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{{Short description|South Asian religion and philosophy}}
{{Redirect|Buddhadharma|those who practise Buddhism|Buddhists}}
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[[File:Kamakura Budda Daibutsu front 1885.jpg|thumb|The [[Kamakura Daibutsu]], a 13th-century bronze statue of the Buddha [[Amitābha]] in [[Kanagawa Prefecture]], Japan]]
{{Buddhism}}

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'''Buddhism''',{{efn|{{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|ʊ|d|ɪ|z|əm}} {{respell|BUUD|ih|zəm}}, {{IPAc-en|USalso|ˈ|b|uː|d|-}} {{respell|BOOD|-}}{{sfnp|Wells|2008|p=}}{{sfnp|Roach|2011|p=}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/buddhism |title=buddhism noun - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notes {{pipe}} Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com |access-date=19 March 2023 |archive-date=13 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230213071447/https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/buddhism |url-status=live}}</ref>}} also known as '''Buddhadharma''' and '''Dharmavinaya''', is an [[Indian religion]] and [[Indian philosophy|philosophy]]{{efn|Scholars speak of ''Indian religions and philosophies'' to refer to those traditions that originated on the Indian subcontinent, though Buddhism is mostly practiced outside of India today.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Jonathan H. X. Lee|author2=Kathleen M. Nadeau |title=Encyclopedia of Asian American Folklore and Folklife |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofas00leej/page/504 |year=2011|publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-313-35066-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofas00leej/page/504 504]}}, Quote: "The three other major Indian religions – Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism – originated in India as an alternative to Brahmanic/Hindu philosophy"</ref><ref>[[Jan Gonda]] (1987), ''Indian Religions: An Overview – Buddhism and Jainism'', Encyclopedia of Religion, 2nd Edition, Volume 7, Editor: Lindsay Jones, Macmillan Reference, {{ISBN|0-02-865740-3}}, p. 4428</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=[[K. T. S. Sarao]]|author2=Jefferey Long |title=Encyclopedia of Indian Religions: Buddhism and Jainism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m0_njwEACAAJ |year=2017 |publisher=Springer Netherlands|isbn=978-94-024-0851-5}}, Quote: "Buddhism and Jainism, two religions which, together with Hinduism, constitute the three pillars of Indic religious tradition in its classical formulation."</ref>}} based on [[Pre-sectarian Buddhism|teachings]] attributed to [[the Buddha]], a ''[[śramaṇa]]'' and religious teacher who lived in the 6th or 5th century [[Before the Common Era|BCE]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Siderits |first1=Mark |title=Buddha |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/buddha/ |website=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |date=2019 |access-date=22 October 2021 |archive-date=21 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220521121053/https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/buddha/ |url-status=live }}</ref> It is the [[Major religious groups|world's fourth-largest religion]],<ref>"Buddhism". (2009). In ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''. Retrieved 26 November 2009, from ''Encyclopædia Britannica Online Library Edition''.</ref>{{sfnp|Lopez|2001|p=239}} with about 320 million followers, known as [[Buddhists]], who comprise 4.1% of the global population.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Hackett |first1=Conrad |last2=Stonawski |first2=Marcin |last3=Tong |first3=Yunping |last4=Kramer |first4=Stephanie |last5=Shi |first5=Anne |last6=Fahmy |first6=Dalia |date=2025-06-09 |title=How the Global Religious Landscape Changed From 2010 to 2020 |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/06/09/how-the-global-religious-landscape-changed-from-2010-to-2020/ |access-date=2025-06-10 |website=Pew Research Center |language=en-US}}</ref> It arose in the eastern [[Gangetic plain]] as a {{Transliteration|sa|[[śramaṇa]]}} movement in the 5th century BCE, and gradually spread throughout much of [[Asia]]. Buddhism has subsequently played a major role in Asian culture and spirituality, eventually spreading to [[Western world|the West]] in the 20th century.

According to tradition, the Buddha instructed his followers in a path of [[bhavana|cultivation]] that leads to [[Enlightenment in Buddhism|awakening]] and [[moksha|full liberation]] from ''[[Duḥkha|dukkha]]'' (lit. 'suffering';{{refn|group=note|name="pain"}} 'unease', 'unsatisfactoriness') by attaining [[Nirvana (Buddhism)|nirvana]], the 'blowing out' (extinguishing) of the passions. He regarded this path as a [[Middle Way]] between extreme asceticism and sensory indulgence,{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=23, 81}}{{sfnp|Keown|1996|pp=24, 59}}{{sfnp|Bronkhorst|2011|pp=233–237}}{{sfnp|Schuhmacher |Woener|1991|p=143}} and also between the extremes of [[Sassatavada|eternalism]] and [[nihilism]].{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|p=72}}{{sfnp|Buswell|Lopez|2003|p=49, ''antagrahadrsti''}} Teaching that ''dukkha'' arises alongside [[Upādāna|attachment or clinging]], the Buddha advised [[Buddhist meditation|meditation practices]] and [[Buddhist ethics|ethical precepts]] rooted in [[Ahimsa|non-harming]]. Widely observed teachings include the [[Four Noble Truths]], the [[Noble Eightfold Path]], and the doctrines of [[dependent origination]], [[Karma in Buddhism|karma]], and the [[three marks of existence]]. Other commonly observed elements include the [[Triple Gem]], the taking of [[Buddhist monasticism|monastic vows]], and the cultivation of perfections ({{Transliteration|sa|[[pāramitā]]}}).<ref>{{cite journal|last=Avison|first=Austin|date=October 4, 2021|title=Delusional Mitigation in Religious and Psychological Forms of Self-Cultivation: Buddhist and Clinical Insight on Delusional Symptomatology|url=https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1429&context=hilltopreview|journal=[[The Hilltop Review]]|volume=12|issue=6|pages=1–29|via=Digital Commons|access-date=11 November 2021|archive-date=31 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331183852/https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1429&context=hilltopreview|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[Tripiṭaka|Buddhist canon]] is vast, with [[philosophical tradition]]s and many different textual collections in different languages (such as [[Sanskrit]], [[Pali]], [[Tibeto-Burman languages|Tibetan]], and [[Chinese language|Chinese]]).<ref>[https://www.bl.uk/sacred-texts/articles/the-buddhist-canon British Library ''The development of the Buddhist 'canon'''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210407060443/https://www.bl.uk/sacred-texts/articles/the-buddhist-canon |date=7 April 2021 }} at bl.uk. Retriebved 10 February 2023.</ref> [[Schools of Buddhism|Buddhist schools]] vary in their interpretation of the [[Buddhist paths to liberation|paths to liberation]] (''x{{Transliteration|sa|mārga}}'', "path") as well as the relative importance and "canonicity" assigned to various [[Buddhist texts]], and their specific teachings and practices.{{sfnp|Williams|1989|pp=275ff}}{{sfnp|Robinson|Johnson|1997|p=xx}} Two major extant branches of Buddhism are generally recognised by scholars: [[Theravada|Theravāda]] ({{Literal translation|School of the Elders}}) and [[Mahayana|Mahāyāna]] ({{Literal translation|Great Vehicle}}). The Theravada tradition emphasises the attainment of {{Transliteration|sa|[[Nirvana (Buddhism)|nirvāṇa]]}} ({{Literal translation|extinguishing}}) as a means of transcending the individual self and ending the cycle of death and rebirth ({{Transliteration|sa|[[Saṃsāra (Buddhism)|saṃsāra]]}}),{{sfnp|Gethin |1998|pp=27–28, 73–74}}{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|p=99}}{{sfnp|Powers|2007|pp=392–393, 415}} while the Mahayana tradition emphasises the [[Bodhisattva|Bodhisattva ideal]], in which one works for the liberation of all sentient beings. Additionally, [[Vajrayāna]] ({{Literal translation|Indestructible Vehicle}}), a body of teachings incorporating esoteric [[tantra|tantric]] techniques, may be viewed as a separate branch or tradition within Mahāyāna.<ref name="White 2000 21">{{cite book |editor-last=White |editor-first=David Gordon |year=2000 |page=21 |title=Tantra in Practice |publisher=Princeton University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hayV4o50eUEC&pg=PA21 |isbn=978-0-691-05779-8 |access-date=8 July 2015 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055825/https://books.google.com/books?id=hayV4o50eUEC&pg=PA21 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Mahāyāna branch, which includes the traditions of [[Tiantai]], [[Chan Buddhism|Chan]], [[Pure Land Buddhism|Pure Land]], [[Zen]], [[Nichiren Buddhism|Nichiren]] and [[Tendai]], is the largest branch of Buddhism, being predominantly practised in [[Nepal]], [[Bhutan]], [[Malaysia]], [[Vietnam]], [[Taiwan]], [[Korea]], and [[Japan]]. The second-largest branch, Theravada, is followed mainly in [[Myanmar]], [[Thailand]], [[Laos]], [[Cambodia]], and [[Sri Lanka]]. [[Tibetan Buddhism]], a form of {{Transliteration|sa|Vajrayāna}}, is practised in the [[Himalayan states]] as well as in [[Mongolia]]{{sfnp|Powers|2007|pp=26–27}} and [[Kalmykia|Russian Kalmykia]] and [[Tuva]].<ref>"Candles in the Dark: A New Spirit for a Plural World" by Barbara Sundberg Baudot, p. 305</ref> Japanese [[Shingon]] also preserves the Vajrayana tradition as transmitted to [[Tangmi|China]]. Historically, until the early [[2nd millennium]], Buddhism was widely practised in [[Decline of Buddhism in the Indian subcontinent|the Indian subcontinent before declining there]];<ref>{{cite book |last1=Claus |first1=Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dg4HEAAAQBAJ&dq=buddhism+indian+subcontinent+2nd+millennium&pg=PA80 |title=South Asian Folklore: An Encyclopedia |last2=Diamond |first2=Sarah |last3=Mills |first3=Margaret |date=2020-10-28 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-000-10122-5 |pages=80 |language=en |access-date=4 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055821/https://books.google.com/books?id=Dg4HEAAAQBAJ&dq=buddhism+indian+subcontinent+2nd+millennium&pg=PA80 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Akira Hirakawa |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XjjwjC7rcOYC |title=A History of Indian Buddhism: From Śākyamuni to Early Mahāyāna |author2=Paul Groner |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |year=1993 |isbn=978-81-208-0955-0 |pages=227–240}}</ref><ref name="Keown2004p208">{{cite book |author=Damien Keown |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=985a1M7L1NcC&pg=PA208 |title=A Dictionary of Buddhism |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-19-157917-2 |pages=208–209}}</ref> it also had a foothold to some extent elsewhere in Asia, namely [[Afghanistan]], [[Turkmenistan]], [[Uzbekistan]], and [[Tajikistan]].<ref>[[Richard Foltz]], "Buddhism in the Iranian World," ''The Muslim World''. 100/2-3, 2010, pp. 204–214</ref>

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==Etymology==
The terms ''Buddhadharma'' and ''Bauddhadharma'' come from [[Sanskrit]]: {{lang|sa|बुद्ध धर्म}} and {{lang|sa|बौद्ध धर्म}} respectively ("doctrine of the Enlightened One" and "doctrine of Buddhists"). The term ''Dharmavinaya'' comes from Sanskrit: {{lang|sa|धर्मविनय}}, literally meaning "doctrines [and] disciplines".<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Buswell |first1=Robert |last2=Lopez |first2=Donald |date=2014 |title=Dharmavinaya |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780190681159.001.0001/acref-9780190681159-e-1236#:~:text=In%20Sanskrit%2C%20the%20“teaching”,(...%20... |via=Oxford Reference |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=9780691157863}}</ref>

[[The Buddha]] ("the Awakened One") was a [[Śramaṇa]] who lived in [[South Asia]] c. 6th or 5th century BCE.{{sfnp|Gethin|1998|pp=7–8}}{{sfnp|Bronkhorst|2013|pp=ix–xi}} Followers of Buddhism, called ''Buddhists'' in English, referred to themselves as ''Sakyan''-s or ''Sakyabhiksu'' in ancient India.<ref>''Beyond Enlightenment: Buddhism, Religion, Modernity'' by Richard Cohen. Routledge 1999. {{ISBN|0-415-54444-0}}. p. 33. "Donors adopted Sakyamuni Buddha's family name to assert their legitimacy as his heirs, both institutionally and ideologically. To take the name of Sakya was to define oneself by one's affiliation with the buddha, somewhat like calling oneself a Buddhist today.</ref><ref>''Sakya or Buddhist Origins'' by Caroline Rhys Davids (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1931) p. 1. "Put away the word "Buddhism" and think of your subject as "Sakya." This will at once place you for your perspective at a true point. You are now concerned to learn less about 'Buddha' and 'Buddhism,' and more about him whom India has ever known as Sakya-muni, and about his men who, as their records admit, were spoken of as the Sakya-sons, or men of the Sakyas."</ref> Buddhist scholar Donald S. Lopez asserts they also used the term ''Bauddha'',<ref>Lopez, Donald S. (1995). ''Curators of the Buddha'', University of Chicago Press. p. 7</ref> although the scholar Richard Cohen asserts that that term was used only by outsiders to describe Buddhists.<ref>''Beyond Enlightenment: Buddhism, Religion, Modernity'' by Richard Cohen. Routledge 1999. {{ISBN|0-415-54444-0}}. p. 33. Bauddha is "a secondary derivative of buddha, in which the vowel's lengthening indicates connection or relation. Things that are bauddha pertain to the buddha, just as things Saiva related to Siva and things Vaisnava belong to Visnu. ... baudda can be both adjectival and nominal; it can be used for doctrines spoken by the buddha, objects enjoyed by him, texts attributed to him, as well as individuals, communities, and societies that offer him reverence or accept ideologies certified through his name. Strictly speaking, Sakya is preferable to bauddha since the latter is not attested at Ajanta. In fact, as a collective noun, bauddha is an outsider's term. The bauddha did not call themselves this in India, though they did sometimes use the word adjectivally (e.g., as a possessive, the buddha's)."</ref>

==The Buddha==
{{Main|The Buddha}}

[[File:Tapa Shotor seated Buddha (Niche V1).jpg|thumb|[[The Buddha]], [[Tapa Shotor]] monastery in [[Hadda, Afghanistan|Hadda]], Afghanistan, 2nd century CE]]
[[File:BRP Lumbini Mayadevi temple.jpg|thumb|[[Maya Devi Temple, Lumbini|Maya Devi Temple]] marking the Buddha's birthplace in [[Lumbini]], Nepal]]
Details of the Buddha's life are mentioned in many [[Early Buddhist Texts]] but are inconsistent. His social background and life details are difficult to prove, and the precise dates are uncertain, although the 5th century BCE seems to be the best estimate.{{sfnp|Gethin|1998|pp=13–14}}{{Refn|group=note|Buddhist texts such as the [[Jataka tales]] of the Theravada Buddhist tradition, and early biographies such as the ''[[Buddhacarita]]'', the [[Lokottaravāda|Lokottaravādin]] ''[[Mahāvastu]]'', the [[Sarvastivada|Sarvāstivādin]] ''[[Lalitavistara Sūtra]]'', give different accounts about the life of the Buddha; many include stories of his many rebirths, and some add significant embellishments.{{sfnp|Swearer|2004|p=177}}{{sfnp|Gethin|1998|pp=15–24}} Keown and Prebish state, "In the past, modern scholars have generally accepted 486 or 483 BCE for this [Buddha's death], but the consensus is now that they rest on evidence which is too flimsy.{{sfnp|Keown|Prebish|2010|pp=105–106}} Scholars are hesitant to make unqualified claims about the historical facts of the Buddha's life. Most accept that he lived, taught and founded a monastic order, but do not consistently accept all of the details contained in his biographies."{{sfnp|Buswell|2004|p=352}}{{sfnp|Lopez|1995|p=16}}{{sfnp|Carrithers|1986|p=10}}{{sfnp|Armstrong|2004|p=xii}}}}
[[File:Mahajanapadas (c. 500 BCE).png|thumb|Ancient kingdoms and cities of South Asia and Central Asia during the time of the Buddha (c.&nbsp;500 BCE)—modern-day India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan]]
Early texts have the Buddha's family name as "Gautama" (Pali: Gotama), while some texts give Siddhartha as his surname. He was born in [[Lumbini]], present-day [[Nepal]] and grew up in [[Kapilavastu (ancient city)|Kapilavastu]],{{refn|group=note|The exact identity of this ancient place is unclear. Please see [[Gautama Buddha]] article for various sites identified.}} a town in the [[Indo-Gangetic Plain|Ganges Plain]], near the modern Nepal–India border, and he spent his life in what is now modern [[Bihar]]{{Refn|group=note|Bihar is derived from ''Vihara'', which means monastery.{{sfnp|Gombrich|1988|p=49}}}} and [[Uttar Pradesh]].{{sfnp|Gombrich|1988|p=49}}{{sfnp|Gethin|1998|pp=13–14}} Some hagiographic legends state that his father was a king named [[Śuddhodana|Suddhodana]] and his mother was [[Maya (mother of the Buddha)|Queen Maya.]]<ref name="Thomas2013p16">{{cite book|author=Edward J. Thomas |title=The Life of Buddha |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zfb9AQAAQBAJ |year=2013|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-20121-9 |pages=16–29 }}</ref> Scholars such as [[Richard Gombrich]] consider this a dubious claim because a combination of evidence suggests he was born in the [[Shakya]] community, which was governed by a [[Gaṇasaṅgha|small oligarchy or republic-like council]] where there were no ranks but where seniority mattered instead.{{sfnp|Gombrich|1988|pp=49–50}} Some of the stories about the Buddha, his life, his teachings, and claims about the society he grew up in may have been invented and interpolated at a later time into the Buddhist texts.{{sfnp|Gombrich|1988|pp=18–19, 50–51}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Kurt Tropper |title=Tibetan Inscriptions |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wKFbFXQSqqUC |year=2013|publisher=Brill Academic |isbn=978-90-04-25241-7 |pages=60–61 with footnotes 134–136}}</ref>

Various details about the Buddha's background are contested in modern scholarship. For example, Buddhist texts assert that Buddha described himself as a [[kshatriya]] (warrior class), but Gombrich writes that little is known about his father and there is no proof that his father even knew the term ''kshatriya''.{{sfnp|Gombrich|1988|p=50}} ([[Mahavira]], whose teachings helped establish the ancient religion [[Jainism]], is also claimed to be ksatriya by his early followers.){{sfnp|Gombrich|1988|pp=50–51}}

According to early texts such as the Pali ''Ariyapariyesanā-sutta'' ("The discourse on the noble quest", [[Majjhima Nikāya|MN]] 26) and its Chinese parallel at [[Madhyama Agama|MĀ]] 204, Gautama was moved by the suffering (''[[dukkha]]'') of life and death, and its [[Samsara|endless repetition]] due to [[Rebirth (Buddhism)|rebirth]].<ref>Analayo (2011). ''[https://www.buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg.de/pdf/5-personen/analayo/compstudyvol1.pdf A Comparative Study of the Majjhima-nikāya Volume 1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221221203202/https://www.buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg.de/pdf/5-personen/analayo/compstudyvol1.pdf |date=21 December 2022 }} (Introduction, Studies of Discourses 1 to 90)'', p. 170.</ref> He thus set out on a quest to find liberation from suffering (also known as "[[Nirvana (Buddhism)|nirvana]]").<ref>{{cite journal |last=Wynne |first=Alexander |title=Did the Buddha exist? |journal=Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies |date=2019 |volume=16 |pages=98–148 |url=http://jocbs.org/index.php/jocbs/article/view/193 |access-date=2 December 2022 |archive-date=2 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221202154933/http://jocbs.org/index.php/jocbs/article/view/193 |url-status=live }}</ref> Early texts and biographies state that Gautama first studied under two teachers of meditation, namely [[Āḷāra Kālāma]] (Sanskrit: Arada Kalama) and [[Uddaka Rāmaputta|Uddaka Ramaputta]] (Sanskrit: Udraka Ramaputra), learning meditation and philosophy, particularly the meditative attainment of "the sphere of nothingness" from the former, and "the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception" from the latter.{{sfnp|Wynne|2007|pp=8–23}}<ref>{{cite book |author=Hajime Nakamura |title=Gotama Buddha: A Biography Based on the Most Reliable Texts |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nt8QAQAAIAAJ |year=2000 |publisher=Kosei |isbn=978-4-333-01893-2 |pages=127–129 |access-date=10 July 2016 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055826/https://books.google.com/books?id=Nt8QAQAAIAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>{{Refn|group=note|The earliest Buddhist biographies of the Buddha mention these Vedic-era teachers. Outside of these early Buddhist texts, these names do not appear, which has led some scholars to raise doubts about the historicity of these claims.{{sfnp|Wynne|2007|pp=8–23}}{{sfnp|Bronkhorst|2013|pp=19–32}} According to Alexander Wynne, the evidence suggests that Buddha studied under these Vedic-era teachers and they "almost certainly" taught him, but the details of his education are unclear.{{sfnp|Wynne|2007|pp=8–23}}{{sfnp|Hirakawa|1993|pp=22–26}}}}

Finding these teachings to be insufficient to attain his goal, he turned to the practice of severe [[asceticism]], which included a strict [[fasting]] regime and various forms of [[Pranayama|breath control]].<ref name="Analayo 2011 p. 236">Analayo (2011). "''A Comparative Study of the Majjhima-nikāya Volume 1 (Introduction, Studies of Discourses 1 to 90)''", p. 236.</ref> This too fell short of attaining his goal, and then he turned to the meditative practice of ''[[Dhyāna in Buddhism|dhyana]]''. He famously sat in [[meditation]] under a ''[[Ficus religiosa]]'' tree—now called the [[Bodhi Tree]]—in the town of [[Bodh Gaya]] and attained "Awakening" ([[Enlightenment in Buddhism|Bodhi]]).<ref>{{cite book |last1=K.T.S |first1=Sarao |title=The History of Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya |date=2020 |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=9789811580673 |page=62 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H5n9DwAAQBAJ&q=history+of+the+mahabodhi+temple |access-date=16 November 2021 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055821/https://books.google.com/books?id=H5n9DwAAQBAJ&q=history+of+the+mahabodhi+temple |url-status=live }}</ref>

According to various early texts like the ''Mahāsaccaka-sutta,'' and the ''[[Samaññaphala Sutta]],'' on awakening, the Buddha gained insight into the workings of karma and his former lives, as well as achieving the ending of the mental defilements (''[[asava]]s''), the ending of suffering, and the end of rebirth in [[saṃsāra]].<ref name="Analayo 2011 p. 236"/> This event also brought certainty about the [[Middle Way]] as the right path of spiritual practice to end suffering.{{sfnp|Bronkhorst|2011|pp=233–237}}{{sfnp|Schuhmacher |Woener|1991|p=143}} As a [[Buddhahood#Samyaksambuddha|fully enlightened Buddha]], he attracted followers and founded a ''[[Sangha (Buddhism)|Sangha]]'' (monastic order).{{sfnp|Gombrich|1988|pp=49–51}} He spent the rest of his life teaching the [[Dharma]] he had discovered, and then died, achieving "[[Parinirvana|final nirvana]]", at the age of 80 in [[Kushinagar]], India.{{sfnp|Keown|2003|p=267}}{{sfnp|Keown|Prebish|2010|pp=105–106}}{{according to whom|date=March 2024}}

The Buddha's teachings were propagated by his followers, which in the last centuries of the 1st millennium BCE became various [[Schools of Buddhism|Buddhist schools of thought]], each with its own [[Tripiṭaka|basket of texts]] containing different interpretations and authentic teachings of the Buddha;{{sfnp|Gethin|1998|pp=54–55}}<ref>{{cite book |author=Barbara Crandall |title=Gender and Religion |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zq7UAwAAQBAJ |edition=2nd |year=2012 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-1-4411-4871-1 |pages=56–58 |access-date=10 July 2016 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055820/https://books.google.com/books?id=Zq7UAwAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=britannicatipitaka/> these over time evolved into many traditions of which the more well known and widespread in the modern era are [[Theravada]], [[Mahayana]] and [[Vajrayana]] Buddhism.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Sarah LeVine |author2=David N Gellner |title=Rebuilding Buddhism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e9C1iF3MAYgC |year=2009 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-04012-0 |pages=1–19 }}</ref>{{sfnp|Gethin|1998|pp=1–5}}

==Worldview==
<!--NOTE: the structure of this section has been agreed by consensus. If you think major changes should be made, please propose them on the discussion page-->
{{Main|Glossary of Buddhism}}

