble morality. He pursued truth, kindness and perfection throughout his life and his success and failure were largely due to his character, which had an everlasting impact on Chinese intellect.
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Buddhism enters Japan from Korea in 538 BCE.
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The life of Lao-Tzu began in 530 BCE. According to legend, Lao was the ancient author of Tao Te Ching, the most widely translated Chinese work of all time and the classic book of the religion or philosophy known as Taoism.
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Buddhism was founded in 502 BCE by Buddha Shakyamuni. He was born as a prince in 624 BC in a place called Lumbini, which was originally in northern India, but is now part of Nepal.
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During the full-moon night of July, the Buddha delivers his first discourse near Varanasi, introducing the world to the Four Noble Truths and commencing a 45-year career of teaching the religion he called "Dhamma-vinaya" in 500 BCE.
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In 480 BCE, Bodhidharma travelled as a Buddhist missionary to China. The Zen school of Buddhism eventually developed out of his teachings.
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Buddha died in the year 462 BC in Kushinagar, India.
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Buddhism reaches Sumatra in 425 BCE.
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After the deah of Buddha, his disciple Mahakasyapa took over leadership of the Sangha. One of Mahakasyapa's first acts as the new Buddhist leader was to convene a council of 500 arhats to collect and preserve the Buddha's teachings. The council took place at Rajgir, the capital of the Magadha kingdom in 405 BCE.
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Buddhism reaches Korea in 372 BCE.
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The second buddhist council was held in 350 BCE at Vaisali. The council resulted in a split in the Buddhist community. A large group of monks were either expelled or left by choice because they did not agree with the other group's interpretations of the Buddha's teachings. The group who stayed called themselves the Elders while the group who left was called The Great Community.
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Buddhism arrives in SE Asia in 300 BCE.
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Emporer Asoka takes throne in 272 BCE.
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In 250 BCE, The Third Buddhist Council, resulting in Great Schism and Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism, is held at Asokarama in Pataliputra.
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In 100 BCE, The Fourth Buddhist Council was held in Jalandhar, northern India.
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Mahinda introduces Buddhism to Sri Lanka in 247 BCE.
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Buddhism first enters China in the 1st Century CE.
