| Buddhism began in Northern India around the year 500 | | | | different varieties. |
| BCE. The Buddhist tradition gets its name from a man | | | | Before this movements had ever began to grow in |
| known by his followers as the Buddha, or the awaken | | | | India, Buddhism was carried to Sri Lanka, just off the |
| one. He was born in a princely family in a region of | | | | Southern tip of India. Carried by Buddhist missionaries in |
| Northern India that now lies in Southern Nepal. In those | | | | the third century BCE. From Sri Lanka, Buddhism was |
| days it was simply a part of the great undifferentiated | | | | then carried on to most of South East Asia, including |
| geographical entity that we speak of today as the | | | | Indonesia. |
| Indian subcontinent. | | | | Buddhism moved North out of India into China in the |
| The Buddha is the very picture of calm and | | | | second century of the common era, carried North by |
| contemplation. And is this image of a calm and | | | | monks and merchants on the trade routes that went |
| contemplative human being that has drawn many | | | | out over the mountains of India, into Afghanistan and |
| people to the Buddha, for centuries in Asia, and of | | | | then on into the great trade routes called the "silk road" |
| course, in our own environment today. This is the | | | | that moved across central Asia and into the major |
| image that conveys more explicitly the experience of | | | | mercantile centers of Northern China. |
| his awakening. But the Buddha did not always sit in | | | | Here Buddhism encountered a sophisticated and |
| perfect contemplation. | | | | ancient civilization. China was a confident and |
| After his awakening he got up from the sit of his | | | | thoroughly civilized region when these early Buddhist |
| enlightenment and talked about his experience to | | | | monks began to make contact. For Buddhism to |
| others on the roads of Northern India. | | | | become part of China, as it eventually did, it was |
| The major events of his life took place in what we call | | | | important for Buddhists to make some major changes |
| the middle region of the Ganges basin, still the site of | | | | in the way they thought through and expressed basic |
| Buddhist pilgrimage today. | | | | issues. |
| In India itself there were two major reform movements | | | | From China, Buddhism was eventually carried to |
| than appeared within the Buddhist community not so | | | | Korea, Japan and Vietnam. You might put Korean, |
| long after the lifetime of the Buddha himself: | | | | Japanese and Vietnamese Buddhism together as |
| - The Theravada: "The Doctrine of the Elders". This is | | | | expressions of this great East Asian strand. |
| an deliberately conservative tradition. It started in India | | | | In the eighth century of the common era, Buddhism |
| and today it is practiced in South East Asia: Thailand, | | | | was carried across the Himalayas from India into Tibet. |
| Burma and Sri Lanka. It tries to reapply the practices | | | | Today, the Dalai Lama, who is the leader of the |
| of the early Buddhist community during the life time of | | | | Tibetan Buddhist community, is one of the most visible, |
| the Buddha. | | | | and I think, one of the most active Buddhist leaders in |
| - The Mahayanna: "The Great Vehicle". It is a reform | | | | the world. |
| movement that made a radical change in the way | | | | Today, Buddhism has spread through much of the rest |
| people enacted the Buddhist ideal. The Mahayana | | | | of the world including Europe, Australia and the |
| spread to China, Tibet, Japan, Korea and Vietnam in | | | | Americas. |