The term "Buddhism" is an occidental neologism, commonly (and "rather roughly" according to [[Donald S. Lopez Jr.]]) used as a translation for the [[Dharma]] of the [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]], ''fójiào'' in Chinese, ''bukkyō'' in Japanese, ''nang pa sangs rgyas pa'i chos'' in Tibetan, ''buddhadharma'' in Sanskrit, ''buddhaśāsana'' in Pali.<ref>{{cite book|author=[[Donald S. Lopez Jr.]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SNA6DwAAQBAJ&pg=PR14|title=Hyecho's Journey: The World of Buddhism|date=2017-12-21|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-51806-0|language=en|page=XIV|access-date=27 September 2020|archive-date=11 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055821/https://books.google.com/books?id=SNA6DwAAQBAJ&pg=PR14|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Four Noble Truths – ''dukkha'' and its ending===
{{Main|Dukkha|Four Noble Truths}}

{{See also|Prapanca}}
[[File:Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita Dharmacakra Discourse.jpeg|thumb|left|alt=color manuscript illustration of Buddha teaching the [[Four Noble Truths]], Nalanda, Bihar, India|The Buddha teaching the Four Noble Truths. [[Sanskrit]] manuscript. [[Nalanda]], Bihar, India]]

The Four Noble Truths, or the truths of the [[Arhat|Noble Ones]],<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Four-Noble-Truths |title=Four Noble Truths: BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Britannica |date=31 March 2024 |quote=Although the term Four Noble Truths is well known in English, it is a misleading translation of the Pali term Chattari-ariya-saccani (Sanskrit: Chatvari-arya-satyani), because noble (Pali: ariya; Sanskrit: arya) refers not to the truths themselves but to those who recognize and understand them. A more accurate rendering, therefore, might be 'four truths for the [spiritually] noble'}}</ref> express the basic orientation of Buddhism: everything is impermanent, yet we [[Upādāna|crave and cling]] to [[saṅkhāra#Conditioned things|impermanent states and things]], which is ''dukkha'', "incapable of satisfying" and painful.{{sfnp|Nyanatiloka|1980|p=65}}{{sfnp|Emmanuel|2013|p=30}}{{sfnp|Williams|2002|pp=74–75}}{{sfnp|Lopez|2009|p=147}} This keeps us caught in [[Saṃsāra (Buddhism)|saṃsāra]], metaphysically interpreted as the endless cycle of repeated [[Rebirth (Buddhism)|rebirth]], dukkha and dying again,<!--** START OF NOTE ("SAMSARA") **-->{{refn|group=note|name="Samsara"|On samsara, rebirth and redeath:<br />* Paul Williams: "All rebirth is due to karma and is impermanent. Short of attaining enlightenment, in each rebirth one is born and dies, to be reborn elsewhere in accordance with the completely impersonal causal nature of one's own karma. The endless cycle of birth, rebirth, and redeath, is samsara."{{sfnp|Williams|2002|pp=74–75}}<br />* Buswell and Lopez on "rebirth": "An English term that does not have an exact correlate in Buddhist languages, rendered instead by a range of technical terms, such as the Sanskrit ''Punarjanman'' ({{lit|birth again}}) and ''Punabhavan'' ({{lit|re-becoming}}), and, less commonly, the related [[Redeath|PUNARMRTYU]] ({{lit|redeath}})."{{sfnp|Buswell|Lopez|2003|p=708}}<br /><br />See also Perry Schmidt-Leukel (2006) pp. 32–34,{{sfnp|Schmidt-Leukel|2006|pp=32–34}} John J. Makransky (1997) p. 27.{{sfnp|Makransky|1997|p=27}} for the use of the term "redeath". The term ''Agatigati'' or ''Agati gati'' (plus a few other terms) is generally translated as 'rebirth, redeath'; see any Pali-English dictionary; e.g. pp. 94–95 of Rhys Davids & William Stede, where they list five Sutta examples with rebirth and re-death sense.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0Guw2CnxiucC&pg=PA94|title=Pali-English Dictionary|first1=Thomas William Rhys|last1=Davids|first2=William|last2=Stede|date=21 July 1993|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ.|isbn=9788120811447|via=Google Books}}</ref>}}<!--** END OF NOTE ("SAMSARA") **--> also interpreted as a psychological cycle of repetitious rebirth of the ego.<ref name="Payutto">Payutto, ''Dependent Origination: the Buddhist Law of Causality''</ref><ref group=web name="Buddhadasa">{{cite web |last=Buddhadasa |first=Bhikkhu |title=Paticcasamuppada: Practical dependent Origination |url=http://www.dhammatalks.net/Books6/Bhikkhu_Buddhadasa_Paticcasamuppada.htm |via=DhammaTalks.net}}</ref>

But there is a way to [[moksha|liberation]] from this endless cycle{{sfnp|Warder|2000|pp=45–46}} to the state of [[nirvana]], namely following the [[Noble Eightfold Path]].<!--** START OF NOTE ("MOKSHA") **-->{{refn|group=note|name="Moksha"|Graham Harvey: "Siddhartha Gautama found an end to rebirth in this world of suffering. His teachings, known as the dharma in Buddhism, can be summarized in the Four Noble truths."{{sfnp|Harvey|2016}} Geoffrey Samuel (2008): "The Four Noble Truths [...] describe the knowledge needed to set out on the path to liberation from rebirth."{{sfnp|Samuel|2008|p=136}} See also:{{Sfnp|Spiro|1982|p=42}}{{sfnp|Vetter|1988|pp=xxi, xxxi–xxxii}}{{sfnp|Makransky|1997|pp=27–28}}{{sfnp|Williams|2002|pp=74–75}}{{sfnp|Lopez|2009|p=147}}{{sfnp|Harvey|2016}}{{sfnp|Kingsland|2016|p=286}}<ref group=web name="EB-DL Four Truths" /><ref group=web>Thanissaro Bhikkhu, [http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/truth_of_rebirth.html "The Truth of Rebirth and Why it Matters for Buddhist Practice"] ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160522055834/http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/truth_of_rebirth.html |date=22 May 2016 }})</ref><br/><br/>The Theravada tradition holds that insight into these four truths is liberating in itself.{{sfnp|Carter|1987|p=3179}} This is reflected in the Pali Canon.{{sfnp|Anderson|2013}} According to Donald Lopez, "The Buddha stated in his first sermon that when he gained absolute and intuitive knowledge of the four truths, he achieved complete enlightenment and freedom from future rebirth."<ref group=web name="EB-DL Four Truths">Donald Lopez, [https://www.britannica.com/topic/Four-Noble-Truths "Four Noble Truths"] ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200518100726/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Four-Noble-Truths |date=18 May 2020 }}), ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''.</ref><br/><br/>The ''[[Maha-parinibbana Sutta]]'' also refers to this liberation.<ref group=web>{{Cite web|url=https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.16.1-6.vaji.html|title=Maha-parinibbana Sutta: Last Days of the Buddha|website=www.accesstoinsight.org|access-date=12 September 2021|archive-date=25 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200625002728/https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.16.1-6.vaji.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Carol Anderson: "The second passage where the four truths appear in the ''Vinaya-pitaka'' is also found in the ''Mahaparinibbana-sutta'' (D II 90–91). Here, the Buddha explains that it is by not understanding the four truths that rebirth continues."{{sfnp|Anderson|2013|p=162 with note 38, for context see pp. 1–3}}<br/><br/>On the meaning of moksha as liberation from rebirth, see Patrick Olivelle in the ''Encyclopædia Britannica''.<ref group=web name="Brittanica">[[Patrick Olivelle]] (2012), [https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/387852/moksha "Moksha (Indian religions)"] ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150430005419/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/387852/moksha |date=30 April 2015 }}). ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''.</ref>}}<!--** END OF NOTE ("MOKSHA") **-->

The truth of ''[[dukkha]]'' is the basic insight that life in this mundane world, with its clinging and craving to [[Saṅkhāra#Conditioned things|impermanent states and things]]{{sfnp|Nyanatiloka|1980|p=65}} is ''dukkha'', and unsatisfactory.{{sfnp|Williams|2002|pp=74–75}}{{sfnp|Lopez|2009|p=147}}<ref group=web name="EB-DL Four Truths" /> ''Dukkha'' can be translated as "incapable of satisfying",<ref group=web name="Sumedho-first">[http://www.buddhanet.net/4noble.htm Ajahn Sumedho, ''The First Noble Truth''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991105193724/http://www.buddhanet.net/4noble.htm |date=5 November 1999 }} (nb: links to index-page; click "The First Noble Truth" for correct page.</ref> "the unsatisfactory nature and the general insecurity of all [[Saṅkhāra#Conditioned things|conditioned phenomena]]"; or "painful".{{sfnp|Nyanatiloka|1980|p=65}}{{sfnp|Emmanuel|2013|p=30}} ''Dukkha'' is most commonly translated as "suffering", but this is inaccurate, since it refers not to episodic suffering, but to the intrinsically unsatisfactory nature of temporary states and things, including pleasant but temporary experiences.{{refn|group=note|name="pain"|As opposite to ''sukha'', "pleasure", it is better translated as "pain".{{sfnp|Emmanuel|2013|pp=26–31}}}} We expect happiness from states and things which are impermanent, and therefore cannot attain real happiness.

The Four Noble Truths are:

* ''[[dukkha]]'' ("not being at ease", "suffering") is an innate characteristic of the perpetual cycle (''[[samsara]]'', {{literally|wandering}}) of [[Upādāna|grasping]] at things, ideas and habits
* ''samudaya'' (origin, arising, combination; "cause"): ''dukkha'' is caused by, or arises with, ''[[taṇhā]]'' ("craving," "desire" or "attachment," literally "thirst")
* ''[[nirodha]]'' (cessation, ending, confinement): ''dukkha'' can be ended or contained by the confinement or letting go of ''taṇhā''
* ''marga'' (path) is the path leading to the confinement of ''taṇhā'' and ''dukkha'', classically the [[Noble Eightfold Path]] but also summarised in [[Buddhist paths to liberation|other paths to liberation]]

===Three marks of existence===
{{main|Three marks of existence}}

Buddhism teaches that the idea that anything is permanent or that there is self in any being is ignorance or misperception (''[[Avidyā (Buddhism)|avijjā]]''), and that this is the primary source of clinging and dukkha.<ref>{{cite book |author=Brian Morris |title=Religion and Anthropology: A Critical Introduction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PguGB_uEQh4C&pg=PA51 |year=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-85241-8 |page=51 |access-date=10 July 2016 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055822/https://books.google.com/books?id=PguGB_uEQh4C&pg=PA51 |url-status=live }}, Quote: "(...) anatta is the doctrine of non-self, and is an extreme empiricist doctrine that holds that the notion of an unchanging permanent self is a fiction and has no reality. According to Buddhist doctrine, the individual person consists of five skandhas or heaps – the body, feelings, perceptions, impulses and consciousness. The belief in a self or soul, over these five skandhas, is illusory and the cause of suffering."</ref><ref name="GombrichScherrer2008p209">{{cite book|author1=Richard Francis Gombrich|author2=Cristina Anna Scherrer-Schaub|title=Buddhist Studies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U7_Rea05eAMC|year=2008|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-3248-0|pages=209–210|access-date=10 July 2016|archive-date=11 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055822/https://books.google.com/books?id=U7_Rea05eAMC|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="HoffmanMahinda2013p162">{{cite book |author1=Frank Hoffman |author2=Deegalle Mahinda |title=Pali Buddhism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pSNeAgAAQBAJ |year=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-78553-5 |pages=162–165 |access-date=10 July 2016 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055821/https://www.google.com/books/edition/Pali_Buddhism/pSNeAgAAQBAJ?hl=en |url-status=live }}</ref>

Ignorance is countered by insight (''[[Prajñā (Buddhism)|paññā]]''); most schools of Buddhism, therefore, teach [[three marks of existence]], which fundamentally characterise all phenomena:{{sfnp|Gombrich|2005a|p=47, Quote: "All phenomenal existence [in Buddhism] is said to have three interlocking characteristics: impermanence, suffering and lack of soul or essence."}}
* ''[[Impermanence (Buddhism)|Anicca]]'': impermanence
* ''[[Duḥkha|Dukkha]]'': unsatisfactoriness
* ''[[Anattā]]'': non-self; living things have no permanent immanent soul or essence<ref name=britannicaanatta>[https://www.britannica.com/topic/anatta "Anatta Buddhism"] ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122042635/https://www.britannica.com/topic/anatta |date=22 January 2021 }}), ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' (2013)</ref><ref>[a] {{cite book|author=Christmas Humphreys|title=Exploring Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V3rYtmCZEIEC|year=2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-22877-3|pages=42–43|access-date=10 July 2016|archive-date=11 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055822/https://books.google.com/books?id=V3rYtmCZEIEC|url-status=live}}<br />[b] {{harvtxt|Gombrich|2005a|p=47}}, Quote: "(...) Buddha's teaching that beings have no soul, no abiding essence. This 'no-soul doctrine' (anatta-vada) he expounded in his second sermon."</ref><ref name=5sourcesanatta>''[a]'' [https://www.britannica.com/topic/anatta Anatta] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122042635/https://www.britannica.com/topic/anatta |date=22 January 2021 }}, ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' (2013), Quote: "Anatta in Buddhism, the doctrine that there is in humans no permanent, underlying soul. The concept of anatta, or anatman, is a departure from the Hindu belief in atman ("the self").";<br />''[b]'' Steven Collins (1994), Religion and Practical Reason (Editors: Frank Reynolds, David Tracy), State Univ of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-0-7914-2217-5}}, p. 64; "Central to Buddhist [[soteriology]] is the doctrine of [[Anattā|not-self]] (Pali: anattā, Sanskrit: anātman, the opposed doctrine of ātman is central to Brahmanical thought). Put very briefly, this is the [Buddhist] doctrine that human beings have no soul, no self, no unchanging essence.";<br />''[c]'' John C. Plott et al. (2000), ''Global History of Philosophy: The Axial Age'', Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-81-208-0158-5}}, p. 63, Quote: "The Buddhist schools reject any Ātman concept. As we have already observed, this is the basic and ineradicable distinction between Hinduism and Buddhism";<br />''[d]'' Katie Javanaud (2013), [https://philosophynow.org/issues/97/Is_The_Buddhist_No-Self_Doctrine_Compatible_With_Pursuing_Nirvana Is The Buddhist 'No-Self' Doctrine Compatible With Pursuing Nirvana?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170913132314/https://philosophynow.org/issues/97/Is_The_Buddhist_No-Self_Doctrine_Compatible_With_Pursuing_Nirvana |date=13 September 2017 }}, Philosophy Now;<br />''[e]'' David Loy (1982), "Enlightenment in Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta: Are Nirvana and Moksha the Same?", ''International Philosophical Quarterly'', Volume 23, Issue 1, pp. 65–74</ref>

Some schools describe four characteristics or "four seals of the Dharma", adding to the above
* [[Nirvana]] is peaceful/peace (''śānta/śānti'')<ref>Ulrich Timme Kragh (editor), ''The Foundation for Yoga Practitioners'': ''The Buddhist Yogācārabhūmi Treatise and Its Adaptation in India, East Asia, and Tibet, Volume 1'' Harvard University, Department of South Asian studies, 2013, p. 144.</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Questions of the Nāga King Sāgara (3) &#124; 84000 Reading Room |url=https://read.84000.co/translation/toh155.html}}</ref>

===The cycle of rebirth===
[[File:Wheel_of_Existence.jpg|thumb|Traditional [[Tibetan Buddhism|Tibetan Buddhist]] [[Thangka]] depicting the [[Bhavacakra|Wheel of Life]] with its six realms]]

====Saṃsāra====
{{Main|Saṃsāra (Buddhism)}}

''Saṃsāra'' means "wandering" or "world", with the connotation of cyclic, circuitous change.{{sfnp|Klostermaier|2010|p=604}}{{sfnp|Juergensmeyer|Roof|2011|pp=271–272}} It refers to the theory of rebirth and "cyclicality of all life, matter, existence", a fundamental assumption of Buddhism, as with all major Indian religions.{{sfnp|Juergensmeyer|Roof|2011|pp=271–272}}{{sfnp|Trainor|2004|p=58, Quote: "Buddhism shares with Hinduism the doctrine of Samsara, whereby all beings pass through an unceasing cycle of birth, death and rebirth until they find a means of liberation from the cycle. However, Buddhism differs from Hinduism in rejecting the assertion that every human being possesses a changeless soul which constitutes his or her ultimate identity, and which transmigrates from one incarnation to the next.}} Samsara in Buddhism is considered to be ''[[dukkha]]'', unsatisfactory and painful,{{sfnp|Wilson|2010}} perpetuated by desire and ''[[Avidyā (Buddhism)|avidya]]'' (ignorance), and the resulting [[karma]].{{sfnp|Juergensmeyer|Roof|2011|pp=271–272}}{{sfnp|McClelland|2010|pp=172, 240}}{{sfnp|Williams|Tribe|Wynne|2012|pp=18–19, chapter 1}} Liberation from this cycle of existence, ''nirvana'', has been the foundation and the most important historical justification of Buddhism.{{sfnp|Conze|2013|p=71, Quote: "Nirvana is the ''raison d'être'' of Buddhism, and its ultimate justification."}}{{sfnp|Gethin|1998|p=119}}

Buddhist texts assert that rebirth can occur in six realms of existence, namely three good realms (heavenly, demi-god, human) and three evil realms (animal, hungry ghosts, hellish).{{refn|group=note|name=realms2|Earlier Buddhist texts refer to five realms rather than six realms; when described as five realms, the god realm and demi-god realm constitute a single realm.{{sfnp|Buswell|2004|pp=711–712}}}} Samsara ends if a person attains [[nirvana]], the "blowing out" of the afflictions through insight into [[impermanence]] and "[[anatta|non-self]]".{{sfnp|Buswell|Gimello|1992|pp=7–8, 83–84}}{{sfnp|Choong|1999|pp=28–29, Quote: "Seeing (''passati'') the nature of things as impermanent leads to the removal of the view of self, and so to the realisation of nirvana."}}{{sfnp|Rahula|2014|pp=51-58}}

====Rebirth====
{{Main|Rebirth (Buddhism)}}

[[File:Kushinara1.jpg|thumb|left|alt=A very large hill behind two palm trees and a boulevard, where the Buddha is believed to have been cremated|Ramabhar Stupa in [[Kushinagar]], [[Uttar Pradesh]], India, is regionally believed to be Buddha's cremation site.]]
Rebirth refers to a process whereby beings go through a succession of lifetimes as one of many possible forms of [[Sentient beings (Buddhism)|sentient life]], each running from conception to death.{{sfnp|Keown|1996|p=107}} In Buddhist thought, this rebirth does not involve a [[soul]] or any fixed substance. This is because the Buddhist doctrine of [[anatta|anattā]] (Sanskrit: ''anātman'', no-self doctrine) rejects the concepts of a permanent self or an unchanging, eternal soul found in other religions.<ref name="Leaman2002p23">{{cite book |author=Oliver Leaman |title=Eastern Philosophy: Key Readings |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vK-GAgAAQBAJ |year=2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-68919-4 |pages=23–27 |access-date=10 July 2016 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055822/https://books.google.com/books?id=vK-GAgAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[a] {{cite book |author=Christmas Humphreys |title=Exploring Buddhism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V3rYtmCZEIEC |year=2012 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-22877-3 |pages=42–43 |access-date=10 July 2016 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055822/https://books.google.com/books?id=V3rYtmCZEIEC |url-status=live }}<br />[b] {{cite book |author=Brian Morris |title=Religion and Anthropology: A Critical Introduction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PguGB_uEQh4C&pg=PA51 |year=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-85241-8 |page=51 |access-date=10 July 2016 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055822/https://books.google.com/books?id=PguGB_uEQh4C&pg=PA51 |url-status=live }}, Quote: "(...) anatta is the doctrine of non-self, and is an extreme empiricist doctrine that holds that the notion of an unchanging permanent self is a fiction and has no reality. According to Buddhist doctrine, the individual person consists of five skandhas or heaps – the body, feelings, perceptions, impulses and consciousness. The belief in a self or soul, over these five skandhas, is illusory and the cause of suffering."<br />[c] {{harvtxt|Gombrich|2005a|p=47}}, Quote: "(...) Buddha's teaching that beings have no soul, no abiding essence. This 'no-soul doctrine' (anatta-vada) he expounded in his second sermon."</ref>

The Buddhist traditions have traditionally disagreed on what it is in a person that is reborn, as well as how quickly the rebirth occurs after death.{{sfnp|Buswell|Lopez|2003|pp=708–709}}<ref name="Neufeldt1986p123">{{cite book|author=Ronald Wesley Neufeldt|title=Karma and Rebirth: Post Classical Developments|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iaRWtgXjplQC|year=1986|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-0-87395-990-2|pages=123–131|access-date=10 July 2016|archive-date=11 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055823/https://books.google.com/books?id=iaRWtgXjplQC|url-status=live}}</ref> Some Buddhist traditions assert that "no self" doctrine means that there is no enduring self, but there is ''avacya'' (inexpressible) personality (''[[Pudgalavada|pudgala]]'') which migrates from one life to another.{{sfnp|Buswell|Lopez|2003|pp=708–709}} The majority of Buddhist traditions, in contrast, assert that [[vijñāna]] (a person's consciousness) though evolving, exists as a continuum and is the mechanistic basis of what undergoes the rebirth process.{{sfnp|Williams|2002|pp=74–75}}{{sfnp|Buswell|Lopez|2003|pp=708–709}} The quality of one's rebirth depends on the [[Merit (Buddhism)|merit]] or demerit gained by one's karma (i.e., actions), as well as that accrued on one's behalf by a family member.{{Refn|group=note|This merit gaining may be on the behalf of one's family members.{{sfnp|Buswell|Lopez|2003|pp=708–709}}<ref name="Neufeldt1986p123"/><ref name="SwatosKivisto1998p66">{{cite book|author1=William H. Swatos|author2=Peter Kivisto|title=Encyclopedia of Religion and Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6TMFoMFe-D8C|year=1998|publisher=Rowman Altamira|isbn=978-0-7619-8956-1|page=66|access-date=10 July 2016|archive-date=11 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055832/https://books.google.com/books?id=6TMFoMFe-D8C|url-status=live}}</ref>}} Buddhism also developed [[Buddhist cosmology|a complex cosmology]] to explain the various realms or planes of rebirth.{{sfnp|Wilson|2010}}

====Karma====
{{Main|Karma in Buddhism}}

[[Karma in Buddhism|In Buddhism]], [[karma]] (from [[Sanskrit]]: "action, work") drives ''[[saṃsāra]]''—the endless cycle of suffering and rebirth for each being. Good, skilful deeds (Pāli: ''kusala'') and bad, unskilful deeds (Pāli: ''akusala'') produce "seeds" in the unconscious receptacle (''ālaya'') that mature later either in this life or in a subsequent [[Rebirth (Buddhism)|rebirth]].{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=131, 32–34<!-- Should this be 132–134? -->}}{{sfnp|Kasulis |2006|pp=1–12}} The existence of karma is a core belief in Buddhism, as with all major Indian religions, and it implies neither fatalism nor that everything that happens to a person is caused by karma.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=40–41}} (Diseases and suffering induced by the disruptive actions of other people are examples of non-karma suffering.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=40–41}})

A central aspect of Buddhist theory of karma is that intent (''[[cetanā]]'') matters and is essential to bring about a consequence or ''[[phala]]'' "fruit" or [[vipāka]] "result".{{sfnp|Krishan|1997|pages=59–78 }} The emphasis on intent in Buddhism marks a difference from the karmic theory of Jainism, where karma accumulates with or without intent.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|p=40}}{{sfnp|Krishan|1997|pp=47, 55 }} The emphasis on intent is also found in [[Hinduism]], and Buddhism may have influenced karma theories of Hinduism.<ref>{{cite book|author=Norman C. McClelland|title=Encyclopedia of Reincarnation and Karma|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S_Leq4U5ihkC |year=2010|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-5675-8|page=141}}</ref>

In Buddhism, good or bad karma accumulates even if there is no physical action, and just having ill or good thoughts creates karmic seeds; thus, actions of body, speech or mind all lead to karmic seeds.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=40–41}} In the Buddhist traditions, life aspects affected by the law of karma in past and current births of a being include the form of rebirth, realm of rebirth, social class, character and major circumstances of a lifetime.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=40–41}}{{sfnp|Spiro|1982|p=430 with footnote 1}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Karl Potter|editor=Ronald Wesley Neufeldt|title=Karma and Rebirth: Post Classical Developments|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iaRWtgXjplQC|year=1986|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-0-87395-990-2|page=109|access-date=10 July 2016|archive-date=11 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055823/https://books.google.com/books?id=iaRWtgXjplQC|url-status=live}}</ref> According to the theory, it operates like the laws of physics, without external intervention, on every being in all [[Samsara (Buddhism)|six realms]] of existence including human beings and gods.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=40–41}}{{sfnp|Lopez|2001|pp=239–248}}

A notable aspect of the karma theory in modern Buddhism is merit transfer.<ref name=appletonp129>{{cite book |author=Naomi Appleton |title=Narrating Karma and Rebirth: Buddhist and Jain Multi-Life Stories |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AhT7AgAAQBAJ |year=2014 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-91640-0 |pages=129–131 |access-date=10 July 2016 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055838/https://books.google.com/books?id=AhT7AgAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfnp|Spiro|1982|pp=124–128}} A person accumulates merit not only through intentions and ethical living, but also is able to gain merit from others by exchanging goods and services, such as through ''dāna'' (charity to monks or nuns).{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=45–46}} The theory also states a person can transfer one's own good karma to living family members and ancestors.{{sfnp|Spiro|1982|pp=124–128}}

This Buddhist idea may have roots in the ''quid-pro-quo'' exchange beliefs of the Hindu Vedic rituals.<ref name="Egge2013">{{cite book|author=James Egge |title=Religious Giving and the Invention of Karma in Theravada Buddhism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y1tcAgAAQBAJ |year=2013|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-85922-9 |pages=31–34 }}</ref> The "karma merit transfer" concept has been controversial, not accepted in later Jainism and Hinduism traditions, unlike Buddhism where it was adopted in ancient times and remains a common practice.<ref name=appletonp129/> According to Bruce Reichenbach, the "merit transfer" idea was generally absent in early Buddhism and may have emerged with the rise of Mahayana Buddhism; he adds that while major Hindu schools such as Yoga, Advaita Vedanta and others do not believe in merit transfer, some bhakti Hindu traditions later adopted the idea just like Buddhism.<ref>{{cite book|author=Bruce Reichenbach |title=The Law of Karma: A Philosophical Study |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=euWuCwAAQBAJ |year=1990|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-1-349-11899-1 |pages=152–155 }}</ref>

===Liberation===
{{Main|Moksha|Nirvana (Buddhism)}}

[[File:050_Mucilinda_with_his_Wives_around_the_Buddha_(32999346203).jpg|thumb|An [[Aniconism|aniconic]] depiction of the Buddha's spiritual liberation (''moksha'') or awakening (''bodhi''), at [[Sanchi]]. The Buddha is not depicted, only symbolised by the Bodhi tree and the empty seat]]
The cessation of the ''[[Kleshas (Buddhism)|kleshas]]'' and the attainment of [[nirvana]] (''nibbāna''), with which the cycle of rebirth ends, has been the primary and the [[soteriological]] goal of the Buddhist path for monastic life since the time of the Buddha.{{sfnp|Samuel|2008|p=136}}{{sfnp|Buswell|Lopez|2003|pp=589–590}}{{sfnp|Collins|1998|pp=135–177, 188, 443}} The term "path" is usually taken to mean the [[Noble Eightfold Path]], but [[Buddhist Paths to liberation|other versions]] of "the path" can also be found in the Nikayas.{{refn|group=note|Another variant, which may be condensed to the eightfold or tenfold path, starts with a ''Tathagatha'' entering this world. A layman hears his teachings, decides to leave the life of a householder, starts living according to the moral precepts, guards his sense-doors, practises mindfulness and the four jhanas, gains the three knowledges, understands the Four Noble Truths and destroys the [[Asava|taints]], and perceives that he is liberated.{{sfnp|Bucknell|1984}}}} In some passages in the Pali Canon, a distinction is being made between right knowledge or insight (''sammā-ñāṇa''), and right liberation or release (''sammā-vimutti''), as the means to attain cessation and liberation.{{sfnp|Choong|2000|p=141}}{{sfnp|Fuller|2005|pp=55–56}}

Nirvana literally means "blowing out, quenching, becoming extinguished".<ref name="Collins2010p63">{{cite book|author=Steven Collins |title=Nirvana: Concept, Imagery, Narrative |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d5pshUYiUVwC |year=2010|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-88198-2 |pages=33–34, 47–50, 63–64, 74–75, 106 }}</ref>{{sfnp|Cousins|1996|p=9}} In early Buddhist texts, it is the state of restraint and self-control that leads to the "blowing out" and the ending of the cycles of sufferings associated with rebirths and redeaths.{{sfnp|Vetter|1988}}{{sfnp|Gombrich|1997|p=66}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Steven Collins |title=Nirvana: Concept, Imagery, Narrative |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d5pshUYiUVwC |year=2010|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-88198-2 |page=31}}, Quote: "This general scheme remained basic to later Hinduism, to Jainism, and to Buddhism. Eternal salvation, to use the Christian term, is not conceived of as world without end; we have already got that, called samsara, the world of rebirth and redeath: that is the problem, not the solution. The ultimate aim is the timeless state of moksha, or as the Buddhists seem to have been the first to call it, nirvana."</ref> Many later Buddhist texts describe nirvana as identical with ''[[anatta]]'' with complete "emptiness, nothingness".<ref>{{cite book|author=Steven Collins|title=Selfless Persons: Imagery and Thought in Theravada Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8sLMkNn26-gC&pg=PA5|year=1990|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-39726-1|pages=82–84|access-date=10 July 2016|archive-date=11 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055833/https://books.google.com/books?id=8sLMkNn26-gC&pg=PA5|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Ray Billington |title=Understanding Eastern Philosophy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dACFAgAAQBAJ |year=2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-79348-8 |pages=58–60 |access-date=10 July 2016 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055833/https://books.google.com/books?id=dACFAgAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=David Loy|title=Awareness Bound and Unbound: Buddhist Essays|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R5KHnVVjwKQC|year=2009|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-1-4384-2680-8|pages=35–39|access-date=10 July 2016|archive-date=11 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055836/https://books.google.com/books?id=R5KHnVVjwKQC|url-status=live}}</ref>{{Refn|group=note|The early Mahayana Buddhism texts link their discussion of "emptiness" (''shunyata'') to ''Anatta'' and ''Nirvana''. They do so, states Mun-Keat Choong, in three ways: first, in the common sense of a monk's meditative state of emptiness; second, with the main sense of ''anatta'' or 'everything in the world is empty of self'; third, with the ultimate sense of ''nirvana'' or realisation of emptiness and thus an end to rebirth cycles of suffering.<ref name="Choong1999p85">{{cite book| author=Mun-Keat Choong| title=The Notion of Emptiness in Early Buddhism| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HJafx7uO0VsC| year=1999| publisher=Motilal Banarsidass| isbn=978-81-208-1649-7| pages=1–4, 85–88| access-date=10 July 2016| archive-date=11 January 2023| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055835/https://books.google.com/books?id=HJafx7uO0VsC| url-status=live}}</ref>}} In some texts, the state is described with greater detail, such as passing through the gate of emptiness (''sunyata'')—realising that there is no soul or self in any living being, then passing through the gate of signlessness (''animitta'')—realising that nirvana cannot be perceived, and finally passing through the gate of wishlessness (''apranihita'')—realising that nirvana is the state of not even wishing for nirvana.{{sfnp|Buswell|Lopez|2003|pp=589–590}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Dan Lusthaus |title=Buddhist Phenomenology |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QMrKAgAAQBAJ |year=2014|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-97343-0 |page=124 with footnotes 2–3 on pp. 266–267 }}</ref>{{Refn|group=note|Some scholars such as Cousins and Sangharakshita translate ''apranaihita'' as "aimlessness or directionless-ness".{{sfnp|Williams|2005b|page=56, note 23}}}}

The nirvana state has been described in Buddhist texts partly in a manner similar to other Indian religions, as the state of complete liberation, enlightenment, highest happiness, bliss, fearlessness, freedom, permanence, non-dependent origination, unfathomable, and indescribable.{{sfnp|Collins|1998|pp=191–233}}<ref>{{cite book |author=Peter Harvey |year=2013 |title=The Selfless Mind: Personality, Consciousness and Nirvana in Early Buddhism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SfPcAAAAQBAJ |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-78336-4 |pages=198–226 |access-date=10 July 2016 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055837/https://books.google.com/books?id=SfPcAAAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> It has also been described in part differently, as a state of spiritual release marked by "emptiness" and realisation of ''[[anatta|non-self]]''.<ref>{{cite book|author=Mun-Keat Choong|title=The Notion of Emptiness in Early Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HJafx7uO0VsC|year=1999|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-1649-7|pages=21–22|access-date=10 July 2016|archive-date=11 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055835/https://books.google.com/books?id=HJafx7uO0VsC|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Gananath Obeyesekere |title=The Awakened Ones: Phenomenology of Visionary Experience |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BB1Q0aWJpO8C |year=2012|publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-15362-1 |pages=145–146 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Edward Conze |title=Buddhism: Its Essence and Development |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PwXCAgAAQBAJ |year=2012|publisher=Courier |isbn=978-0-486-17023-7 |pages=125–137 }}</ref>{{Refn|group=note|These descriptions of nirvana in Buddhist texts, states Peter Harvey, are contested by scholars because nirvana in Buddhism is ultimately described as a state of "stopped consciousness (blown out), but one that is not non-existent", and "it seems impossible to imagine what awareness devoid of any object would be like".{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=75–76}}{{sfnp|Gethin|1998|pp=74-84}}}}

While Buddhism considers the liberation from [[Saṃsāra (Buddhism)|saṃsāra]] as the ultimate spiritual goal, in traditional practice, the primary focus of a vast majority of lay Buddhists has been to seek and accumulate merit through good deeds, donations to monks and various Buddhist rituals in order to gain better rebirths rather than nirvana.{{sfnp|Coogan|2003|p=192}}{{sfnp|Trainor|2004|p=62}}{{Refn|group=note |Better rebirth, not nirvana, has been the primary focus of a vast majority of lay Buddhists. This they attempt through merit accumulation and good ''kamma''.{{sfnp|Gowans|2004|p=169}}<ref name="Merv Fowler 1999 65">{{harvp|Fowler|1999|p=65}} Quote: "For a vast majority of Buddhists in Theravadin countries, however, the order of monks is seen by lay Buddhists as a means of gaining the most merit in the hope of accumulating good karma for a better rebirth."</ref>}}

===Dependent arising===
{{Main|Pratītyasamutpāda|Twelve Nidānas}}

''Pratityasamutpada'', also called "dependent arising, or dependent origination", is the Buddhist theory to explain the nature and relations of being, becoming, existence and ultimate reality. Buddhism asserts that there is nothing independent, except the state of nirvana.{{sfnp|Harvey|1998|p=54}} All physical and mental states depend on and arise from other pre-existing states, and in turn from them arise other dependent states while they cease.<ref>[[John Bowker (theologian)|John Bowker]], ''[[Oxford Dictionary of World Religions|The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions]]'' (1997), Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|0-19-213965-7}}</ref>

The 'dependent arisings' have a causal conditioning, and thus ''Pratityasamutpada'' is the Buddhist belief that causality is the basis of [[ontology]], not a creator God nor the ontological Vedic concept called universal Self ([[Brahman]]) nor any other 'transcendent creative principle'.{{sfnp|Williams|2002|p=64, Quote: In the ''Mahatanhasankhaya Sutta'' the Buddha [stresses] that things originate in dependence upon causal conditioning, and this emphasis on causality describes the central feature of Buddhist ontology. All elements of samsara exist in some sense or another relative to their causes and conditions.}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Robert Neville |editor=Jeremiah Hackett|others=Jerald Wallulis|title= Philosophy of Religion for a New Century: Essays in Honor of Eugene Thomas Long|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kEER8fGxCfMC |year=2004|publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-4020-2073-5 |page=257}}, Quote: "[Buddhism's ontological hypotheses] that nothing in reality has its own-being and that all phenomena reduce to the relativities of pratitya samutpada. The Buddhist ontological hypothesese deny that there is any ontologically ultimate object such a God, Brahman, the Dao, or any transcendent creative source or principle."</ref> However, Buddhist thought does not understand causality in terms of Newtonian mechanics; rather it understands it as conditioned arising.{{sfnp|Gethin|1998|pp=153–155}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Guy Debrock |editor=Paul B. Scheurer|others=G. Debrock|title=Newton's Scientific and Philosophical Legacy |year=2012|publisher=Springer |isbn=978-94-009-2809-1 |page=376, note 12 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y18yBwAAQBAJ}}</ref> In Buddhism, dependent arising refers to conditions created by a plurality of causes that necessarily co-originate a phenomenon within and across lifetimes, such as karma in one life creating conditions that lead to rebirth in one of the realms of existence for another lifetime.<ref name="Kalupahana1975p54">{{cite book |author=David J. Kalupahana|title=Causality: The Central Philosophy of Buddhism |publisher=University of Hawaii Press|year=1975 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GOYGAAAAYAAJ |isbn=978-0-8248-0298-1|pages=54–60}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Genjun Sasaki |title=Linguistic Approach to Buddhist Thought |year=1986 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-0038-0 |pages=67–69 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vUBPAzlxJPUC}}</ref>{{sfnp|Gethin|1998|pp=151–152}}

Buddhism applies the theory of dependent arising to explain origination of endless cycles of ''dukkha'' and rebirth, through [[Twelve Nidānas]] or "twelve links". It states that because [[Avidyā (Buddhism)|Avidyā]] (ignorance) exists, [[Saṅkhāra|Saṃskāras]] (karmic formations) exist; because Saṃskāras exist therefore [[Vijñāna]] (consciousness) exists; and in a similar manner it links [[Nāmarūpa]] (the sentient body), [[Ṣaḍāyatana]] (our six senses), [[Sparśa]] (sensory stimulation), [[Vedanā]] (feeling), [[Taṇhā]] (craving), [[Upādāna]] (grasping), [[Bhava]] (becoming), [[Jāti (Buddhism)|Jāti]] (birth), and [[Jarāmaraṇa]] (old age, death, sorrow, and pain).{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=65–72}}{{sfnp|Emmanuel|2013|pp=51–66}} By breaking the circuitous links of the Twelve Nidanas, Buddhism asserts that liberation from these endless cycles of rebirth and dukkha can be attained.{{sfnp|Harvey|1998|p=54, Quote: "The main concrete application of the abstract principle is in the form of a series of conditioned links (''nidanas''), culminating in the arising of dukkha." (...) "This [doctrine] states the principle of conditionality, that all things, mental and physical, arise and exist due to the presence of certain conditions, and cease once their conditions are removed: nothing (except ''Nibbana'') is independent. The doctrine thus complements the teaching that no permanent, independent self can be found."}}

===Not-Self and Emptiness===
{{Main|Anātman|Śūnyatā}}

{{PancaKhandha}}
A related doctrine in Buddhism is that of ''anattā'' (Pali) or ''anātman'' (Sanskrit). It is the view that there is no unchanging, permanent self, soul or essence in phenomena.{{sfnp|Gombrich|2006|p=47}} The Buddha and Buddhist philosophers who follow him such as Vasubandhu and Buddhaghosa, generally argue for this view by analysing the person through the schema of the [[five aggregates]], and then attempting to show that none of these five components of personality can be permanent or absolute.<ref>Siderits, Mark (2007). ''"Buddhism as philosophy,"'' p. 39</ref> This can be seen in Buddhist discourses such as the ''[[Anattalakkhana Sutta]]''.

"Emptiness" or "voidness" (Skt'': Śūnyatā'', Pali: ''Suññatā)'', is a related concept with many different interpretations throughout the various Buddhisms. In early Buddhism, it was commonly stated that all five aggregates are void (''rittaka''), hollow (''tucchaka''), coreless (''asāraka''), for example as in the ''Pheṇapiṇḍūpama Sutta'' (SN 22:95).<ref>Shi Huifeng, ''Is "Illusion" a Prajñāpāramitā Creation? The Birth and Death of a Buddhist Cognitive Metaphor'', Fo Guang University, Journal of Buddhist Philosophy, Vol.2, 2016.</ref> Similarly, in Theravada Buddhism, it often means that the five aggregates are empty of a Self.<ref>Ronkin, Noa (2005). ''"Early Buddhist Metaphysics: The Making of a Philosophical Tradition"'' p. 91. RoutledgeCurzon.</ref>

Emptiness is a central concept in Mahāyāna Buddhism, especially in [[Nagarjuna]]'s [[Madhyamaka]] school, and in the ''[[Prajnaparamita|Prajñāpāramitā]] sutras''. In Madhyamaka philosophy, emptiness is the view which holds that all phenomena are without any ''[[svabhava]]'' (literally "own-nature" or "self-nature"), and are thus without any underlying essence, and so are "empty" of being independent.{{example needed|date=March 2024}} This doctrine sought to refute the heterodox theories of ''svabhava'' circulating at the time.{{sfnp|Lindtner|1997|p=324}}

===The Three Jewels===
{{Main|Three Jewels}}

All forms of Buddhism revere and take spiritual refuge in the "three jewels" (''triratna''): Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=244–245}}

====Buddha====
{{Main|Buddhahood}}

While all varieties of Buddhism revere "Buddha" and "buddhahood", they have different views on what these are. Regardless of their interpretation, the concept of Buddha is central to all forms of Buddhism.

In Theravada Buddhism, a Buddha is someone who has become awake through their own efforts and insight. They have put an end to their cycle of rebirths and have ended all unwholesome mental states which lead to bad action and thus are morally perfected.<ref name="Crosby, Kate 2013 p. 16">Crosby, Kate (2013). ''"Theravada Buddhism: Continuity, Diversity, and Identity,"'' p. 16. John Wiley & Sons.</ref> While subject to the limitations of the human body in certain ways (for example, in the early texts, the Buddha suffers from backaches), a Buddha is said to be "deep, immeasurable, hard-to-fathom as is the great ocean", and also has immense psychic powers ([[abhijñā]]).{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=27-28}}

Mahāyāna Buddhism meanwhile, has a vastly expanded [[Buddhist cosmology|cosmology]], with various [[Buddhahood|Buddhas]] and other holy beings (''aryas'') residing in different realms. Mahāyāna texts not only revere numerous [[Buddhist deities#Buddhas|Buddhas]] besides [[The Buddha|Shakyamuni]], such as [[Amitābha|Amitabha]] and [[Vairochana|Vairocana]], but also see them as transcendental or supramundane (''lokuttara'') beings.{{sfnp|Williams|2008 |p=21}} Mahāyāna Buddhism holds that these other Buddhas in other realms can be contacted and are able to benefit beings in this world.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|p=162}} In Mahāyāna, a Buddha is a kind of "spiritual king", a "protector of all creatures" with a lifetime that is countless of eons long, rather than just a human teacher who has transcended the world after death.{{sfnp|Williams|2008|p=27}} Shakyamuni's life and death on earth is then usually understood as a "mere appearance" or "a manifestation skilfully projected into earthly life by a long-enlightened transcendent being, who is still available to teach the faithful through visionary experiences".{{sfnp|Williams|2008|p=27}}{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|p=164}}

====Dharma====
{{Main|Dharma}}

The second of the three jewels is "Dharma" (Pali: Dhamma), which in Buddhism refers to the Buddha's teaching, which includes all of the main ideas outlined above. While this teaching reflects the true nature of reality, it is not a belief to be clung to, but a pragmatic teaching to be put into practice. It is likened to a raft which is "for crossing over" (to nirvana) not for holding on to.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|p=31}} It also refers to the universal law and cosmic order which that teaching both reveals and relies upon.<ref>"[http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/dharma.aspx#1 Dharma]", ''The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions''. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160926234045/http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/dharma.aspx#1 |date=26 September 2016 }}</ref> It is an everlasting principle which applies to all beings and worlds. In that sense it is also the ultimate truth and reality about the universe, it is thus "the way that things really are".

====Sangha====
{{Main|Sangha|Bodhisattva|Arhat}}

[[File:Praying monks and nuns in the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple of Singapore.jpg|thumb|Buddhist monks and nuns praying in the [[Buddha Tooth Relic Temple]] of Singapore]]
The third "jewel" which Buddhists take refuge in is the "Sangha", which refers to the monastic community of monks and nuns who follow Gautama Buddha's monastic discipline which was "designed to shape the Sangha as an ideal community, with the optimum conditions for spiritual growth."{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|p=88}} The Sangha consists of those who have chosen to follow the Buddha's ideal way of life, which is one of celibate monastic renunciation with minimal material possessions (such as an alms bowl and robes).{{sfnp|Gethin|1998|pp=85-88}}

The Sangha is seen as important because they preserve and pass down Buddha Dharma. As Gethin states "the Sangha lives the teaching, preserves the teaching as Scriptures and teaches the wider community. Without the Sangha there is no Buddhism."{{sfnp|Gethin|1998|p=92}} The Sangha also acts as a "field of merit" for laypersons, allowing them to make spiritual merit or goodness by donating to the Sangha and supporting them. In return, they keep their duty to preserve and spread the Dharma everywhere for the good of the world.{{sfnp|Gethin|1998|p=86}}

There is also a separate definition of Sangha, referring to those who have attained any [[Four stages of enlightenment|stage of awakening]], whether or not they are monastics. This sangha is called the [[Śrāvaka#The community of disciples|''āryasaṅgha'']] "noble Sangha".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/thai/lee/triplegem.html|title=What is the Triple Gem?|website=www.accesstoinsight.org|access-date=12 April 2020|archive-date=30 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160730060230/http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/thai/lee/triplegem.html|url-status=live}}</ref> All forms of Buddhism generally reveres these ''[[Arya (Buddhism)|āryas]]'' (Pali: ''ariya'', "noble ones" or "holy ones") who are spiritually attained beings. Aryas have attained the fruits of the Buddhist path.<ref>Williams, Paul (2002), "Buddhist Thought", p. 52, Taylor & Francis Kindle Edition</ref>

===Other key Mahāyāna views===
{{Main|Yogachara|Buddha-nature}}

Mahāyāna Buddhism also differs from Theravada and the other schools of early Buddhism in promoting several unique doctrines which are contained in Mahāyāna sutras and philosophical treatises.

One of these is the unique interpretation of emptiness and dependent origination found in the Madhyamaka school. Another very influential doctrine for Mahāyāna is the main philosophical view of the [[Yogachara|Yogācāra]] school variously, termed ''Vijñaptimātratā-vāda'' ("the doctrine that there are only ideas" or "mental impressions") or ''Vijñānavāda'' ("the doctrine of consciousness"). According to Mark Siderits, what classical Yogācāra thinkers like Vasubandhu had in mind is that we are only ever aware of mental images or impressions, which may appear as external objects, but "there is actually no such thing outside the mind".<ref>Siderits, Mark, ''Buddhism as philosophy'', 2017, p. 149.</ref> There are several interpretations of this main theory, many scholars see it as a type of Idealism, others as a kind of phenomenology.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Gold |first=Jonathan C. |date=April 22, 2011 |title=Vasubandhu |encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Archive (Summer 2018 Edition) |editor=Edward N. Zalta |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2018/entries/vasubandhu/ |access-date=13 April 2020 |archive-date=5 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190705225152/https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2018/entries/vasubandhu/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Another very influential concept unique to Mahāyāna is that of "Buddha-nature" (''buddhadhātu'') or "Tathagata-womb" (''tathāgatagarbha''). Buddha-nature is a concept found in some 1st-millennium CE Buddhist texts, such as the ''[[Tathāgatagarbha sūtras]]''. According to Paul Williams these [[Sutra]]s suggest that 'all sentient beings contain a Tathagata' as their 'essence, core inner nature, Self'.{{sfnp|Williams|2008|p=104}}{{refn|group=note|Wayman and Wayman have disagreed with this view, and they state that the ''Tathagatagarbha'' is neither self nor sentient being, nor soul, nor personality.{{sfnp|Williams|2008|p=107}}}} According to Karl Brunnhölzl "the earliest mahayana sutras that are based on and discuss the notion of tathāgatagarbha as the buddha potential that is innate in all sentient beings began to appear in written form in the late second and early third century."<ref>Brunnhölzl, Karl, When the Clouds Part, The ''Uttaratantra'' and Its Meditative Tradition as a Bridge between Sutra and Tantra, Snow Lion, Boston & London, 2014, page 3.</ref> For some, the doctrine seems to conflict with the Buddhist anatta doctrine (non-Self), leading scholars to posit that the ''Tathāgatagarbha Sutras'' were written to promote Buddhism to non-Buddhists.{{sfnp|Williams|2008|pp=104–105, 108–109; Quote: "...&nbsp;[The ''Mahaparinirvana Sutra''] refers to the Buddha using the term "Self" in order to win over non-Buddhist ascetics."}}<ref>{{harvp|Fowler|1999|pp=101–102}} Quote: "Some texts of the ''tathagatagarbha'' literature, such as the ''Mahaparinirvana Sutra'' actually refer to an ''atman'', though other texts are careful to avoid the term. This would be in direct opposition to the general teachings of Buddhism on ''anatta''. Indeed, the distinctions between the general Indian concept of ''atman'' and the popular Buddhist concept of Buddha-nature are often blurred to the point that writers consider them to be synonymous."</ref> This can be seen in texts like the ''[[Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra]]'', which state that Buddha-nature is taught to help those who have fear when they listen to the teaching of anatta.<ref>Suzuki, D.T. (1956), ''The Lankavatara Sutra: A Mahayana Text''. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd. p.69</ref> Buddhist texts like the ''[[Ratnagotravibhāga]]'' clarify that the "Self" implied in ''Tathagatagarbha'' doctrine is actually "[[Anattā|not-self]]".{{sfnp|Williams|2008|p=112}}{{sfnp|Hookham|1991|p=96}}

==Paths to liberation==
{{Main|Buddhist paths to liberation}}

The ''[[Bodhipakkhiyādhammā]]'' are seven lists of qualities or factors that promote spiritual awakening (''bodhi''). Each list is a short summary of the Buddhist path, and the seven lists substantially overlap. The best-known list in the West is the [[Noble Eightfold Path]], but a wide variety of paths and models of progress have been used and described in the different Buddhist traditions. However, they generally share basic practices such as ''sila'' (ethics), ''samadhi'' (meditation, ''dhyana'') and ''prajña'' (wisdom), which are known as the three trainings. An important additional practice is a kind and compassionate attitude toward every living being and the world. [[Buddhist devotion|Devotion]] is also important in some Buddhist traditions, and in the Tibetan traditions visualisations of deities and mandalas are important. The value of textual study is regarded differently in the various Buddhist traditions. It is central to Theravada and highly important to Tibetan Buddhism, while the Zen tradition takes an ambiguous stance.

An important guiding principle of Buddhist practice is the [[Middle Way]] (''madhyamapratipad''). It was a part of Buddha's first sermon, where he presented the [[Noble Eightfold Path]] that was a 'middle way' between the extremes of asceticism and hedonistic sense pleasures.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=23, 81}}{{sfnp|Keown|1996|pp=24, 59}}{{sfnp|Bronkhorst|2011|pp=233–237}}{{sfnp|Schuhmacher |Woener|1991|p=143}} In Buddhism, states Harvey, the doctrine of "dependent arising" (conditioned arising, ''pratītyasamutpāda'') to explain rebirth is viewed as the 'middle way' between the doctrines that a being has a "permanent soul" involved in rebirth (eternalism) and "death is final and there is no rebirth" (annihilationism).{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|p=72}}{{sfnp|Buswell|Lopez|2003|p=49, ''antagrahadrsti''}}

===Paths to liberation in the early texts===
A common presentation style of the path (''mārga'') to liberation in the [[Early Buddhist Texts]] is the "graduated talk", in which the Buddha lays out a step-by-step training.<ref>Carole Anderson (2013), ''Pain and its Ending'', p.143</ref>

In the early texts, numerous different sequences of the gradual path can be found.<ref name="Bucknell1984">Bucknell, Rod, "The Buddhist Path to Liberation: An Analysis of the Listing of Stages", ''The Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies'' Volume 7, Number 2, 1984</ref> One of the most important and widely used presentations among the various Buddhist schools is The [[Noble Eightfold Path]], or "Eightfold Path of the Noble Ones" (Skt. ''{{'}}āryāṣṭāṅgamārga{{'}}''). This can be found in various discourses, most famously in the ''[[Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta]]'' (The discourse on the turning of the [[Dharma Wheel|Dharma wheel]]).

Other suttas such as the ''Tevijja Sutta'', and the ''Cula-Hatthipadopama-sutta'' give a different outline of the path, though with many similar elements such as ethics and meditation.<ref name="Bucknell1984" />

According to Rupert Gethin, the path to awakening is also frequently summarised by another a short formula: "abandoning the hindrances, practice of the four establishings of mindfulness, and development of the awakening factors".{{sfnp|Gethin|2001|pp=xiii–xiv}}

====Noble Eightfold Path====
{{Main|Noble Eightfold Path}}

The Eightfold Path consists of a set of eight interconnected factors or conditions, that when developed together, lead to the cessation of [[dukkha]].{{sfnp|Ajahn Sucitto|2010|pp=87–88}} These eight factors are: Right View (or Right Understanding), Right Intention (or Right Thought), Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration.

This Eightfold Path is the fourth of the [[Four Noble Truths]] and asserts the path to the cessation of ''dukkha'' (suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness).{{sfnp|Gethin|1998|pp=81–83}}{{sfnp|Anderson|2013|pp=64–65}} The path teaches that the way of the enlightened ones stopped their craving, clinging and [[karma|karmic]] accumulations, and thus ended their endless cycles of rebirth and suffering.{{sfnp|Harvey|2016|pp=253–255 }}{{sfnp|Bodhi|2010|pp=1–13}}{{sfnp|Williams|Tribe|Wynne|2012|p=52}}

The Noble Eightfold Path is grouped into [[Three disciplines of Buddhism|three basic divisions]], as follows:{{sfnp|Vetter|1988|pp=12–13}}{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=83–85}}{{sfnp|Bodhi|2010|pp=47–48}}

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Division
! Eightfold factor
!''Sanskrit, Pali''
! Description
|- style="background:#cff;"
| rowspan="2" |Wisdom<br />(Sanskrit: ''[[Wisdom in Buddhism|prajñā]]'',<br />Pāli: ''paññā'')
|1. Right view
|''samyag dṛṣṭi,<br />sammā ditthi''
|The belief that there is an afterlife and not everything ends with death, that Buddha taught and followed a successful path to nirvana;{{sfnp|Vetter|1988|pp=12–13}} according to Peter Harvey, the right view is held in Buddhism as a belief in the Buddhist principles of [[karma]] and [[Rebirth (Buddhism)|rebirth]], and the importance of the [[Four Noble Truths]] and the True Realities.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=83–84}}
|- style="background:#cff;"
|2. Right intention
|''samyag saṃkalpa,<br />sammā saṅkappa''
|Giving up home and adopting the life of a religious mendicant in order to follow the path;{{sfnp|Vetter|1988|pp=12–13}} this concept, states Harvey, aims at peaceful renunciation, into an environment of non-sensuality, non-ill-will (to lovingkindness), away from cruelty (to compassion).{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=83–84}}
|- style="background:#cfc;"
| rowspan="3" |Moral virtues{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=83–85}}<br />(Sanskrit: ''[[śīla]]'',<br />Pāli: ''sīla'')
|3. Right speech
|''samyag vāc,<br />sammā vāca''
|No lying, no rude speech, no telling one person what another says about him, speaking that which leads to salvation.{{sfnp|Vetter|1988|pp=12–13}}
|- style="background:#cfc;"
|4. Right action
|''samyag karman,<br />sammā kammanta''
|No killing or injuring, no taking what is not given; no sexual acts in monastic pursuit,{{sfnp|Vetter|1988|pp=12–13}} for lay Buddhists no sensual misconduct such as sexual involvement with someone married, or with an unmarried woman protected by her parents or relatives.{{sfnp|Gowans|2013|p=440}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Andrew Powell |url=https://archive.org/details/livingbuddhism00powe |title=Living Buddhism|publisher=University of California Press |year=1989|isbn=978-0-520-20410-2|page=[https://archive.org/details/livingbuddhism00powe/page/24 24]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=David L. Weddle|url=https://archive.org/details/miracleswonderme0000wedd|url-access=registration|title=Miracles: Wonder and Meaning in World Religions|publisher=New York University Press|year=2010|isbn=978-0-8147-9483-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/miracleswonderme0000wedd/page/118 118]}}</ref>
|- style="background:#cfc;"
|5. Right livelihood
|''samyag ājīvana,<br />sammā ājīva''
|For monks, beg to feed, only possessing what is essential to sustain life.{{sfnp|Vetter|1988|p=12}} For lay Buddhists, the canonical texts state right livelihood as abstaining from wrong livelihood, explained as not becoming a source or means of suffering to sentient beings by cheating them, or harming or killing them in any way.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=83, 273–274}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Martine Batchelor|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fL3mykqlOJcC&pg=PT59|title=The Spirit of the Buddha|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2014|isbn=978-0-300-17500-4|page=59|access-date=10 July 2016|archive-date=11 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055838/https://books.google.com/books?id=fL3mykqlOJcC&pg=PT59|url-status=live}}; Quote: "These five trades, O monks, should not be taken up by a lay follower: trading with weapons, trading in living beings, trading in meat, trading in intoxicants, trading in poison."</ref>
|- style="background:#9fff80;"
| rowspan="3" |Meditation{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=83–85}}<br />(Sanskrit and Pāli: ''[[samādhi]]'')
|6. Right effort
|''samyag vyāyāma,<br />sammā vāyāma''
|Guard against sensual thoughts; this concept, states Harvey, aims at preventing unwholesome states that disrupt meditation.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|p=83}}
|- style="background:#9fff80;"
|7. Right mindfulness
|''samyag smṛti,<br />sammā sati''
|Never be absent-minded, conscious of what one is doing; this, states Harvey, encourages mindfulness about impermanence of the body, feelings and mind, as well as to experience the five [[skandha]]s, the five hindrances, the four True Realities and seven factors of awakening.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|p=83}}
|- style="background:#9fff80;"
|8. Right concentration
|''samyag samādhi,<br />sammā samādhi''
|Correct meditation or concentration (''dhyana''), explained as the four jhānas.{{sfnp|Vetter|1988|pp=12–13}}<ref name="bucknellkangp12">{{cite book|author1=Roderick Bucknell|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LSaOAQAAQBAJ|title=The Meditative Way: Readings in the Theory and Practice of Buddhist Meditation|author2=Chris Kang|publisher=Routledge|year=2013|isbn=978-1-136-80408-3|pages=12–13}}</ref>
|}

==Common practices==
[[File:Sermon in the Deer Park depicted at Wat Chedi Liem-KayEss-1.jpeg|thumb|[[Buddha]]'s sermon in the [[Sarnath]], depicted at [[Wat Chedi Liam]], near [[Chiang Mai]], Thailand]]

===Hearing and learning the Dharma===
In various suttas which present the graduated path taught by the Buddha, such as the ''[[Samaññaphala Sutta]]'' and the ''Cula-Hatthipadopama Sutta,'' the first step on the path is hearing the Buddha teach the Dharma. This then said to lead to the acquiring of confidence or faith in the Buddha's teachings.<ref name="Bucknell1984" />

Mahayana Buddhist teachers such as [[Yin Shun]] also state that hearing the Dharma and study of the Buddhist discourses is necessary "if one wants to learn and practice the Buddha Dharma."<ref>Yin-shun (2012). "The Way to Buddhahood: Instructions from a Modern Chinese Master," p. 29. Simon and Schuster.</ref> Likewise, in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, the "Stages of the Path" (''Lamrim'') texts generally place the activity of listening to the Buddhist teachings as an important early practice.<ref>See for example, Tsong-Kha-Pa (2015) ''"The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment"'', chapter three. Shambala Pubs.<br /></ref>

===Refuge===
{{Main|Refuge (Buddhism)}}

Traditionally, the first step in most Buddhist schools requires taking of the "Three Refuges", also called the Three Jewels ([[Sanskrit]]: ''triratna'', [[Pali]]: ''tiratana'') as the foundation of one's religious practice.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|p=249}} This practice may have been influenced by the [[Hinduism|Brahmanical]] motif of the triple refuge, found in the ''[[Rigveda]]'' 9.97.47, ''Rigveda'' 6.46.9 and ''[[Chandogya Upanishad]]'' 2.22.3–4.{{sfnp|Shults|2014|p=108}} Tibetan Buddhism sometimes adds a fourth refuge, in the ''[[lama]]''. The three refuges are believed by Buddhists to be protective and a form of reverence.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|p=249}}

The ancient formula which is repeated for taking refuge affirms that "I go to the Buddha as refuge, I go to the Dhamma as refuge, I go to the Sangha as refuge."{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|p=244}} Reciting the three refuges, according to Harvey, is considered not as a place to hide, rather a thought that "purifies, uplifts and strengthens the heart".{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=244–245}} 

=== Devotional and liturgical practices ===
{{Main|Buddhist devotion|Buddhist liturgy|Pūjā (Buddhism)}}

[[File:Buddhist_chanting_in_Japanese_at_the_death_anniversary_of_a_parishioner_in_2009.jpg|thumb|185x185px|A [[Jōdo-shū]] priest in [[Fukui Prefecture|Fukui prefecture]] (Japan) chanting on behalf of a deceased parishioner at their family home. ]]
Most forms of Buddhism consider ''[[Faith in Buddhism|saddhā]]'' (Sanskrit: ''śraddhā,'' 'trustful confidence' or 'faith'), as a key quality on the path that prepares one for meditative insights.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|p=237}} Furthermore, the related quality of devotion (Sanskrit: [[bhakti]]; Pali: bhatti) is an important part of the path of most Buddhists, since it supports wholesome qualities like faith and peace of mind.{{sfnp|Harvey|1998|p=170}} Buddhist devotional and liturgical practices encompass a wide range of forms oriented toward honoring the Buddha, cultivating wholesome mental states, and structuring communal religious life. [[Buddhist devotion|Buddhist devotional practices]] include [[Buddhist liturgy]], ritual worship ([[Pūjā (Buddhism)|pūjā]]), [[Pilgrimage (Buddhism)|pilgrimage]], [[Prostration (Buddhism)|prostrations]], along with [[Buddhist music|Buddhist music and chanting]].{{sfnp|Trainor|2004|pp=84–85, 105, 108–109, 112–113, 116, 165, 185}}

As in [[Hinduism]], pūjās typically involves offerings of flowers, incense, lamps, food, or water on a [[Butsudan|Buddhist altar]] along with certain recitations and physical acts like bowing. Such rites are understood to generate [[Merit (Buddhism)|merit]], cultivate wholesome states of mind (such as a state of [[Refuge in Buddhism|refuge]]) and support contemplation.<ref>Harvey (1990), pp. 172-3.</ref> In formal temple settings, worship often follows complex liturgies, including the taking of refuge, precepts and vows, whereas more informal contexts may integrate simpler forms of homage and recitation. Buddhist devotional practices are usually focused on some object, image or location that is seen as holy or spiritually influential. Examples of objects of devotion (known as [[honzon]] in Japanese) include paintings or [[Buddha in art|statues of Buddhas]] and bodhisattvas, [[Stupa|stupas]], sacred texts, and bodhi trees.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=239-240}} 

Chanting practices constitute a major component of Buddhist devotion common to all Buddhist traditions going back to ancient India where chanting aided in the [[Memorization|memorisation]] of orally transmitted teachings.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|p=243}} A common practice is to chant or recite Buddhist sutras. Other chants are shorter formulas, mantras or [[Dharani|dharanis]]. Among the most popular chants in Buddhism are those associated with [[Buddhānusmṛti|recollection of the Buddha]] and refuge. In [[East Asian Buddhism]] this includes the widely popular [[nianfo]] formula which is devoted to [[Amitābha|Amitābha Buddha]] and is central to [[Pure Land Buddhism]]. In Himalayan Buddhism, the [[Om mani padme hum|Mani mantra]] is a similarly popular chant among lay and ordained Buddhists alike. A common method of chanting is to use rosaries called [[Japamala|malas]] to count repetitions. [[Buddhist music|Buddhist chanting]] can thus be a group or private devotional practice which leads to [[Samatha-vipassanā|tranquility]], [[Faith in Buddhism|faith]], accumulation of [[Merit (Buddhism)|merit]] (which can then be [[Transfer of merit|transferred on behalf of others]]), and memorization of the teachings.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=243-244}} In Mahayana traditions, especially in the Pure Land schools, chanting practice can also be seen as a way to stimulate or receive the [[Adhiṣṭhāna|blessings]] and spiritual power (also known as [[Other power|other-power]]) of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas.<ref>Sharf, Robert H. ''Coming to Terms With Chinese Buddhism: A Reading of the Treasure Store Treatise'', p. 119. University of Hawaii Press, Jan 1, 2002</ref> 

===''Śīla'' – Buddhist ethics===
{{Main|Buddhist ethics}}

[[File:Buddhist_alms_in_Si_Phan_Don.jpg|thumb|Buddhist monks collect alms in [[Si Phan Don]], Laos. Giving is a key virtue in Buddhism.]]
''Śīla'' (Sanskrit) or ''sīla'' (Pāli) is the concept of "moral virtues", that is the second group and an integral part of the Noble Eightfold Path.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=83–84}} It generally consists of right speech, right action and right livelihood.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=83–84}}

One of the most basic forms of ethics in Buddhism is the taking of "precepts". This includes the Five Precepts for laypeople, Eight or Ten Precepts for monastic life, as well as rules of Dhamma (''Vinaya'' or ''Patimokkha'') adopted by a monastery.{{sfnp|Williams|2005c|p=398}}{{sfnp|McFarlane |2001|pp=187–193}}

Other important elements of Buddhist ethics include [[Dāna|giving or charity]] (''dāna''), [[Mettā]] (Good-Will), Heedfulness ([[Appamada]]), 'self-respect' ([[Hri (Buddhism)|Hri]]) and 'regard for consequences' ([[Apatrapya]]).

====Precepts====
{{main|Five precepts}}

Buddhist scriptures explain the five precepts ({{langx|pi|italic=yes|pañcasīla}}; {{langx|sa|italic=yes|pañcaśīla}}) as the minimal standard of Buddhist morality.{{sfnp|Gowans|2013|page=440}} It is the most important system of morality in Buddhism, together with the [[Patimokkha|monastic rules]].<ref name="Goodman">{{cite web |last1=Goodman |first1=Charles |title=Ethics in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-indian-buddhism/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100708233552/http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-indian-buddhism/ |archive-date=8 July 2010 |url-status=live |website=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, [[Stanford University]] |date=2017}}</ref>

The five precepts are seen as a basic training applicable to all Buddhists. They are:{{sfnp|Williams|2005c|p=398}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Bodhi Bhikkhu |url=https://archive.org/details/greatdisciplesof00nyan/|title=Great Disciples of the Buddha: Their Lives, Their Works, Their Legacy|publisher=Wisdom Publications|year=1997|isbn=978-0-86171-128-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/greatdisciplesof00nyan/page/387 387, fn. 12]}}</ref>{{sfnp|Harvey|2000|p=67}}

# "I undertake the training-precept (''sikkha-padam'') to abstain from onslaught on breathing beings." This includes ordering or causing someone else to kill. The Pali suttas also say one should not "approve of others killing" and that one should be "scrupulous, compassionate, trembling for the welfare of all living beings".{{sfnp|Harvey|2000|p=69}}
# "I undertake the training-precept to abstain from taking what is not given." According to Harvey, this also covers fraud, cheating, forgery as well as "falsely denying that one is in debt to someone".{{sfnp|Harvey|2000|p=70}}
# "I undertake the training-precept to abstain from misconduct concerning sense-pleasures." This generally refers to [[adultery]], as well as rape and incest. It also applies to sex with those who are legally under the protection of a guardian. It is also interpreted in different ways in the varying Buddhist cultures.{{sfnp|Harvey|2000|pp=71-74}}
# "I undertake the training-precept to abstain from false speech." According to Harvey this includes "any form of lying, deception or exaggeration...even non-verbal deception by gesture or other indication...or misleading statements."{{sfnp|Harvey|2000|p=75}} The precept is often also seen as including other forms of wrong speech such as "divisive speech, harsh, abusive, angry words, and even idle chatter".{{sfnp|Harvey|2000|p=76}}
# "I undertake the training-precept to abstain from alcoholic drink or drugs that are an opportunity for heedlessness." According to Harvey, intoxication is seen as a way to mask rather than face the sufferings of life. It is seen as damaging to one's mental clarity, mindfulness and ability to keep the other four precepts.{{sfnp|Harvey|2000|p=77}}

Undertaking and upholding the five precepts is based on the principle of [[ahimsa|non-harming]] ([[Pāli]] and {{langx|sa|ahiṃsa|italic=yes}}).{{sfnp|Keown|2013 |page=616}} The [[Pali Canon]] recommends one to compare oneself with others, and on the basis of that, not to hurt others.{{sfnp|Harvey |2000 |pages=33, 71 }} Compassion and a belief in [[karma (Buddhism)|karmic retribution]] form the foundation of the precepts.{{sfnp|Ratanakul |2007 |page=241 }}{{sfnp|Horigan |1996 |page=276}} Undertaking the five precepts is part of regular lay devotional practice, both at home and at the local temple.{{sfnp|Terwiel |2012 |pp=178–179}}{{sfnp|Harvey |2000 |p=80}} However, the extent to which people keep them differs per region and time.{{sfnp|Ledgerwood|2008|page=152}}{{sfnp|Harvey |2000 |p=80}} They are sometimes referred to as the ''[[śrāvakayāna]] precepts'' in the [[Mahāyāna]] tradition, contrasting them with the [[bodhisattva Precepts|''bodhisattva'' precepts]].{{sfnp|Funayama|2004 |page=105}}

====Vinaya====
{{main|Vinaya}}

[[File:Buddhist Ordination Ceremony.jpg|thumb|left|An ordination ceremony at [[Wat Yannawa]] in Bangkok. The Vinaya codes regulate the various sangha acts, including ordination.]]

Vinaya is the specific code of conduct for a ''sangha'' of monks or nuns. It includes the [[Patimokkha]], a set of 227 offences including 75 rules of decorum for monks, along with penalties for transgression, in the Theravadin tradition.{{sfnp|Gombrich|1988|p=109}} The precise content of the ''[[Vinaya Pitaka]]'' (scriptures on the Vinaya) differs in different schools and tradition, and different monasteries set their own standards on its implementation. The list of ''pattimokkha'' is recited every fortnight in a ritual gathering of all monks.{{sfnp|Gombrich|1988|p=109}} Buddhist text with vinaya rules for monasteries have been traced in all Buddhist traditions, with the oldest surviving being the ancient Chinese translations.{{sfnp|Gombrich|1988|p=93}}

Monastic communities in the Buddhist tradition cut normal social ties to family and community and live as "islands unto themselves".{{sfnp|Gombrich|1988|pp=89–92}} Within a monastic fraternity, a ''sangha'' has its own rules.{{sfnp|Gombrich|1988|pp=89–92}} A monk abides by these institutionalised rules, and living life as the vinaya prescribes it is not merely a means, but very nearly the end in itself.{{sfnp|Gombrich|1988|pp=89–92}} Transgressions by a monk on ''Sangha'' vinaya rules invites enforcement, which can include temporary or permanent expulsion.{{sfnp|Gombrich|1988|pp=101–107}}

===Restraint and renunciation===
[[File:Buddhist monk in Khao Luang-Sukhothai.JPG|thumb|Living at the root of a tree (''trukkhamulik'anga'') is one of the ''dhutaṅgas'', a series of optional ascetic practices for Buddhist monastics.]]
Another important practice taught by the Buddha is the restraint of the senses (''indriyasamvara''). In the various graduated paths, this is usually presented as a practice which is taught prior to formal sitting meditation, and which supports meditation by weakening sense desires that are a [[Five hindrances|hindrance]] to meditation.<ref name="Anālayo 2003 p. 71">Anālayo (2003). "Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization," p. 71. Windhorse Publications.</ref> According to [[Bhikkhu Analayo|Anālayo]], sense restraint is when one "guards the sense doors in order to prevent sense impressions from leading to desires and discontent".<ref name="Anālayo 2003 p. 71"/> This is not an avoidance of sense impression, but a kind of mindful attention towards the sense impressions which does not dwell on their main features or signs (''nimitta''). This is said to prevent harmful influences from entering the mind.<ref name="Anālayo 2003 p. 225">Anālayo (2003). "Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization," p. 225. Windhorse Publications.</ref> This practice is said to give rise to an inner peace and happiness which forms a basis for concentration and insight.<ref name="Anālayo 2003 p. 225"/>

A related Buddhist virtue and practice is renunciation, or the intent for desirelessness (''[[nekkhamma]]'').<ref>Webster, David (2004). ''"The Philosophy of Desire in the Buddhist Pali Canon,"'' p. 124. Routledge.</ref> Generally, renunciation is the giving up of actions and desires that are seen as unwholesome on the path, such as lust for sensuality and worldly things.{{sfnp|Rhys Davids|Stede|1921–1925|p=377|loc="Nekkhamma"}} Renunciation can be cultivated in different ways. The practice of giving for example, is one form of cultivating renunciation. Another one is the giving up of lay life and becoming a monastic (''bhiksu'' or ''bhiksuni'').{{sfnp|Harvey|1998|p=199}} Practising [[celibacy]] (whether for life as a monk, or temporarily) is also a form of renunciation.{{sfnp|Harvey|2000|p=89}} Many [[Jataka tales|Jataka]] stories focus on how the Buddha practised renunciation in past lives.{{sfnp|Emmanuel|2013|p=492}}

One way of cultivating renunciation taught by the Buddha is the contemplation (''anupassana'') of the "dangers" (or "negative consequences") of sensual pleasure (''kāmānaṃ ādīnava''). As part of the graduated discourse, this contemplation is taught after the practice of giving and morality.<ref>Robert E. Buswell Jr., Donald S. Lopez Jr. (2013) "The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism," p. 18. Princeton University Press.</ref>

Another related practice to renunciation and sense restraint taught by the Buddha is "restraint in eating" or moderation with food, which for monks generally means not eating after noon. Devout laypersons also follow this rule during special days of religious observance (''[[uposatha]]'').<ref>Johnston, William M. (ed.) ''Encyclopedia of Monasticism'', Routledge, 2013, p. 467–468.</ref>

===Mindfulness and clear comprehension===
The training of the faculty called [[Sati (Buddhism)|"mindfulness"]] (Pali: ''sati'', Sanskrit: ''smṛti,'' literally meaning "recollection, remembering") is central in Buddhism. According to Analayo, mindfulness is a full awareness of the present moment which enhances and strengthens memory.<ref>Analayo (2018) ''"Satipatthana Meditation, A Practice Guide,"'' chapter 1. Windhorse Publications.</ref> The Indian Buddhist philosopher [[Asanga]] defined mindfulness thus: "It is non-forgetting by the mind with regard to the object experienced. Its function is non-distraction."<ref name="Boin-Webb, Sara 2001 p. 9">Boin-Webb, Sara. (English trans. from Walpola Rāhula's French trans. of the Sanskrit; 2001) ''"Abhidharmasamuccaya: The Compendium of the Higher Teaching (Philosophy) by Asaṅga"'', p. 9, Asian Humanities Press.</ref> According to Rupert Gethin, ''sati'' is also "an awareness of things in relation to things, and hence an awareness of their relative value".<ref>Sharf, Robert (2014), "Mindfulness and Mindlessness in Early Chan" (PDF), ''Philosophy East and West'', '''64''' (4): 933–964, {{doi|10.1353/pew.2014.0074}}</ref>

There are different practices and exercises for training mindfulness in the early discourses, such as the four ''[[Satipatthana|Satipaṭṭhānas]]'' (Sanskrit: ''smṛtyupasthāna'', "establishments of mindfulness") and ''[[Anapanasati|Ānāpānasati]]'' (Sanskrit: ''ānāpānasmṛti'', "mindfulness of breathing").

A closely related mental faculty, which is often mentioned side by side with mindfulness, is ''[[sampajañña]]'' ("clear comprehension"). This faculty is the ability to comprehend what one is doing and is happening in the mind, and whether it is being influenced by unwholesome states or wholesome ones.{{sfnp|Kuan|2007|p=50}}

===Meditation===
{{Main|Buddhist meditation|Samadhi|Samatha|Rupajhana}}

[[File:Kodo Sawaki Zazen.jpg|thumb|[[Kōdō Sawaki]] practising [[Zazen]] ("sitting dhyana")]]
A wide range of meditation practices has developed in the Buddhist traditions, but "meditation" primarily refers to the attainment of ''[[Samādhi (Buddhism)|samādhi]]'' and the practice of ''[[Dhyāna in Buddhism|dhyāna]]'' (Pali: ''jhāna''). ''Samādhi'' is a calm, undistracted, unified and concentrated state of awareness. It is defined by Asanga as "one-pointedness of mind on the object to be investigated. Its function consists of giving a basis to knowledge (''jñāna'')."<ref name="Boin-Webb, Sara 2001 p. 9"/>
''Dhyāna'' is "state of perfect equanimity and awareness (''upekkhā-sati-parisuddhi'')," reached through focused mental training.<ref>Vetter, Tilmann (1988), "''The Ideas and Meditative Practices of Early Buddhism''," p. 5. BRILL.</ref>

The practice of ''dhyāna'' aids in maintaining a calm mind and avoiding disturbance of this calm mind by mindfulness of disturbing thoughts and feelings.{{sfnp|Williams|2000|pp=45–46}}{{refn|group=note|Williams refers to {{harvtxt|Frauwallner|1973|p=155}}}}

====Origins====
The earliest evidence of yogis and their meditative tradition, states Karel Werner, is found in the [[Keśin]] hymn 10.136 of the [[Rigveda]].<ref name=karelwernerkesinrv>{{cite journal |first=Karel |last=Werner |date=1977 |title=Yoga and the Ṛg Veda: An Interpretation of the Keśin Hymn (RV 10, 136) |journal=Religious Studies |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=289–302|doi=10.1017/S0034412500010076 |s2cid=170592174 }}</ref> While evidence suggests [[meditation]] was practised in the centuries preceding the Buddha,{{sfnp|Carrithers|1986|p=30}} the meditative methodologies described in the Buddhist texts are some of the earliest among texts that have survived into the modern era.{{sfnp|Gombrich|1988|p=44}}{{sfnp|Miller|1996|p=8}} These methodologies likely incorporate what existed before the Buddha as well as those first developed within Buddhism.{{sfnp|Bronkhorst|1993|pp=1–17}}{{Refn|group=note|Many ancient [[Upanishad]]s of Hinduism describe [[yoga]] and meditation as a means to liberation.{{sfnp|Collins|2000|p=199}}<ref>Mark Singleton (2010), Yoga Body: The Origins of Modern Posture Practice, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-19-539534-1}}, pp. 25–34</ref><ref>{{cite book|last =White|first =David Gordon|title =Yoga, Brief History of an Idea |year =2011| publisher =Princeton University Press|pages=3–5}}</ref>}}

There is no scholarly agreement on the origin and source of the practice of ''dhyāna.'' Some scholars, like Bronkhorst, see the ''four dhyānas'' as a Buddhist invention.{{sfnp|Bronkhorst|1993|p=99}} Alexander Wynne argues that the Buddha learned ''dhyāna'' from Brahmanical teachers.{{sfnp|Wynne|2007|p={{page needed|date=October 2020}}}}

Whatever the case, the Buddha taught meditation with a new focus and interpretation, particularly through the ''four dhyānas'' methodology,{{sfnp|Bronkhorst|1993|p=Part I: page 5}} in which mindfulness is maintained.{{sfnp|Bronkhorst|1993|p=88}}{{sfnp|Gombrich|2007}} Further, the focus of meditation and the underlying theory of liberation guiding the meditation has been different in Buddhism.{{sfnp|Carrithers|1986|p=30}}{{sfnp|Norman|1997|p=29}}{{sfnp|Gombrich|1997|p=131}} For example, states Bronkhorst, the verse 4.4.23 of the ''Brihadaranyaka Upanishad'' with its "become calm, subdued, quiet, patiently enduring, concentrated, one sees soul in oneself" is most probably a meditative state.{{sfnp|Bronkhorst|1993|p=Chapter 9, page 86}} The Buddhist discussion of meditation is without the concept of soul and the discussion criticises both the ascetic meditation of Jainism and the "real self, soul" meditation of Hinduism.{{sfnp|Bronkhorst|1993|pp=74 (Chapter 8); 102 (Conclusion)}}

====The formless attainments====
Often grouped into the ''jhāna''-scheme are four other meditative states, referred to in the early texts as ''arupa samāpattis'' (formless attainments). These are also referred to in commentarial literature as immaterial/formless ''jhānas'' (''arūpajhānas''). The first formless attainment is a place or realm of infinite space (''ākāsānañcāyatana'') without form or colour or shape. The second is termed the realm of infinite consciousness (''viññāṇañcāyatana''); the third is the realm of nothingness (''ākiñcaññāyatana''), while the fourth is the realm of "neither perception nor non-perception".<ref name="Wayman1984p86">{{cite book|author=Alex Wayman|title=Buddhist Insight: Essays|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BNIdOsp3KIgC|date=1984|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-0675-7|pages=86–89}}</ref> The four ''rupa-jhānas'' in Buddhist practice leads to rebirth in successfully better ''rupa'' Brahma heavenly realms, while ''arupa-jhānas'' leads into arupa heavens.<ref>{{cite book|author=Bruno Petzold|title=The Classification of Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iZH29oiIuIkC|year=1995|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|isbn=978-3-447-03373-2|pages=502–503}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Lewis Hodous|author2=William E. Soothill|title=A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms: With Sanskrit and English Equivalents and a Sanskrit-Pali Index|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ecaRAgAAQBAJ|year=2003|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-79123-0|page=179}}</ref>

====Meditation and insight====
{{See also|Four Noble Truths#Substituting "liberating insight"|l1=Meditation and insight|Yoga|l2=Yoga|}}

In the Pali Canon, the Buddha outlines two meditative qualities which are mutually supportive: ''[[samatha]]'' (Pāli; Sanskrit: ''śamatha''; "calm") and ''[[vipassanā]]'' (Sanskrit: ''vipaśyanā'', insight).{{sfnp|Bodhi|2005|pp=269–270, 440 ''n''. 13}} The Buddha compares these mental qualities to a "swift pair of messengers" who together help deliver the message of ''nibbana'' (SN 35.245).{{sfnp|Bodhi|2000|pp=1251-1253}}

The various Buddhist traditions generally see Buddhist meditation as being divided into those two main types.{{sfnp|Welch|1967|p=396}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.accesstoinsight.org/theravada.html|title=What is Theravada Buddhism?|access-date=17 August 2013|work=Access to Insight|archive-date=21 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130821040134/http://www.accesstoinsight.org/theravada.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Samatha is also called "calming meditation", and focuses on stilling and concentrating the mind i.e. developing samadhi and the four ''dhyānas''. According to [[Damien Keown]], ''vipassanā'' meanwhile, focuses on "the generation of penetrating and critical insight (''paññā'')".{{sfnp|Keown|1996|pp=106–107, context: Chapter 7}}

There are numerous doctrinal positions and disagreements within the different Buddhist traditions regarding these qualities or forms of meditation. For example, in the Pali ''Four Ways to Arahantship Sutta'' (AN 4.170), it is said that one can develop calm and then insight, or insight and then calm, or both at the same time.{{sfnp|Bodhi|2005|pp=268, 439}} Meanwhile, in Vasubandhu's ''Abhidharmakośakārikā'', vipaśyanā is said to be practised once one has reached samadhi by cultivating the four foundations of mindfulness (''smṛtyupasthāna''s).<ref>De La Vallee Poussin (trans.); Pruden, Leo M. (trans.) ''Abhidharmakosabhasyam of Vasubandhu''. Vol. III, page 925.</ref>

Beginning with comments by [[Louis de La Vallée-Poussin|La Vallee Poussin]], a series of scholars have argued that these two meditation types reflect a tension between two different ancient Buddhist traditions regarding the use of ''dhyāna,'' one which focused on insight based practice and the other which focused purely on ''dhyāna''.{{sfnp|Bronkhorst|1993}}<ref name="buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg.de">Anālayo. [https://www.buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg.de/pdf/5-personen/analayo/briefcriticism.pdf "A Brief Criticism of the 'Two Paths to Liberation' Theory"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200321164937/https://www.buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg.de/pdf/5-personen/analayo/briefcriticism.pdf |date=21 March 2020 }} JOCBS. 2016 (11): 38–51.</ref> However, other scholars such as Analayo and Rupert Gethin have disagreed with this "two paths" thesis, instead seeing both of these practices as complementary.<ref name="buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg.de"/>{{sfnp|Gethin|2001|p=xiv}}

====The ''Brahma-vihara''====
{{main|Brahmavihara}}

The four immeasurables or four abodes, also called ''Brahma-viharas'', are virtues or directions for meditation in Buddhist traditions, which helps a person be reborn in the heavenly (Brahma) realm.{{sfnp|Hirakawa |1993|pp=172–174}}{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=154, 326}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Carl Olson |year=2009|title=The A to Z of Buddhism|publisher=Scarecrow|isbn=978-0-8108-7073-4|page=73 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L62wiLSf0swC}}</ref> These are traditionally believed to be a characteristic of the deity Brahma and the heavenly abode he resides in.<ref>{{cite book|author=Diane Morgan |year=2010|title=Essential Buddhism: A Comprehensive Guide to Belief and Practice |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-313-38452-3|page=125 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2vgbURej-qAC&pg=PA125}}</ref>

The four ''Brahma-vihara'' are:
# Loving-kindness (Pāli: ''[[mettā]]'', Sanskrit: ''maitrī'') is active good will towards all;{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=154, 326}}{{sfnp|Fowler|1999|pp=60–62}}
# Compassion (Pāli and Sanskrit: ''[[karuṇā]]'') results from ''metta''; it is identifying the suffering of others as one's own;{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=154, 326}}{{sfnp|Fowler|1999|pp=60–62}}
# Empathetic joy (Pāli and Sanskrit: ''[[mudita|muditā]]''): is the feeling of joy because others are happy, even if one did not contribute to it; it is a form of sympathetic joy;{{sfnp|Fowler|1999|pp=60–62}}
# Equanimity (Pāli: ''[[upekkha|upekkhā]]'', Sanskrit: ''upekṣā''): is even-mindedness and serenity, treating everyone impartially.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=154, 326}}{{sfnp|Fowler|1999|pp=60–62}}

====Tantra, visualisation and the subtle body====
{{See also|Tibetan Tantric Practice|Vajrayana#Tantra_techniques}}
[[File:Schildering uit reeks over de Sarvavid Vairocana Mandala - Licht, anoniem, ca 1799, MAS.jpg|thumb|An 18th century Mongolian miniature which depicts the generation of the Vairocana Mandala]]

Some Buddhist traditions, especially those associated with Tantric Buddhism (also known as Vajrayana and Secret Mantra) use images and symbols of deities and Buddhas in meditation. This is generally done by mentally visualising a Buddha image (or some other mental image, like a symbol, a mandala, a syllable, etc.), and using that image to cultivate calm and insight. One may also visualise and identify oneself with the imagined deity.{{sfnp|Trainor|2004|p=87}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Luis Gomez|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zaC4CgAAQBAJ|title=Buddhism in Practice|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2015|isbn=978-1-4008-8007-2|editor=Donald S. Lopez Jr.|pages=236–243}}</ref> While visualisation practices have been particularly popular in Vajrayana, they may also found in Mahayana and Theravada traditions.{{sfnp|Trainor|2004|pp=86–87}}

In Tibetan Buddhism, unique tantric techniques which include visualisation (but also [[mantra]] recitation, [[mandala]]s, and other elements) are considered to be much more effective than non-tantric meditations and they are one of the most popular meditation methods.{{sfnp|Powers|2007|p=250}} The methods of ''[[Anuttarayoga Tantra|Unsurpassable Yoga Tantra]]'', (''anuttarayogatantra'') are in turn seen as the highest and most advanced. Anuttarayoga practice is divided into two stages, the ''Generation Stage'' and the ''Completion Stage.'' In the Generation Stage, one meditates on emptiness and visualises oneself as a deity as well as visualising its mandala. The focus is on developing clear appearance and divine pride (the understanding that oneself and the deity are one).<ref>Garson, Nathaniel DeWitt (2004). ''Penetrating the Secret Essence Tantra: Context and Philosophy in the Mahayoga System of rNying-ma Tantra'', p. 52</ref> This method is also known as deity yoga (''devata yoga''). There are numerous meditation deities (''[[yidam]]'') used, each with a mandala, a circular symbolic map used in meditation.{{sfnp|Trainor|2004|pp=88–89}}

===Insight and knowledge===
{{Main|Prajñā (Buddhism)|l1 = Prajñā|Bodhi|l2 = Bodhi|Kenshō|l3 = Kenshō|Satori|l4 = Satori|Subitism|l5 = Subitism|Vipassana|l6 = Vipassana}}

''Prajñā'' (Sanskrit) or ''paññā'' (Pāli) is [[wisdom]], or knowledge of the true nature of existence. Another term which is associated with ''prajñā'' and sometimes is equivalent to it is ''vipassanā'' (Pāli) or ''vipaśyanā'' (Sanskrit), which is often translated as "insight". In Buddhist texts, the faculty of insight is often said to be cultivated through the four establishments of mindfulness.{{sfnp|Kuan|2007|p=58}} In the early texts, ''Paññā'' is included as one of the "five faculties" (''[[indriya]]'') which are commonly listed as important spiritual elements to be cultivated (see for example: AN I 16). ''Paññā'' along with samadhi, is also listed as one of the "trainings in the higher states of mind" (''adhicittasikkha'').{{sfnp|Kuan|2007|p=58}}

The Buddhist tradition regards ignorance ([[Avidyā (Buddhism)|''avidyā'']]), a fundamental ignorance, misunderstanding or mis-perception of the nature of reality, as one of the basic causes of ''dukkha'' and ''samsara''. Overcoming this ignorance is part of the path to awakening. This overcoming includes the contemplation of impermanence and the non-self nature of reality,{{sfnp|Trainor|2004|p=74}}{{sfnp|Conze|2013|pp=39–40}} and this develops dispassion for the objects of [[upādāna|clinging]], and liberates a being from ''dukkha'' and ''saṃsāra''.{{sfnp|Fowler|1999|pp=49–52}}<ref>{{cite book |author1=Joseph Mitsuo Kitagawa |author2=Frank E. Reynolds |author3=Theodore M. Ludwig |title=Transitions and Transformations in the History of Religions: Essays in Honor of Joseph M. Kitagawa |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p4UeAAAAIAAJ |year=1980 |publisher=Brill Academic |isbn=978-90-04-06112-5 |pages=56–58 |access-date=10 July 2016 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111060323/https://books.google.com/books?id=p4UeAAAAIAAJ |url-status=live }}, Quote: "Suffering describes the condition of samsaric (this worldly) existence that arises from actions generated by ''ignorance'' of anatta and anicca. The doctrines of no-self and impermanence are thus the keystones of ''dhammic'' order."</ref>{{sfnp|Gethin|1998|pp=73–75, 146–159, 243}}

''Prajñā'' is important in all Buddhist traditions. It is variously described as wisdom regarding the impermanent and [[Anattā|not-self]] nature of dharmas (phenomena), the functioning of karma and rebirth, and knowledge of dependent origination.{{sfnp|Buswell|2004|pp=664–665}} Likewise, ''vipaśyanā'' is described in a similar way, such as in the ''[[Paṭisambhidāmagga]]'', where it is said to be the contemplation of things as impermanent, unsatisfactory and [[Anattā|not-self]].{{sfnp|Kuan|2007|p=59}}

===Vegetarianism and animal ethics===
{{Main|Buddhist vegetarianism}}

Based on the Indian principle of [[Ahiṃsā|ahimsa]] (non-harming), the Buddha's ethics strongly condemn the harming of all sentient beings, including all animals. He thus condemned the animal sacrifice of the Brahmins as well as hunting, and killing animals for food.{{sfnp|Harvey|2000|pp=157-158}} However, early Buddhist texts depict the Buddha as allowing monastics to eat meat. This seems to be because monastics begged for their food and thus were supposed to accept whatever food was offered to them.{{sfnp|Harvey|2000|pp=156-159}} This was tempered by the rule that meat had to be "three times clean": "they had not seen, had not heard, and had no reason to suspect that the animal had been killed so that the meat could be given to them".<ref name="Phelps, Norm 2004 p. 76">Phelps, Norm (2004). ''The Great Compassion: Buddhism & Animal Rights.'' New York: Lantern Books. p. 76. {{ISBN|1-59056-069-8}}.</ref> Also, while the Buddha did not explicitly promote vegetarianism in his discourses, he did state that gaining one's livelihood from the meat trade was unethical.<ref>[http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/anguttara/an05-177.html Vanijja Sutta: Business (Wrong Livelihood)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051119074312/http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/anguttara/an05-177.html|date=19 November 2005}}</ref> In contrast to this, various Mahayana sutras and texts like the [[Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra|Mahaparinirvana sutra]], [[Śūraṅgama Sūtra|Surangama sutra]] and the [[Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra|Lankavatara sutra]] state that the Buddha promoted vegetarianism out of compassion.<ref>Phelps, Norm (2004). ''The Great Compassion: Buddhism & Animal Rights.'' New York: Lantern Books. pp. 64–65. {{ISBN|1-59056-069-8}}.</ref> Indian Mahayana thinkers like Shantideva promoted the avoidance of meat.{{sfnp|Harvey|2000|p=163}} Throughout history, the issue of whether Buddhists should be vegetarian has remained a much debated topic and there is a variety of opinions on this issue among modern Buddhists.

==Texts==
{{Main|Buddhist texts}}

[[File:Nava Jetavana Temple - Shravasti - 013 First Council at Rajagaha (9241729223).jpg|thumb|A depiction of the supposed [[First Buddhist council]] at [[Rajgir]]. Communal recitation was one of the original ways of transmitting and preserving Early Buddhist texts.]]
Buddhism, like all Indian religions, was initially an [[oral tradition]] in ancient times.<ref name="lopez2004busc1"/> The Buddha's words, the early doctrines, concepts, and their traditional interpretations were orally transmitted from one generation to the next. The earliest oral texts were transmitted in Middle [[Indo-Aryan languages]] called [[Prakrits]], such as [[Pali]], through the use of communal recitation and other [[mnemonic]] techniques.{{sfnp|Gethin|1998|pp=39–41}} The first Buddhist canonical texts were likely written down in Sri Lanka, about 400 years after the Buddha died.<ref name="lopez2004busc1" /> The texts were part of the ''[[Tripiṭaka|Tripitakas]]'', and many versions appeared thereafter claiming to be the words of the Buddha. Scholarly Buddhist commentary texts, with named authors, appeared in India, around the 2nd century CE.<ref name="lopez2004busc1" /> These texts were written in Pali or Sanskrit, sometimes regional languages, as [[palm-leaf manuscript]]s, birch bark, painted scrolls, carved into temple walls, and later on paper.<ref name="lopez2004busc1">{{cite book|author=Donald Lopez |title=Buddhist Scriptures |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Pd-2IIzip4C |year=2004|publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-190937-0 |pages=xi–xv}}</ref>

Unlike what the [[Bible]] is to [[Christianity]] and the [[Quran]] is to [[Islam]], but like all major ancient Indian religions, there is no consensus among the different Buddhist traditions as to what constitutes the scriptures or a common canon in Buddhism.<ref name="lopez2004busc1" /> The general belief among Buddhists is that the canonical corpus is vast.<ref>{{cite book|author=Donald Lopez |title=Buddhist Scriptures |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Pd-2IIzip4C |year=2004|publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-190937-0 |pages=xii–xiii}}</ref>{{sfnp|Gethin|2008|p=xiv}}{{sfnp|Eliot|1935|p=16}} This corpus includes the ancient ''Sutras'' organised into ''[[Nikāya|Nikayas]]'' or ''[[Āgama (Buddhism)|Agamas]]'', itself the part of three basket of texts called the ''Tripitakas''.<ref>{{cite book|author=Donald Lopez |title=Buddhist Scriptures |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Pd-2IIzip4C |year=2004|publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-190937-0 |pages=xiii–xvii}}</ref> Each Buddhist tradition has its own collection of texts, much of which is translation of ancient Pali and Sanskrit Buddhist texts of India. The [[Chinese Buddhist canon]], for example, includes 2184 texts in 55 volumes, while the [[Tibetan Buddhist canon|Tibetan canon]] comprises 1108 texts{{snd}}all claimed to have been spoken by the Buddha{{snd}}and another 3461 texts composed by Indian scholars revered in the Tibetan tradition.<ref name="lopez2004busc2">{{cite book|author=Donald Lopez |title=Buddhist Scriptures |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Pd-2IIzip4C |year=2004|publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-190937-0 |pages=xi–xxv}}</ref> The Buddhist textual history is vast; over 40,000 manuscripts{{snd}}mostly Buddhist, some non-Buddhist{{snd}}were discovered in 1900 in the Dunhuang Chinese cave alone.<ref name="lopez2004busc2" />

===Early texts===
{{Main|Early Buddhist Texts}}

[[File:Fragmentary Buddhist text - Gandhara birchbark scrolls (1st C), part 31 - BL Or. 14915.jpg|thumb|left|Gandhara birchbark scroll fragments ({{Circa|1st century}}) from British Library Collection]]
The Early Buddhist Texts refers to the literature which is considered by modern scholars to be the earliest Buddhist material. The first four [[Pali]] [[Nikayas]], and the corresponding Chinese [[Āgama (Buddhism)|Āgamas]] are generally considered to be among the earliest material.{{sfnp|Gethin|1998|pp=42–43}}{{sfnp|Sujato|Brahmali|2015|pp=9–10}}<ref>Mun-Keat Choong (1999). ''The Notion of Emptiness in Early Buddhism,'' Motilal Banarsidass, p. 3. {{ISBN|978-81-208-1649-7}}.</ref> Apart from these, there are also fragmentary collections of EBT materials in other languages such as [[Sanskrit]], [[Saka language|Khotanese]], [[Classical Tibetan|Tibetan]] and [[Gāndhārī language|Gāndhārī]]. The modern study of [[pre-sectarian Buddhism|early Buddhism]] often relies on comparative scholarship using these various early Buddhist sources to identify parallel texts and common doctrinal content.<ref>e.g. "''Mun-keat, Choong (2000), The Fundamental Teachings of Early Buddhism''" and "''Analayo. Early Buddhist Meditation Studies (Volume 1)''"</ref> One feature of these early texts are literary structures which reflect oral transmission, such as widespread repetition.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Anālayo|author-link=Bhikkhu Analayo|year=2008|title=Reflections on Comparative Āgama Studies|url=https://www.buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg.de/pdf/5-personen/analayo/reflect-comp-agama.pdf|journal=Chung-Hwa Buddhist Journal|publisher=Taipei: Chung-Hwa Institute of Buddhist Studies|volume=21|pages=3–21|issn=1017-7132|access-date=6 September 2019|archive-date=12 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191212122454/https://www.buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg.de/pdf/5-personen/analayo/reflect-comp-agama.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

===The Tripitakas===
{{Main|Tripiṭaka|Pali Canon}}

After the development of the different [[early Buddhist schools]], these schools began to develop their own textual collections, which were termed ''Tripiṭakas'' (Triple Baskets).{{sfnp|Warder|2000|pp=282–283}}

Many early ''Tripiṭakas'', like the Pāli ''Tipitaka'', were divided into three sections: ''[[Vinaya|Vinaya Pitaka]]'' (focuses on [[Monasticism|monastic rule]]), ''[[Sutta Pitaka]]'' (Buddhist discourses) and ''[[Abhidhamma|Abhidhamma Pitaka]],'' which contain expositions and commentaries on the doctrine. The [[Pāli Canon|Pāli ''Tipitaka'']] (also known as the Pali Canon) of the Theravada School constitutes the only complete collection of Buddhist texts in an [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indic language]] which has survived until today.<ref>Crosby, Kate (2013). ''Theravada Buddhism: Continuity, Diversity, and Identity''. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 2. {{ISBN|978-1-4051-8906-4}}</ref> However, many ''Sutras'', ''Vinayas'' and ''Abhidharma'' works from other schools survive in Chinese translation, as part of the Chinese Buddhist Canon. According to some sources, some early schools of Buddhism had five or seven ''pitakas''.{{sfnp|Skilling|1992|p=114}}

===Mahāyāna texts===
{{Main|Mahayana sutras}}

[[File:Korea-Haeinsa-Tripitaka Koreana-01.jpg|thumb|alt=Tripiṭaka Koreana in South Korea, over 81,000 wood printing blocks stored in racks|The [[Tripitaka Koreana|Tripiṭaka Koreana]] in South Korea, an edition of the [[Chinese Buddhist canon]] carved and preserved in over 81,000 wood printing blocks]]

The [[Mahayana sutras|Mahāyāna sūtras]] are a very broad genre of Buddhist scriptures that the [[Mahayana|Mahāyāna]] Buddhist tradition holds are original teachings of [[Gautama Buddha|the Buddha]]. Modern historians generally hold that the first of these texts were composed probably around the 1st century BCE or 1st century CE.<ref name="Buddhism 2004, page 293">''Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism'' (2004): p. 293</ref>{{sfnp|Hirakawa|1993|p=252}}{{sfnp|Buswell|2004|p=494}} In Mahāyāna, these texts are generally given greater authority than the early Āgamas and Abhidharma literature, which are called "[[Śrāvakayāna]]" or "[[Hinayana]]" to distinguish them from Mahāyāna sūtras.<ref>[[Jan Nattier|Nattier, Jan]] (2003), ''A Few Good Men: The Bodhisattva Path according to The Inquiry of Ugra (Ugraparipṛcchā)'', [[University of Hawaii Press]], pp. 172–174, {{ISBN|978-0-8248-3003-8}}</ref> Mahāyāna traditions mainly see these different classes of texts as being designed for different types of persons, with different levels of spiritual understanding. The Mahāyāna sūtras are mainly seen as being for those of "greater" capacity.<ref>[[Kalu Rinpoche|Rinpoche, Kalu]] (1995), ''Profound Buddhism From Hinayana To Vajrayana'', Clearpoint Press. p. 15. {{ISBN|978-0-9630371-5-2}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=this claim needs a non-sectarian source|date=September 2019}} Mahāyāna also has a very large literature of philosophical and exegetical texts. These are often called [[Shastras|''śāstra'']] (treatises) or ''vrittis'' (commentaries). Some of this literature was also written in verse form (''karikās''), the most famous of which is the ''[[Mulamadhyamakakarika|Mūlamadhyamika-karikā]]'' (Root Verses on the Middle Way) by [[Nagarjuna]], the foundational text of the [[Madhyamika]] school.

===Tantric texts===
{{Main|Tantras (Buddhism)}}

During the [[Gupta Empire]], a new class of Buddhist sacred literature began to develop, which are called the [[Tantras (Buddhism)|Tantras]].<ref>Wayman, Alex  (2008). ''The Buddhist Tantras: Light on Indo-Tibetan Esotericism.'' Routledge. p. 23.</ref> By the 8th century, the tantric tradition was very influential in India and beyond. Besides drawing on a [[Mahāyāna]] Buddhist framework, these texts also borrowed deities and material from other Indian religious traditions, such as the [[Śaiva]] and [[Pancharatra]] traditions, local god/goddess cults, and local spirit worship (such as [[yaksha]] or [[nāga]] spirits).<ref>Sørensen, Henrik H; Payne, Richard K; Orzech, Charles D. (ed.) (2010). ''Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras,'' ''in East Asia''. Handbook of Oriental Studies. p. 20.</ref><ref>Grey, David B.; Tantra and the Tantric Traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism</ref>

Some features of these texts include the widespread use of mantras, meditation on the [[Lung (Tibetan Buddhism)#Subtle Body|subtle body]], worship of [[fierce deities]], and [[antinomian]] and [[wikt:transgressive|transgressive]] practices such as ingesting [[Alcohol (drug)|alcohol]] and performing sexual rituals.{{sfnp|Williams|Tribe|Wynne|2012|loc=chapter 7}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Wallis |first=Christopher |date=2016 |title=The Tantric Age: A Comparison Of Shaiva And Buddhist Tantra}}{{full citation needed|date=October 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Dalton |first=J. |title=A Crisis of Doxography: How Tibetans Organized Tantra During the 8th–12th Centuries |journal=Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies |volume=28 |issue=1 |date=2005 |pages=115–181}}</ref>

==History==
{{Main|History of Buddhism}}

{{For timeline|Timeline of Buddhism}}

===Historical roots===
Historically, the roots of Buddhism lie in the religious thought of [[Iron Age India]] around the middle of the first millennium BCE.{{sfnp|Gethin|2008|p=xv}} This was a period of great intellectual ferment and socio-cultural change known as the [[History of India#Second urbanisation (c. 600 – 200 BCE)|"Second urbanisation"]], marked by the growth of towns and trade, the composition of the [[Upanishads]] and the historical emergence of the [[Śramaṇa]] traditions.<ref>{{cite book|author=Abraham Eraly |title=The First Spring: The Golden Age of India |year=2011|publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-670-08478-4 |pages=538, 571 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=te1sqTzTxD8C}}</ref>{{sfnp|Gombrich|1988|pp=26–41}}{{Refn|group=note|While some interpretations state that Buddhism may have originated as a social reform, other scholars state that it is incorrect and anachronistic to regard the Buddha as a social reformer.<ref name="QueenKing1996p17"/> Buddha's concern was "to reform individuals, help them to leave society forever, not to reform the world... he never preached against social inequality". [[Richard Gombrich]], quoted by Christopher Queen.<ref name="QueenKing1996p17">{{harvc|first=Christopher |last=Queen |c=Introduction: The Shapes and Sources of Engaged Buddhism |in1=Queen |in2=King |pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=6ZsTgY1lNNsC&pg=PA17 17–18] |year=1996}}</ref>{{sfnp|Gombrich|1988|pp=30–31}}}}

New ideas developed both in the [[Historical Vedic religion|Vedic tradition]] in the form of the Upanishads, and outside of the Vedic tradition through the Śramaṇa movements.<ref>{{cite book|author=Hajime Nakamura |title=A History of Early Vedānta Philosophy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=asNLliQHDNQC |year=1983 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-0651-1 |pages=102–104, 264–269, 294–295 }}; Quote: "But the Upanishadic ultimate meaning of the Vedas, was, from the viewpoint of the Vedic canon in general, clearly a new idea.."; p. 95: The [oldest] Upanishads in particular were part of the Vedic corpus (...) When these various new ideas were brought together and edited, they were added on to the already existing Vedic..."; p. 294: "When early Jainism came into existence, various ideas mentioned in the extant older Upanishads were current,....".</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Klaus G. Witz |title=The Supreme Wisdom of the Upaniṣads: An Introduction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2jnPlEqwe_UC |year=1998|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass  |isbn=978-81-208-1573-5 |pages= 1–2, 23}}; Quote: "In the [[Aranyaka]]s therefore, thought and inner spiritual awareness started to separate subtler, deeper aspects from the context of ritual performance and myth with which they had been united up to then. This process was then carried further and brought to completion in the [[Upanishad]]s. (...) The knowledge and attainment of the Highest Goal had been there from the Vedic times. But in the Upanishads inner awareness, aided by major intellectual breakthroughs, arrived at a language in which Highest Goal could be dealt with directly, independent of ritual and sacred lore".<br />{{cite book|author=Edward Fitzpatrick Crangle|title=The Origin and Development of Early Indian Contemplative Practices |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HOzdcIxJy2sC|year=1994|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|isbn=978-3-447-03479-1|pages=58 with footnote 148, 22–29, 87–103, for Upanishads–Buddhist Sutta discussion see 65–72}}</ref><ref name="Olivelle1992">{{cite book|author=Patrick Olivelle |title=The Samnyasa Upanisads: Hindu Scriptures on Asceticism and Renunciation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fB8uneM7q1cC|year=1992|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-536137-7|pages=3–5, 68–71}};<br />{{cite book|author=Christoph Wulf |title=Exploring Alterity in a Globalized World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_ZxeCwAAQBAJ |year=2016|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-33113-1 |pages=125–126}}; Quote: "But he [Bronkhorst] talks about the simultaneous emergence of a Vedic and a non-Vedic asceticism. (...) [On Olivelle] Thus, the challenge for old Vedic views consisted of a new theology, written down in the early Upanishads like the Brhadaranyaka and the Mundaka Upanishad. The new set of ideas contained the...."</ref> The term Śramaṇa refers to several Indian religious movements parallel to but separate from the [[historical Vedic religion]], including Buddhism, [[Jainism]] and others such as [[Ājīvika]].<ref>AL Basham (1951), History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas – a Vanished Indian Religion, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-81-208-1204-8}}, pp. 94–103</ref>

Several Śramaṇa movements are known to have existed in India before the 6th century BCE (pre-Buddha, pre-[[Mahavira]]), and these influenced both the [[āstika and nāstika]] traditions of [[Indian philosophy]].<ref name=reginaldray247>Reginald Ray (1999), Buddhist Saints in India, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-19-513483-4}}, pp. 237–240, 247–249</ref> According to Martin Wilshire, the Śramaṇa tradition evolved in India over two phases, namely [[Pratyekabuddha|Paccekabuddha]] and [[Śrāvaka|Savaka]] phases, the former being the tradition of individual ascetic and the latter of disciples, and that Buddhism and [[Jainism]] ultimately emerged from these.<ref name=wiltshire293>Martin Wiltshire (1990), Ascetic Figures Before and in Early Buddhism, De Gruyter, {{ISBN|978-3-11-009896-9}}, p. 293</ref> [[Historical Vedic religion|Brahmanical]] and non-Brahmanical ascetic groups shared and used several similar ideas,{{sfnp|Samuel|2010|pp=123–125}} but the Śramaṇa traditions also drew upon already established Brahmanical concepts and philosophical roots, states Wiltshire, to formulate their own doctrines.<ref name=reginaldray247/><ref name=wiltshire226>Martin Wiltshire (1990), Ascetic Figures Before and in Early Buddhism, De Gruyter, {{ISBN|978-3-11-009896-9}}, pp. 226–227</ref> Brahmanical motifs can be found in the oldest Buddhist texts, using them to introduce and explain Buddhist ideas.{{sfnp|Shults|2014|p=126}} For example, prior to Buddhist developments, the Brahmanical tradition internalised and variously reinterpreted the [[Srauta|three Vedic sacrificial fires]] as concepts such as Truth, Rite, Tranquility or Restraint.{{sfnp|Shults|2014|p=127}} Buddhist texts also refer to the three Vedic sacrificial fires, reinterpreting and explaining them as ethical conduct.{{sfnp|Shults|2014|pp=125–129}}

The Śramaṇa religions challenged and broke with the Brahmanic tradition on core assumptions such as [[Atman (Hinduism)|Atman]] (soul, self), [[Brahman]], the nature of afterlife, and they rejected the authority of the [[Vedas]] and [[Upanishad]]s.<ref>P. Billimoria (1988), Śabdapramāṇa: Word and Knowledge, Studies of Classical India Volume 10, Springer, {{ISBN|978-94-010-7810-8}}, pp. 1–30</ref>{{sfnp| Jaini|2001|pp=47–48}}<ref name="Siderits2007p16"/> Buddhism was one among several Indian religions that did so.<ref name="Siderits2007p16">{{cite book|author=Mark Siderits |title=Buddhism as Philosophy: An Introduction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bK6O4Z7RyH8C |year=2007|publisher=Ashgate|isbn=978-0-7546-5369-1|page=16 with footnote 3}}</ref>

Early Buddhist positions in the [[Theravada]] tradition had not established any deities, but were epistemologically cautious rather than directly [[atheist]]. Later Buddhist traditions were more influenced by the critique of deities within [[Hinduism]] and therefore more committed to a strongly atheist stance. These developments were historic and epistemological as documented in verses from [[Śāntideva]]'s [[Bodhicaryāvatāra]], and supplemented by reference to [[suttas]] and [[Jataka tales|jātakas]] from the [[Pali Canon]].<ref>{{cite book|doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199644650.013.004 |date=2013 |last1=Skilton |first1=Andrew |chapter=22 Buddhism  |title=The Oxford Handbook of Atheism|isbn=9780199644650  }}</ref>

===Indian Buddhism===
{{Main|History of Buddhism in India}}

[[File:Ajanta_Chaitya_10_plan.jpg|thumb|[[Ajanta Caves]], Cave 10, a first period type [[chaitya]] worship hall with [[stupa]] but no idols]]
The history of Indian Buddhism may be divided into five periods:{{sfnp|Hirakawa|1993|p=7}} Early Buddhism (occasionally called [[pre-sectarian Buddhism]]), [[Nikaya Buddhism]] or Sectarian Buddhism (the period of the early Buddhist schools), Early [[Mahayana|Mahayana Buddhism]], Late Mahayana, and the era of [[Vajrayana]] or the "Tantric Age".

====Pre-sectarian Buddhism====
{{Main|Pre-sectarian Buddhism}}

According to [[Lambert Schmithausen]] Pre-sectarian Buddhism is "the canonical period prior to the development of different schools with their different positions".<ref>Schmithausen (1987) "Part I: Earliest Buddhism," Panels of the VIIth World Sanskrit Conference Vol. II: Earliest Buddhism and Madhyamaka, ed. David Seyfort Ruegg and Lambert Schmithausen, Leiden: Kern Institute, pp. 1–4.</ref>

The [[early Buddhist Texts]] include the four principal Pali [[Nikāya]]s{{Refn|The [[Digha Nikaya]], [[Majjhima Nikaya]], [[Samyutta Nikaya]] and [[Anguttara Nikaya]]|group=note}} (and their parallel [[Āgama (Buddhism)|Agamas]] found in the Chinese canon) together with the main body of monastic rules, which survive in the various versions of the [[patimokkha]].{{sfnp|Sujato|Brahmali|2015|p=39–41}}{{sfnp|Gethin|2008|p=xviii}}{{sfnp|Harvey|1998|p=3}} However, these texts were revised over time, and it is unclear what constitutes the earliest layer of Buddhist teachings. One method to obtain information on the oldest core of Buddhism is to compare the oldest extant versions of the Theravadin Pāli Canon and other texts.{{refn|group=note|The surviving portions of the scriptures of [[Sarvastivada]], [[Mulasarvastivada]], [[Mahīśāsaka]], [[Dharmaguptaka]] and other schools.{{sfnp|Vetter|1988|p=ix}}{{sfnp|Warder|2000}}}} The reliability of the early sources, and the possibility to draw out a core of oldest teachings, is a matter of dispute.{{sfnp|Vetter|1988|pp=xxi–xxxvii}} According to Vetter, inconsistencies remain, and other methods must be applied to resolve those inconsistencies.{{sfnp|Vetter|1988|p=ix}}{{refn|group=note|Exemplary studies are the study on descriptions of "liberating insight" by Lambert Schmithausen,{{sfnp|Schmithausen|1981}} the overview of early Buddhism by Tilmann Vetter,{{sfnp|Vetter|1988}} the philological work on the four truths by K.R. Norman,{{sfnp|Norman|1992}} the textual studies by Richard Gombrich,{{sfnp|Gombrich|1997}} and the research on early meditation methods by Johannes Bronkhorst.{{sfnp|Bronkhorst|1993}}}}

According to Schmithausen, three positions held by scholars of Buddhism can be distinguished:{{sfnp|Bronkhorst|1993|p=vii}}
# "Stress on the fundamental homogeneity and substantial authenticity of at least a considerable part of the Nikayic materials". Proponents of this position include [[A. K. Warder]]{{refn|group=note|According to A.K. Warder, in his 1970 publication "Indian Buddhism", from the oldest extant texts a common kernel can be drawn out.{{sfnp|Warder|2000}} According to Warder, c.q. his publisher: "This kernel of doctrine is presumably common Buddhism of the period before the great schisms of the fourth and third centuries BC. It may be substantially the Buddhism of the Buddha himself, although this cannot be proved: at any rate it is a Buddhism presupposed by the schools as existing about a hundred years after the parinirvana of the Buddha, and there is no evidence to suggest that it was formulated by anyone else than the Buddha and his immediate followers."{{sfnp|Warder|2000|loc=inside flap}}}} and [[Richard Gombrich]].{{sfnp|Bronkhorst|1993|p=viii}}{{refn|group=note|Richard Gombrich: "I have the greatest difficulty in accepting that the main edifice is not the work of a single genius. By "the main edifice" I mean the collections of the main body of sermons, the four Nikāyas, and of the main body of monastic rules."{{sfnp|Gombrich|1997}}}}
# "Scepticism with regard to the possibility of retrieving the doctrine of earliest Buddhism". Ronald Davidson is a proponent of this position.{{refn|group=note|Ronald Davidson: "While most scholars agree that there was a rough body of sacred literature (disputed){{sic}} that a relatively early community (disputed){{sic}} maintained and transmitted, we have little confidence that much, if any, of surviving Buddhist scripture is actually the word of the historic Buddha."{{sfnp|Davidson|2003|p=147}}}}
# "Cautious optimism in this respect". Proponents of this position include J.W. de Jong,{{sfnp|Jong|1993|p=25}}{{refn|group=note|name="Jong"|J.W. De Jong: "It would be hypocritical to assert that nothing can be said about the doctrine of earliest Buddhism [...] the basic ideas of Buddhism found in the canonical writings could very well have been proclaimed by him [the Buddha], transmitted and developed by his disciples and, finally, codified in fixed formulas."{{sfnp|Jong|1993|p=25}}}} Johannes Bronkhorst{{refn|group=note|Bronkhorst: "This position is to be preferred to (ii) for purely methodological reasons: only those who seek nay find, even if no success is guaranteed."{{sfnp|Bronkhorst|1993|p=vii}}}} and Donald Lopez.{{refn|group=note|Lopez: "The original teachings of the historical Buddha are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to recover or reconstruct."{{sfnp|Lopez|1995|p=4}}}}

=====The Core teachings=====
According to Mitchell, certain basic teachings appear in many places throughout the early texts, which has led most scholars to conclude that Gautama Buddha must have taught something similar to the [[Four Noble Truths]], the [[Noble Eightfold Path]], [[Nirvana (Buddhism)|Nirvana]], the [[three marks of existence]], the [[Skandha|five aggregates]], [[pratītyasamutpāda|dependent origination]], [[Karma in Buddhism|karma]] and [[Rebirth (Buddhism)|rebirth]].{{sfnp|Mitchell|2002|p=34}}

According to N. Ross Reat, all of these doctrines are shared by the Theravada Pali texts and the Mahasamghika school's ''[[Salistamba Sutra|Śālistamba Sūtra]]''.<ref>Reat, Noble Ross. "The Historical Buddha and his Teachings". In: ''Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophy''. Ed. by Potter, Karl H. Vol. VII: Abhidharma Buddhism to 150 AD. Motilal Banarsidass, 1996, pp. 28, 33, 37, 41, 43, 48.</ref> A recent study by Bhikkhu Analayo concludes that the Theravada ''[[Majjhima Nikāya|Majjhima Nikaya]]'' and Sarvastivada ''[[Madhyama Agama]]'' contain mostly the same major doctrines.<ref>Analayo (2011). ''A Comparative Study of the Majjhima-nikāya''. Dharma Drum Academic Publisher. p. 891.</ref> [[Richard G. Salomon (professor of Asian studies)|Richard Salomon]], in his study of the Gandharan texts (which are the earliest manuscripts containing early discourses), has confirmed that their teachings are "consistent with non-Mahayana Buddhism, which survives today in the Theravada school of Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, but which in ancient times was represented by eighteen separate schools."<ref>{{cite news |last=Salomon |first=Richard |date=20 January 2020 |title=How the Gandharan Manuscripts Change Buddhist History |newspaper=Lions Roar |url=https://www.lionsroar.com/how-the-gandharan-manuscripts-change-buddhist-history/ |access-date=2020-10-10 |archive-date=29 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200229000500/https://www.lionsroar.com/how-the-gandharan-manuscripts-change-buddhist-history/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

However, some scholars argue that critical analysis reveals discrepancies among the various doctrines found in these early texts, which point to alternative possibilities for early Buddhism.{{sfnp|Skorupski|1990|p=5}}{{sfnp|Bronkhorst|1998|pp=4, 11}}{{sfnp|Schopen|2002|pp=}} The authenticity of certain teachings and doctrines have been questioned. For example, some scholars think that karma was not central to the teaching of the historical Buddha, while other disagree with this position.{{sfnp|Matthews|1986|p=124}}{{sfnp|Bronkhorst|1998|p=14}} Likewise, there is scholarly disagreement on whether insight was seen as liberating in early Buddhism or whether it was a later addition to the practice of the four ''jhānas''.{{sfnp|Schmithausen|1981}}{{sfnp|Bronkhorst|1993|pp=77–78, Section 8.4.3}}{{sfnp|Vetter|1988|p=5, Quote: [T]hey do not teach that one is released by knowing the four noble truths, but by practising the fourth noble truth, the eightfold path, which culminates in right samadhi}} Scholars such as Bronkhorst also think that the four noble truths may not have been formulated in earliest Buddhism, and did not serve in earliest Buddhism as a description of "liberating insight".{{sfnp|Bronkhorst|1993|p=107}} According to Vetter, the description of the Buddhist path may initially have been as simple as the term "the middle way".{{sfnp|Vetter|1988}} In time, this short description was elaborated, resulting in the description of the eightfold path.{{sfnp|Vetter|1988}}

====Ashokan Era and the early schools====
{{Main|Early Buddhist schools|Buddhist councils|Theravada}}

According to numerous Buddhist scriptures, soon after the [[Parinirvana|{{IAST|parinirvāṇa}}]] (from Sanskrit: "highest extinguishment") of Gautama Buddha, the [[first Buddhist council]] was held to collectively recite the teachings to ensure that no errors occurred in oral transmission. Many modern scholars question the historicity of this event.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=88–90}} However, [[Richard Gombrich]] states that the monastic assembly recitations of the Buddha's teaching likely began during Buddha's lifetime, and they served a similar role of codifying the teachings.{{sfnp|Williams|2005|pp=175–176}}

The so called [[Second Buddhist council]] resulted in the first schism in the [[Sangha]]. Modern scholars believe that this was probably caused when a group of reformists called [[Sthavira Nikāya|Sthaviras]] ("elders") sought to modify the Vinaya (monastic rule), and this caused a split with the conservatives who rejected this change, they were called [[Mahāsāṃghika]]s.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=89–90}}<ref>Skilton, Andrew. ''A Concise History of Buddhism.'' 2004. pp. 49, 64</ref> While most scholars accept that this happened at some point, there is no agreement on the dating, especially if it dates to before or after the reign of Ashoka.<ref>Sujato, Bhante (2012), Sects & Sectarianism: The Origins of Buddhist Schools, Santipada, {{ISBN|978-1-921842-08-5}}</ref>

[[File:Asoka̠ Buddhist Missions.png|thumb|Map of the Buddhist missions during the reign of [[Ashoka]] according to the Edicts of Ashoka]]
Buddhism may have spread only slowly throughout India until the time of the [[Maurya Empire|Mauryan]] emperor [[Ashoka]] (304–232 BCE), who was a public supporter of the religion. The support of Aśoka and his descendants led to the construction of more [[Stupa|stūpas]] (such as at [[Sanchi]] and [[Bharhut]]), temples (such as the [[Mahabodhi Temple]]) and to its spread throughout the Maurya Empire and into neighbouring lands such as [[Central Asia]] and to the island of [[Sri Lanka]].

During and after the Mauryan period (322–180 BCE), the Sthavira community gave rise to several schools, one of which was the [[Theravada]] school which tended to congregate in the south and another which was the [[Sarvāstivāda]] school, which was mainly in north India. Likewise, the [[Mahāsāṃghika]] groups also eventually split into different Sanghas. Originally, these schisms were caused by disputes over monastic disciplinary codes of various fraternities, but eventually, by about 100 CE if not earlier, schisms were being caused by doctrinal disagreements too.{{sfnp|Harvey|1998|pp=74–75}}

Following (or leading up to) the schisms, each Saṅgha started to accumulate their own version of [[Tripiṭaka]] (triple basket of texts).<ref name=britannicatipitaka>[https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tipitaka "Tipitaka] ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200427112107/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tipitaka |date=27 April 2020 }}). ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' (2015)</ref><ref name="Crandall2012p56">{{cite book |author=Barbara Crandall |title=Gender and Religion: The Dark Side of Scripture |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zq7UAwAAQBAJ |edition=2nd |year=2012 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-1-4411-4871-1 |pages=56–58 |access-date=10 July 2016 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055820/https://books.google.com/books?id=Zq7UAwAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> In their Tripiṭaka, each school included the Suttas of the Buddha, a Vinaya basket (disciplinary code) and some schools also added an [[Abhidharma]] basket which were texts on detailed scholastic classification, summary and interpretation of the Suttas.<ref name=britannicatipitaka/>{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=90–91}} The doctrine details in the Abhidharmas of various Buddhist schools differ significantly, and these were composed starting about the third century BCE and through the 1st millennium CE.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=90–93}}<ref>"Abhidhamma Pitaka". ''Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2008.</ref>{{sfnp|Keown|Prebish|2004|p=485}}

===Post-Ashokan expansion===
{{Main|Silk Road transmission of Buddhism}}

According to the [[Edicts of Ashoka|edicts of Aśoka]], the Mauryan emperor sent emissaries to various countries west of India to spread "Dharma", particularly in eastern provinces of the neighbouring [[Seleucid Empire]], and even farther to [[Hellenistic civilization|Hellenistic]] kingdoms of the Mediterranean. It is a matter of disagreement among scholars whether or not these emissaries were accompanied by Buddhist missionaries.{{sfnp|Gombrich|2005a |p=135}}

[[File:Buddhist Expansion.svg|thumb|right|Buddhist expansion throughout Asia]]
In central and west Asia, Buddhist influence grew, through Greek-speaking Buddhist monarchs and ancient Asian trade routes, a phenomenon known as [[Greco-Buddhism]]. An example of this is evidenced in Chinese and Pali Buddhist records, such as ''[[Milinda Panha|Milindapanha]]'' and the [[Greco-Buddhist art]] of [[Gandhara|Gandhāra]]. The ''Milindapanha'' describes a conversation between a Buddhist monk and the 2nd-century BCE Greek king [[Menander I|Menander]], after which Menander abdicates and himself goes into monastic life in the pursuit of nirvana.{{sfnp|Trainor|2004|pp=103, 119}}<ref>{{cite book |author=Jason Neelis |title=Early Buddhist Transmission and Trade Networks: Mobility and Exchange Within and Beyond the Northwestern Borderlands of South Asia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GB-JV2eOr2UC |year=2010 |publisher=Brill Academic |isbn=978-90-04-18159-5 |pages=102–106 |access-date=10 July 2016 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111060324/https://books.google.com/books?id=GB-JV2eOr2UC |url-status=live }}</ref> Some scholars have questioned the ''Milindapanha'' version, expressing doubts whether Menander was Buddhist or just favourably disposed to Buddhist monks.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Ann Heirman |author2=Stephan Peter Bumbacher |title=The Spread of Buddhism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kr_M1e7yImoC |year=2007|publisher=Brill Academic |isbn=978-90-04-15830-6|pages=139–142 }}</ref>

The [[Kushan Empire]] (30–375 CE) came to control the Silk Road trade through Central and South Asia, which brought them to interact with [[Gandharan Buddhism]] and the Buddhist institutions of these regions. The Kushans patronised Buddhism throughout their lands, and many Buddhist centres were built or renovated (the Sarvastivada school was particularly favored), especially by Emperor Kanishka (128–151 CE).<ref>Kurt A. Behrendt, ''The Buddhist architecture of Gandhara, Handbuch der Orientalistik'' Brill, 2004, p. 13</ref><ref name="Heirman, Ann p. 57">Heirman, Ann; Bumbacher, Stephan Peter (editors). The Spread of Buddhism, Brill, p. 57</ref> Kushan support helped Buddhism to expand into a world religion through their trade routes.<ref name="Liu2010p42">{{cite book|author=Xinru Liu|title=The Silk Road in World History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FJ8RDAAAQBAJ|year=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-533810-2|page=42|access-date=28 November 2018|archive-date=11 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111060324/https://books.google.com/books?id=FJ8RDAAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> Buddhism spread to [[Kingdom of Khotan|Khotan]], the [[Tarim Basin]], and China, eventually to other parts of the far east.<ref name="Heirman, Ann p. 57"/> Some of the earliest written documents of the Buddhist faith are the [[Gandharan Buddhist texts]], dating from about the 1st century CE, and connected to the [[Dharmaguptaka]] school.{{sfnp|Warder2000|p=278}}<ref>"The Discovery of 'the Oldest Buddhist Manuscripts'" Review article by Enomoto Fumio. ''The Eastern Buddhist'', Vol NS32 Issue I, 2000, p. 161</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Abstract: Sects & Sectarianism. The Origin of the three existing Vinaya lineages: Theravada, Dharmaguptaka, and Mulasarvastivada|author=Bhikkhu Sujato|author-link=Bhante Sujato|url=http://www.congress-on-buddhist-women.org/index.php?id=62|access-date=12 March 2017|archive-date=18 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191218065734/http://www.congress-on-buddhist-women.org/index.php?id=62}}</ref>

The [[Muslim conquest of Persia|Islamic conquest]] of the [[Iranian Plateau]] in the 7th-century, followed by the [[Muslim conquests of Afghanistan]] and the later establishment of the [[Ghaznavids|Ghaznavid kingdom]] with Islam as the state religion in Central Asia between the 10th- and 12th-century led to the decline and disappearance of Buddhism from most of these regions.<ref name="Kudara2002">{{cite journal |last1=Kudara|first1=Kogi|date=2002|title=A Rough Sketch of Central Asian Buddhism |url=http://www.shin-ibs.edu/publications/pacific-world/third-series-number-4-fall-2002/|journal=Pacific World: Journal of the Institute of Buddhist Studies |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=93–107 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180406102117/http://www.shin-ibs.edu/publications/pacific-world/third-series-number-4-fall-2002/|archive-date=6 April 2018|access-date=28 November 2018}}</ref>

===Mahāyāna Buddhism===
{{Main|Mahāyāna}}

[[File:BuddhistTriad.JPG|thumb|left|alt=stone statue group, a Buddhist triad depicting, left to right, a Kushan, the future buddha Maitreya, Gautama Buddha, the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, and a Buddhist monk. 2nd–3rd century. Guimet Museum|A Buddhist triad depicting, left to right, a [[Kushan Empire|Kushan]], the future buddha [[Maitreya]], [[Gautama Buddha]], the bodhisattva [[Avalokiteśvara]], and a [[bhikkhu|monk]]. Second–third century. [[Guimet Museum]].]]

The origins of Mahāyāna ("Great Vehicle") Buddhism are not well understood and there are various competing theories about how and where this movement arose. Theories include the idea that it began as various groups venerating certain texts or that it arose as a strict forest ascetic movement.<ref name="Drewes, David 2010">Drewes, David, ''Early Indian Mahayana Buddhism I: Recent Scholarship'', Religion Compass 4/2 (2010): 55–65, {{doi|10.1111/j.1749-8171.2009.00195.x}}</ref>

The first Mahāyāna works were written sometime between the 1st century BCE and the 2nd century CE.{{sfnp|Hirakawa|1993|p=252}}<ref name="Drewes, David 2010"/> Much of the early extant evidence for the origins of Mahāyāna comes from early Chinese translations of Mahāyāna texts, mainly those of [[Lokaksema (Buddhist monk)|Lokakṣema]]. (2nd century CE).{{refn|group=note|name=China Buswell 2004|"The most important evidence – in fact the only evidence – for situating the emergence of the Mahayana around the beginning of the common era was not Indian evidence at all, but came from China. Already by the last quarter of the 2nd century CE, there was a small, seemingly idiosyncratic collection of substantial Mahayana sutras translated into what Erik Zürcher calls 'broken Chinese' by an Indoscythian, whose Indian name has been reconstructed as Lokaksema."{{sfnp|Buswell|2004|p=492}}}} Some scholars have traditionally considered the earliest [[Mahayana sutras|Mahāyāna sūtras]] to include the first versions of the [[Prajnaparamita]] series, along with texts concerning [[Akshobhya|Akṣobhya]], which were probably composed in the 1st century BCE in the south of India.{{sfnp|Hirakawa|1993|pp=252–253, 263, 268}}{{refn|group=note|name=South|"The south (of India) was then vigorously creative in producing Mahayana Sutras" Warder.{{sfnp|Warder|2000|p=335}}}}

There is no evidence that Mahāyāna ever referred to a separate formal school or sect of Buddhism, with a separate monastic code (Vinaya), but rather that it existed as a certain set of ideals, and later doctrines, for bodhisattvas.{{sfnp|Nattier|2003|pp=193–194}}{{sfnp|Williams|2008|pp=4–5}} Records written by Chinese monks visiting India indicate that both Mahāyāna and non-Mahāyāna monks could be found in the same monasteries, with the difference that Mahāyāna monks worshipped figures of Bodhisattvas, while non-Mahayana monks did not.{{sfnp|Williams|2000|p=97}}

[[File:Nalanda.jpg|thumb|Site of [[Nalanda]] University, a great centre of Mahāyāna thought]]
Mahāyāna initially seems to have remained a small minority movement that was in tension with other Buddhist groups, struggling for wider acceptance.<ref>Walser, Joseph, ''Nagarjuna in Context: Mahayana Buddhism and Early Indian Culture,'' Columbia University Press, 2005, p. 18.</ref> However, during the fifth and sixth centuries CE, there seems to have been a rapid growth of Mahāyāna Buddhism, which is shown by a large increase in epigraphic and manuscript evidence in this period. However, it still remained a minority in comparison to other Buddhist schools.<ref>Walser, Joseph, ''Nagarjuna in Context: Mahayana Buddhism and Early Indian Culture,'' Columbia University Press, 2005, pp. 29-34.</ref>

Mahāyāna Buddhist institutions continued to grow in influence during the following centuries, with large monastic university complexes such as [[Nalanda]] (established by the 5th-century CE Gupta emperor, [[Kumaragupta I]]) and [[Vikramashila]] (established under [[Dharmapala (emperor)|Dharmapala]] {{Circa|783}} to 820) becoming quite powerful and influential. During this period of Late Mahāyāna, four major types of thought developed: Mādhyamaka, Yogācāra, Buddha-nature (''Tathāgatagarbha''), and the [[Buddhist logico-epistemology#The Dignāga-Dharmakīrti tradition|epistemological tradition of Dignaga and Dharmakirti]].{{sfnp|Hirakawa|1993|pp=8–9}} According to [[Dan Lusthaus]], Mādhyamaka and Yogācāra have a great deal in common, and the commonality stems from early Buddhism.{{sfnp|Lusthaus|2002|pp=236–237}}

===Late Indian Buddhism and Tantra===
{{main|Vajrayana}}

[[File:Thangka Depicting Vajrabhairava, ca. 1740, Sotheby's.jpg|thumb|Vajrayana adopted deities such as [[Bhairava]], known as [[Yamantaka]] in Tibetan Buddhism.]]
During the [[Gupta Empire|Gupta period]] (4th–6th centuries) and the empire of [[Harsha|Harṣavardana]] ({{Circa|590}}–647 CE), Buddhism continued to be influential in India, and large Buddhist learning institutions such as [[Nalanda]] and [[Valabhi University|Valabahi]] Universities were at their peak.{{sfnp|Warder|2000|p=442}} Buddhism also flourished under the support of the [[Pala Empire|Pāla Empire]] (8th–12th centuries). Under the Guptas and Palas, Tantric Buddhism or Vajrayana developed and rose to prominence. It promoted new practices such as the use of [[mantra]]s, [[dharani]]s, [[mudra]]s, [[mandala]]s and the visualisation of deities and Buddhas and developed a new class of literature, the [[Tantras (Buddhism)|Buddhist Tantras]]. This new esoteric form of Buddhism can be traced back to groups of wandering yogi magicians called [[mahasiddha]]s.<ref>Ray, Reginald A (2000) ''Indestructible Truth: The Living Spirituality of Tibetan Buddhism''.</ref><ref>Davidson, Ronald M.,(2002). ''Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement'', Columbia University Press, p. 228, 234.</ref>

The question of the origins of early Vajrayana has been taken up by various scholars. [[David Seyfort Ruegg]] has suggested that Buddhist tantra employed various elements of a "pan-Indian religious substrate" which is not specifically Buddhist, Shaiva or Vaishnava.<ref>Davidson, Ronald M. Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement, p. 171.</ref>

According to Indologist [[Alexis Sanderson]], various classes of Vajrayana literature developed as a result of royal courts sponsoring both Buddhism and [[Shaivism|Saivism]]. Sanderson has argued that Buddhist tantras can be shown to have borrowed practices, terms, rituals and more form Shaiva tantras. He argues that Buddhist texts even directly copied various Shaiva tantras, especially the Bhairava Vidyapitha tantras.<ref>Sanderson, Alexis. "The Śaiva Age: The Rise and Dominance of Śaivism during the Early Medieval Period." In: Genesis and Development of Tantrism, edited by Shingo Einoo. Tokyo: Institute of Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo, 2009. Institute of Oriental Culture Special Series, pp. 23, 124, 129-31.</ref><ref>Sanderson, Alexis; Vajrayana:, Origin and Function, 1994</ref> Ronald M. Davidson meanwhile, argues that Sanderson's claims for direct influence from Shaiva ''Vidyapitha'' texts are problematic because "the chronology of the ''Vidyapitha'' tantras is by no means so well established"<ref>Davidson, Ronald M. Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement, p. 204.</ref> and that the Shaiva tradition also appropriated non-Hindu deities, texts and traditions. Thus while "there can be no question that the Buddhist tantras were heavily influenced by [[Kapalika]] and other Saiva movements" argues Davidson, "the influence was apparently mutual".<ref>Davidson, Ronald M. Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement, p. 217.</ref>

Already during this later era, Buddhism was losing state support in other regions of India, including the lands of the [[Karkota Empire|Karkotas]], the [[Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty|Pratiharas]], the [[Rashtrakuta dynasty|Rashtrakutas]], the [[Pandya dynasty|Pandyas]] and the [[Pallava dynasty|Pallavas]]. This loss of support in favor of Hindu faiths like [[Vaishnavism]] and [[Shaivism]], is the beginning of the long and complex period of the [[Decline of Buddhism in the Indian subcontinent]].<ref>Omvedt, Gail (2003). "Buddhism in India: Challenging Brahmanism and Caste", p. 172.</ref> The [[Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent|Islamic invasions and conquest of India]] (10th to 12th century), further damaged and destroyed many Buddhist institutions, leading to its eventual near disappearance from India by the 1200s.{{sfnp|Collins|2000|pp=184-185}}

===Spread to East and Southeast Asia===
[[File:Prasat Bayon 2014.JPG|thumb|[[Angkor Thom]] build by [[Khmer Empire|Khmer]] King [[Jayavarman VII]] ({{circa|1120}}–1218)]]
The [[Silk Road transmission of Buddhism]] to China is most commonly thought to have started in the late 2nd or the 1st century CE, though the literary sources are all open to question.{{sfnp|Zürcher |1972|pp=22–27}}{{refn|group=note|name=Hill |See Hill (2009), p. 30, for the Chinese text from the ''[[Hou Hanshu]]'', and p. 31 for a translation of it.{{sfnp|Hill |2009|pp=30–31}}}} The first documented translation efforts by foreign [[Buddhist monk]]s in China were in the 2nd century CE, probably as a consequence of the expansion of the [[Kushan Empire]] into the Chinese territory of the [[Tarim Basin]].{{sfnp|Zürcher |1972|p=23}}

The first documented Buddhist texts translated into Chinese are those of the Parthian [[An Shigao]] (148–180 CE).<ref>Zürcher, Erik. 2007 (1959). The Buddhist Conquest of China: The Spread and Adaptation of Buddhism in Early Medieval China. 3rd ed. Leiden: Brill. pp. 32–34</ref> The first known [[Mahayana|Mahāyāna]] scriptural texts are translations into Chinese by the Kushan monk [[Lokaksema (Buddhist monk)|Lokakṣema]] in [[Luoyang]], between 178 and 189 CE.{{sfnp|Williams|2008|p=30}} From China, Buddhism was introduced into its neighbours [[Korea]] (4th century), [[Japan]] (6th–7th centuries), and [[Vietnam]] ({{Circa|1st}}–2nd centuries).<ref name="Dykstra, Yoshiko Kurata 2001 p. 100">Dykstra, Yoshiko Kurata; De Bary, William Theodore (2001). ''Sources of Japanese tradition''. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 100. {{ISBN|0-231-12138-5}}.</ref><ref>Nguyen Tai Thu. ''The History of Buddhism in Vietnam''. 2008.</ref>

During the Chinese [[Tang dynasty]] (618–907), [[Chinese Esoteric Buddhism]] was introduced from India and [[Chan Buddhism]] (Zen) became a major religion.<ref>McRae, John (2003), Seeing Through Zen, The University Press Group Ltd, pp. 13, 18</ref><ref>Orzech, Charles D. (general editor) (2011). Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia. Brill. p. 4</ref> Chan continued to grow in the [[Song dynasty]] (960–1279) and it was during this era that it strongly influenced Korean Buddhism and Japanese Buddhism.<ref>McRae, John (2003), Seeing Through Zen, The University Press Group Ltd, pp. 13, 19–21</ref> [[Pure Land Buddhism]] also became popular during this period and was often practised together with Chan.<ref>Heng-Ching Shih (1987). Yung-Ming's Syncretism of Pure Land and Chan, The Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 10 (1), p. 117</ref> It was also during the Song that the entire [[Chinese Buddhist canon|Chinese canon]] was printed using over 130,000 wooden printing blocks.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|p=223}}

During the Indian period of Esoteric Buddhism (from the 8th century onwards), Buddhism spread from India to Tibet and [[Mongolia]]. Johannes Bronkhorst states that the esoteric form was attractive because it allowed both a secluded monastic community as well as the social rites and rituals important to laypersons and to kings for the maintenance of a political state during succession and wars to resist invasion.{{sfnp|Bronkhorst|2011|pp=242–246}} During the Middle Ages, Buddhism slowly declined in India,<ref>{{cite book |author=Andrew Powell |title=Living Buddhism |url=https://archive.org/details/livingbuddhism00powe |pages=[https://archive.org/details/livingbuddhism00powe/page/38 38–39] |year=1989 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-20410-2}}</ref> while it vanished from Persia and Central Asia as Islam became the state religion.<ref name="larsfogelin6">{{cite book|author=Lars Fogelin |title=An Archaeological History of Indian Buddhism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yPZzBgAAQBAJ |year=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-994823-9 |pages=6–11, 218, 229–230}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Sheila Canby |title=Depictions of Buddha Sakyamuni in the Jami al-Tavarikh and the Majma al-Tavarikh |journal=Muqarnas |volume=10 |year=1993 |pages=299–310 |doi=10.2307/1523195 |jstor=1523195}}</ref>

The [[Theravada]] school arrived in Sri Lanka sometime in the 3rd century BCE. Sri Lanka became a base for its later spread to [[Southeast Asia]] after the 5th century CE ([[Myanmar]], [[Malaysia]], [[Indonesia]], [[Thailand]], [[Cambodia]] and coastal [[Vietnam]]).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vO_-AgAAQBAJ|title=Lost Kingdoms: Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Early Southeast Asia|author=John Guy|publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art|year=2014|isbn=978-1-58839-524-5|pages=9–11, 14–15, 19–20|access-date=10 July 2016|archive-date=11 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111060324/https://books.google.com/books?id=vO_-AgAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfnp|Skilling|1997}} [[Theravada|Theravada Buddhism]] was the dominant religion in [[Myanmar|Burma]] during the Mon [[Hanthawaddy kingdom]] (1287–1552).<ref>Myint-U, Thant (2006). ''The River of Lost Footsteps – Histories of Burma''. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. {{ISBN|978-0-374-16342-6}}. pp. 64–65</ref> It also became dominant in the [[Khmer Empire]] during the 13th and 14th centuries and in the Thai [[Sukhothai Kingdom]] during the reign of [[Ram Khamhaeng]] (1237/1247–1298).<ref>[[George Cœdès|Cœdès, George]] (1968). Walter F. Vella, ed. ''The Indianized States of Southeast Asia''. trans. Susan Brown Cowing. University of Hawaii Press. {{ISBN|978-0-8248-0368-1}}.</ref><ref>Gyallay-Pap, Peter. "Notes of the Rebirth of Khmer Buddhism," Radical Conservativism.</ref>

==Schools and traditions==
{{Main|Schools of Buddhism|Timeline of Buddhism#Common Era}}

Buddhists generally classify themselves as either [[Theravada|Theravāda]] or [[Mahayana|Mahāyāna]].{{sfnp|Keown|1996|p=12}} This classification is also used by some scholars{{sfnp|Smith|2006|pp=}} and is the one ordinarily used in the English language.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Tibetan Buddhism |encyclopedia=American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company |year=2004 |url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/tibetan%20buddhism|access-date=2007-07-07|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080609051748/http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/tibetan%20buddhism |archive-date=9 June 2008 }}</ref> An alternative scheme used by some scholars divides Buddhism into the following three traditions or geographical or cultural areas: Theravāda (or "Southern Buddhism", "South Asian Buddhism"), [[East Asian Buddhism]] (or just "Eastern Buddhism") and [[Tibetan Buddhism|Indo-Tibetan Buddhism]] (or "Northern Buddhism").{{refn|group=note|name=alternative scheme|{{harvtxt|Harvey|1998}}, {{harvtxt|Gombrich|1984}}, {{harvtxt|Gethin|1998 |pp=1–2}}; identifies "three broad traditions" as: (1) "The Theravāda tradition of Sri Lanka and South-East Asia, also sometimes referred to as 'southern' Buddhism"; (2) "The East Asian tradition of China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, also sometimes referred to as 'eastern' Buddhism"; and, (3) "The Tibetan tradition, also sometimes referred to as 'northern' Buddhism.";<br />{{harvtxt|Robinson|Johnson|1982}} divide their book into two parts: Part One is entitled "The Buddhism of South Asia" (which pertains to Early Buddhism in India); and, Part Two is entitled "The Development of Buddhism Outside of India" with chapters on "The Buddhism of Southeast Asia", "Buddhism in the Tibetan Culture Area", "East Asian Buddhism" and "Buddhism Comes West";<br />''Penguin Handbook of Living Religions'', 1984, p. 279;<br />Prebish & Keown, ''Introducing Buddhism'', ebook, Journal of Buddhist Ethics, 2005, printed ed, Harper, 2006.}}
[[File:Buddhism in Belgium.JPG|thumb|Buddhists of various traditions, Yeunten Ling Tibetan Institute]]

The Theravada tradition traces its origins as the oldest tradition holding the Pali Canon as the only authority. The Mahayana tradition reveres the Canon but also derivative literature that developed in the 1st millennium CE; its roots are traceable to the 1st century BCE. The Vajrayana tradition is closer to the Mahayana, includes Tantra, and as the younger of the three is traceable to the 1st millennium CE.{{sfnp|Gethin|1998|pp=1–2, 49–58, 253–271}}{{sfnp|Williams|1989|pp=1–25}}

Some scholars use other schemes, such as the multi-dimensional classification in the ''Encyclopedia of Religion''.<ref>{{harvp|Eliade et al.|1987|pp=440ff}}</ref> Buddhists themselves have a variety of other schemes. [[Hinayana]] (literally "lesser or inferior vehicle") is sometimes used by Mahāyāna followers to name the family of early philosophical schools and traditions from which contemporary Theravāda emerged, but as the Hinayana term is considered derogatory, a variety of other terms are used instead, including: [[Shravakayana|Śrāvakayāna]], Nikaya Buddhism, early Buddhist schools, sectarian Buddhism and conservative Buddhism.<ref name=kwmorganp410>{{cite book|author=Kenneth W. Morgan |title=The Path of the Buddha: Buddhism Interpreted by Buddhists |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g6OHBCgmmGAC |year=1986|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-0030-4 |pages=410 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=N. Ross Reat|title=Buddhism: A History |url=https://archive.org/details/buddhismhistory00reat/ |year=1994|publisher=Asian Humanities Press|isbn=978-0-87573-001-1|pages=[https://archive.org/details/buddhismhistory00reat/page/19 19–20]}}</ref>

<!-- comparison and contrast -->
Not all traditions of Buddhism share the same philosophical outlook or treat the same concepts as central. Each tradition, however, does have its own core concepts, and some comparisons can be drawn between them:<ref>{{cite book|author=Erika Wilson|title=Emotions and Spirituality in Religions and Spiritual Movements|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lSUY9LqXPdQC |year=2012|publisher=University Press of America |isbn=978-0-7618-5950-5 |pages=137–138 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=John M Koller |title=The Indian Way: An Introduction to the Philosophies & Religions of India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lgg3DAAAQBAJ |year=2016|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-315-50740-8 |pages=157–160 }}</ref>
* Both Theravāda and Mahāyāna accept and revere [[Gautama Buddha|the Buddha Sakyamuni]] as the founder, Mahāyāna also reveres numerous other Buddhas, such as [[Amitābha|Amitabha]] or [[Vairochana|Vairocana]] as well as many other bodhisattvas not revered in Theravāda.
* Both accept the [[Middle Way]], [[pratītyasamutpāda|Dependent origination]], the [[Four Noble Truths]], the [[Noble Eightfold Path]], the [[Refuge (Buddhism)|Three Jewels]], the [[Three marks of existence]] and the ''[[Bodhipakkhiyādhammā|Bodhipakṣadharmas]]'' (aids to awakening).
* Mahāyāna focuses mainly on the [[Bodhisattva|bodhisattva path]] to Buddhahood which it sees as universal and to be practiced by all persons, while Theravāda does not focus on teaching this path and teaches the attainment of [[arhat]]ship as a worthy goal to strive towards. The bodhisattva path is not denied in Theravāda, it is generally seen as a long and difficult path suitable for only a few.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Samuels |first=Jeffrey |title=The Bodhisattva Ideal in Theravāda Buddhist Theory and Practice: A Reevaluation of the Bodhisattva-Śrāvaka Opposition |journal=Philosophy East and West |volume=47 |issue=3 |date=July 1997 |pages=399–415 |publisher=University of Hawai'i Press |doi=10.2307/1399912 |jstor=1399912 |url=https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/phil_rel_fac_pub/12 |access-date=11 October 2020 |archive-date=3 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203032843/https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/phil_rel_fac_pub/12/ |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Thus the Bodhisattva path is normative in Mahāyāna, while it is an optional path for a heroic few in Theravāda.{{sfnp|Keown|Prebish|2013|loc="Bodhisattva, Career in the Theravada"}}
* Mahāyāna sees the arhat's nirvana as being imperfect and inferior or preliminary to full Buddhahood. It sees arhatship as selfish, since bodhisattvas vow to save all beings while arhats save only themselves.<ref>Johnston, William M. (2013) ''"Encyclopedia of Monasticism"'' p. 600. Routledge.</ref> Theravāda meanwhile does not accept that the arhat's nirvana is an inferior or preliminary attainment, nor that it is a selfish deed to attain arhatship since not only are arhats described as compassionate but they have destroyed the root of greed, the sense of "I am".{{sfnp|Keown|Prebish|2013|loc="Bodhisattva, Career in the Theravada"}}
* Mahāyāna accepts the authority of the many Mahāyāna sutras along with the other Nikaya texts like the Agamas and the Pali Canon (though it sees Mahāyāna texts as primary), while Theravāda does not accept that the Mahāyāna sutras are ''[[buddhavacana]]'' (word of the Buddha) at all.<ref>Hay, Jeff (2009). ''"World Religions"'' p. 189. Greenhaven Publishing LLC.</ref>

==Monasteries and temples==
{{Main|Buddhist architecture}}

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Buddhist institutions are often housed and centred around [[monasteries]] (Sanskrit: ''[[Vihāra|viharas]]'') and temples. Buddhist monastics originally followed a life of wandering, never staying in one place for long. During the three-month rainy season (''[[vassa]]'') they would gather together in one place for a period of intense practice and then depart again.{{sfnp|Hirakawa|1993|p=68}}{{sfnp|Dutt|1988|p=53}} Some of the earliest Buddhist monasteries were at groves (''vanas'') or woods (''araññas''), such as [[Jetavana]] and [[Sarnath|Sarnath's Deer Park]]. There originally seems to have been two main types of monasteries, monastic settlements (''sangharamas'') were built and supported by donors, and woodland camps (''avasas'') were set up by monks. Whatever structures were built in these locales were made out of wood and were sometimes temporary structures built for the rainy season.{{sfnp|Hirakawa|1993|p=34}}{{sfnp|Dutt|1988|p=55}} Over time, the wandering community slowly adopted more settled [[Cenobitic monasticism|cenobitic]] forms of monasticism.{{sfnp|Dutt|1988|pp=57–59}}

There are many different forms of Buddhist structures. Classic Indian Buddhist institutions mainly made use of the following structures: monasteries, rock-hewn cave complexes (such as the [[Ajanta Caves]]), [[stupa]]s (funerary mounds which contained relics), and temples such as the [[Mahabodhi Temple]].<ref>Huu Phuoc Le (2010). ''Buddhist Architecture.'' Grafikol.</ref> In Southeast Asia, the most widespread institutions are centred on [[wat]]s. East Asian Buddhist institutions also use various structures including monastic halls, temples, lecture halls, bell towers and [[pagoda]]s. In [[Buddhist temples in Japan|Japanese Buddhist temples]], these different structures are usually grouped together in an area termed the [[Shichidō garan|garan]]. In Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Buddhist institutions are generally housed in [[gompa]]s. They include monastic quarters, stupas and prayer halls with Buddha images. In the modern era, the Buddhist "meditation centre", which is mostly used by laypersons and often also staffed by them, has also become widespread.<ref>Schedneck, Brooke (2015). ''Thailand's International Meditation Centers: Tourism and the Global Commodification of Religious Practices.'' Routledge</ref>

==In the modern era==
{{Main|Buddhism by country|Buddhist modernism}}

[[File:Хуварак.JPG|thumb|alt=Buddhist monk in Siberia in robes leaning on railing looking at temple|[[Buryats|Buryat]] Buddhist monk in [[Siberia]]]]

===Colonial era and after===
Buddhism has faced various challenges and changes during the colonisation of Buddhist states by Christian countries and its persecution under modern states. Like other religions, the findings of modern science have challenged its basic premises. One response to some of these challenges has come to be called [[Buddhist modernism]]. Early Buddhist modernist figures such as the American convert [[Henry Steel Olcott|Henry Olcott]] (1832–1907) and [[Anagarika Dharmapala]] (1864–1933) reinterpreted and promoted Buddhism as a scientific and rational religion which they saw as compatible with modern science.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|p=378}}

[[East Asian Buddhism]] meanwhile suffered under various wars which ravaged China during the modern era, such as the [[Taiping Rebellion|Taiping rebellion]] and [[World War II]] (which also affected [[Korean Buddhism]]). During the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republican period]] (1912–49), a new movement called [[Humanistic Buddhism]] was developed by figures such as [[Taixu]] (1899–1947), and though Buddhist institutions were destroyed during the [[Cultural Revolution]] (1966–76), there has been a revival of the religion in China after 1977.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=409–410}} [[Buddhism in Japan|Japanese Buddhism]] also went through a period of modernisation during the [[Meiji period]].{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|p=403}} In [[Central Asia]] meanwhile, the arrival of [[Communism|Communist]] repression to [[Tibet]] (1966–1980) and [[Mongolia]] (between 1924 and 1990) had a strong negative impact on Buddhist institutions, though the situation has improved somewhat since the 80s and 90s.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=414–417}}

In Afghanistan and Pakistan, militants have destroyed some historic Buddhist monuments.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Francioni|first=F.|year=2003|title=The Destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan and International Law|journal=European Journal of International Law|volume=14|issue=4|pages=619–651|doi=10.1093/ejil/14.4.619|doi-access=free}}<!--| access-date=2016-06-04--></ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Attack on giant Pakistan Buddha | website=BBC News | date=2007-09-12 | url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6991058.stm | access-date=2016-06-04 | archive-date=19 April 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160419052538/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6991058.stm | url-status=live }}</ref>

===In the West===
{{main|Buddhism in the West}}

{{multiple image
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| image1            = 1893parliament.jpg
| caption1          = 1893 [[World Parliament of Religions]] in [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], United States
| image2            = Buddharama Nukari.jpg
| caption2          = Interior of the Thai Buddhist wat in [[Nukari]], [[Nurmijärvi]], Finland
}}

While there were some encounters of Western travellers or missionaries such as St. [[Francis Xavier]] and [[Ippolito Desideri]] with Buddhist cultures, it was not until the 19th century that Buddhism began to be studied by Western scholars. It was the work of pioneering scholars such as [[Eugène Burnouf]], [[Max Müller]], [[Hermann Oldenberg]] and [[Thomas William Rhys Davids]] that paved the way for modern [[Buddhist studies]] in the West. The English words such as Buddhism, "Boudhist", "Bauddhist" and Buddhist were coined in the early 19th-century in the West,<ref>[https://www.etymonline.com/word/buddhism Buddhism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181205003348/https://www.etymonline.com/word/buddhism |date=5 December 2018 }}, [https://www.etymonline.com/word/buddhist Buddhist] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181205003346/https://www.etymonline.com/word/buddhist |date=5 December 2018 }}, Etymology, Douglas Harper</ref> while in 1881, Rhys Davids founded the [[Pali Text Society]]—an influential Western resource of Buddhist literature in the Pali language and one of the earliest publisher of a journal on [[Buddhist studies]].<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pali-Text-Society Pali Text Society] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181204195700/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pali-Text-Society |date=4 December 2018 }}, Encyclopaedia Britannica</ref> It was also during the 19th century that Asian Buddhist immigrants (mainly from China and Japan) began to arrive in Western countries such as the United States and Canada, bringing with them their Buddhist religion. This period also saw the first Westerners to formally convert to Buddhism, such as [[Helena Blavatsky]] and [[Henry Steel Olcott]].<ref>Prothero, ''The White Buddhist,'' 175. Olcott's approach to Buddhism and the terminology of Protestant Buddhism and "creolization" (Prothero) is extensively discussed in K.A. McMahan," 'Creolization' in American Religious History. The Metaphysical Nature of Henry Steel Olcott, PhD dissertation, unpublished manuscript (Ann Arbor 2008).</ref> An important event in the introduction of Buddhism to the West was the 1893 [[World Parliament of Religions]], which for the first time saw well-publicised speeches by major Buddhist leaders alongside other religious leaders.

The 20th century saw a prolific growth of new Buddhist institutions in Western countries,<ref name="brit">{{cite web |last1=Reynolds |first1=Frank |last2=Tucci |first2=Giuseppe |title=Buddhism |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Buddhism |access-date=4 June 2024 |website=Britannica}}</ref> including the [[Buddhist Society, London]] (1924), [[Das Buddhistische Haus]] (1924) and [[Datsan Gunzechoinei]] in [[Saint Petersburg|St Petersburg]]. The publication and translations of Buddhist literature in Western languages thereafter accelerated. After the [[World War II|second world war]], further immigration from Asia, globalisation, the [[secularisation]] on Western culture as well a renewed interest in Buddhism among the 60s [[counterculture]] led to further growth in Buddhist institutions.<ref>Coleman, James William, ''The New Buddhism: The Western Transformation of an Ancient Tradition'', Oxford University Press, pp. 203–204.</ref> Influential figures on post-war [[Buddhism in the West|Western Buddhism]] include [[Shunryu Suzuki]], [[Jack Kerouac]], [[Alan Watts]], [[Thích Nhất Hạnh]], and the [[14th Dalai Lama]]. While Buddhist institutions have grown, some of the central premises of Buddhism such as the cycles of rebirth and [[Four Noble Truths]] have been problematic in the West.{{sfnp|Konik|2009|p=ix}}{{sfnp|Hayes|2013|p=172}}{{sfnp|Lamb|2001|p=258}} In contrast, states Christopher Gowans, for "most ordinary [Asian] Buddhists, today as well as in the past, their basic moral orientation is governed by belief in karma and rebirth".{{sfnp|Gowans|2014|pp=18–23, 76–88}} Most Asian Buddhist laypersons, states Kevin Trainor, have historically pursued Buddhist rituals and practices seeking better rebirth,{{sfnp|Keown|2009|pp=60–63, 74–85, 185–187}} not nirvana or freedom from rebirth.{{sfnp|Fowler|1999|p=65}}

{{multiple image
| direction         = vertical
| width             = 220
| footer            = [[Buddhas of Bamiyan]], Afghanistan in 1896 (top) and after destruction in 2001 by the [[Taliban]] Islamists.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jan Goldman |title=The War on Terror Encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bjeaBAAAQBAJ | year= 2014|publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-61069-511-4|pages=360–362}}</ref>
| image1            = Nouvelle géographie universelle - la terre et les hommes (1876) (14592652167).jpg
| alt1              = Buddha statue in 1896, Bamiyan
| image2            = View of the Bamiyan Valley with the destroyed Buddha statue, Afghanistan, July 2005.jpg
| alt2              = After statue destroyed by Islamist Taliban in 2001
}}

Buddhism has spread across the world,{{sfnp|Henderson|2002|p=42}}{{sfnp|Tamney |1998|p=68}} and Buddhist texts are increasingly translated into local languages. While [[Buddhism in the West]] is often seen as exotic and progressive, in the East it is regarded as familiar and traditional. In countries such as [[Cambodia]] and [[Bhutan]], it is recognised as the [[state religion]] and receives government support.

===Neo-Buddhism movements===
{{main|Dalit Buddhist movement|Navayana|Twenty-two vows of Ambedkar}}

A number of modern movements in Buddhism emerged during the second half of the 20th century.{{sfnp|Paranjpe|1998|p=351}}{{sfnp|Pavāra|2009|pp=xv–xviii}} These [[Buddhist modernism|new forms of Buddhism]] are diverse and significantly depart from traditional beliefs and practices.<ref>{{cite journal | last=McMahan | first=David L. | title=Buddhism: Introducing the Buddhist Experience (review) | journal=Philosophy East and West | volume=54 | issue=2 | year=2004 | pages=268–270 | doi=10.1353/pew.2004.0006 | s2cid=170189446 }}</ref>

In India, [[B.R. Ambedkar]] launched the Navayana tradition—literally, "new vehicle". Ambedkar's Buddhism rejects the foundational doctrines and historic practices of traditional Theravada and Mahayana traditions, such as monk lifestyle after renunciation, karma, rebirth, samsara, meditation, nirvana, Four Noble Truths and others.{{sfnp|Keown|Prebish|2013|p=25}}{{sfnp|Queen|2013|pp=524–529}}<ref name="Skaria 2015">{{cite journal |last=Skaria |first=A. |title=Ambedkar, Marx and the Buddhist Question |journal=Journal of South Asian Studies |volume=38 |issue=3 |year=2015 |doi=10.1080/00856401.2015.1049726 |doi-access=free |pages=450–452}}</ref> Ambedkar's Navayana Buddhism considers these as superstitions and re-interprets the original Buddha as someone who taught about [[Class conflict|class struggle]] and social equality.<ref name=Zelliot>{{cite book|author=Eleanor Zelliot|editor=Knut A. Jacobsen|title=Routledge Handbook of Contemporary India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tPBWCgAAQBAJ|year=2015|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-317-40357-9|pages=13, 361–370|access-date=15 August 2017|archive-date=11 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111060324/https://books.google.com/books?id=tPBWCgAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfnp|Keown|Prebish|2013|pp=24–26}} Ambedkar urged low caste Indian [[Dalit]]s to convert to his Marxism-inspired<ref name="Skaria 2015"/> reinterpretation called the [[Navayana]] Buddhism, also known as Bhimayana Buddhism. Ambedkar's effort led to the expansion of Navayana Buddhism in India.<ref>{{cite book |author=Gary Tartakov |editor=Rowena Robinson |title=Religious Conversion in India: Modes, Motivations, and Meanings |year=2003 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-566329-7 |pages=192–213 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eNsoAAAAYAAJ |access-date=4 December 2018 |archive-date=6 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221206144339/https://books.google.com/books?id=eNsoAAAAYAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Zelliot/>

The Thai King [[Mongkut]] (r. 1851–68), and his son [[Chulalongkorn]] (r. 1868–1910), were responsible for modern reforms of [[Buddhism in Thailand|Thai Buddhism]].{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|p=385}} Modern Buddhist movements include [[Secular Buddhism]] in many countries, [[Won Buddhism]] in Korea, the [[Dhammakaya movement]] in Thailand and several Japanese organisations, such as [[Shinnyo-en]], [[Risshō Kōsei Kai]] or [[Soka Gakkai]].

Some of these movements have brought internal disputes and strife within regional Buddhist communities. For example, the Dhammakaya movement in Thailand teaches a "true self" doctrine, which traditional Theravada monks consider as heretically denying the fundamental ''anatta'' ([[Anattā|not-self]]) doctrine of Buddhism.{{sfnp|Williams|2008|pp=125–128}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Rory Mackenzie|title=New Buddhist Movements in Thailand: Towards an Understanding of Wat Phra Dhammakaya and Santi Asoke|year=2007|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-13262-1|pages=175–179|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Or99AgAAQBAJ|access-date=5 December 2018|archive-date=11 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111060325/https://books.google.com/books?id=Or99AgAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Martin Marty |author2=R Scott Appleby |title=Fundamentalisms Observed |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-50878-8 |pages=660–667 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qd5yzP5hdiEC |year=1994 |access-date=5 December 2018 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111060325/https://books.google.com/books?id=qd5yzP5hdiEC |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Sexual abuse and misconduct===
Buddhism has not been immune from sexual abuse and misconduct scandals, with victims coming forward in various Buddhist schools such as [[Zen]] and [[Tibetan Buddhism|Tibetan]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Oppenheimer |first1=Mark |date=2014-12-18 |title=The Zen Predator of the Upper East Side |work=The Atlantic |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/12/the-zen-predator-of-the-upper-east-side/383831/ |access-date=3 March 2019 |archive-date=4 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190304105305/https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/12/the-zen-predator-of-the-upper-east-side/383831/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Corder |first1=Mike |date=2018-09-14 |title=Dalai Lama Meets Alleged Victims of Abuse by Buddhist Gurus |url=https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2018-09-14/dalai-lama-meets-alleged-victims-of-abuse-by-buddhist-gurus |access-date=4 March 2019 |work=US News |archive-date=16 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416075105/https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2018-09-14/dalai-lama-meets-alleged-victims-of-abuse-by-buddhist-gurus |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Sperry |first1=Rod Meade |last2=Atwood |first2=Haleigh |url=https://www.lionsroar.com/against-the-stream-to-investigate-allegations-of-sexual-misconduct-by-founding-teacher-noah-levine/ |title=Against the Stream to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct by Noah Levine; results expected within a month |date=2018-03-30 |website=Lion's Roar |access-date=2019-01-21 |archive-date=22 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181022163537/https://www.lionsroar.com/against-the-stream-to-investigate-allegations-of-sexual-misconduct-by-founding-teacher-noah-levine/ |url-status=live }}</ref> "There are huge cover ups in the Catholic church, but what has happened within Tibetan Buddhism is totally along the same lines," says Mary Finnigan, an author and journalist who has been chronicling such alleged abuses since the mid-80s.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Shute |first1=Joe |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/09/09/tibetan-buddhism-facing-abuse-scandal/ |date=2018-09-09 |title=Why Tibetan Buddhism is facing up to its own abuse scandal |website=Daily Telegraph |url-access= subscription|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210902101126/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/09/09/tibetan-buddhism-facing-abuse-scandal/| archive-date=2 September 2021}}</ref> One notably covered [[Sogyal Rinpoche#Abuse allegations|case]] in media of various Western countries was that of [[Sogyal Rinpoche]] which began in 1994,<ref>{{cite book |author=Marion Dapsance |editor=Amanda van Eck Duymaer van Twist |chapter=When Fraud Is Part of a Spiritual Path: A Tibetan Lama's Plays on Reality and Illusion |page=171 |title=Minority Religions and Fraud: In Good Faith |date=2014-09-28 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing |isbn=978-1-4724-0913-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BrGlBAAAQBAJ |access-date=11 October 2020 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111060325/https://books.google.com/books?id=BrGlBAAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> and ended with his retirement from his position as [[Rigpa (organization)|Rigpa]]'s spiritual director in 2017.<ref>{{cite web |last=Sperry |first=Rod Meade |date=2017-08-11 |title=After allegations, Sogyal Rinpoche retires from Rigpa |website=Lion's Roar |url=https://www.lionsroar.com/after-allegations-sogyal-rinpoche-retires-from-rigpa/ |access-date=2020-10-09 |archive-date=17 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170817203919/https://www.lionsroar.com/after-allegations-sogyal-rinpoche-retires-from-rigpa/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Classification ===
There is consensus among [[religious studies]] scholars that Buddhism is a religion.<ref name="Goble 2019 p. ">{{cite book | last=Goble | first=Geoffrey C. | title=The History of Buddhism | publisher=ABC-CLIO | date=2019-10-11 | isbn=978-1-4408-6404-9 | chapter=Buddhism is Not a Religion}}</ref> However, Buddhism has posed problems to Western scholars of religion who define religion based solely on a "theistic conception".<ref name="Herbrechtsmeier 1993 p. 1">{{cite journal | last=Herbrechtsmeier | first=William | title=Buddhism and the Definition of Religion: One More Time | journal=Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion | volume=32 | issue=1 | date=1993 | pages=1–18 | doi=10.2307/1386910 | jstor=1386910 }}</ref><ref name="Lion's Roar">{{cite web |title=Is Buddhism a religion, philosophy, way of life, or science of mind? |author= |work=Lion's Roar |date= |access-date=16 February 2024 |url= https://www.lionsroar.com/is-buddhism-a-religion-philosophy-way-of-life-or-science-of-mind/}}</ref> Further, some [[Western Buddhism|Western Buddhist]]s and commentators like [[Alan Watts]] maintain that Buddhism does not constitute a religion but rather a philosophy, a [[psychotherapy]], or a [[Practical philosophy|way of life]].{{sfn | van der Velde | 2014 | p=22}}<ref name="Aich 2013 p. 165">{{cite journal | last=Aich | first=Tapas Kumar | title=Buddha philosophy and western psychology | journal=Indian Journal of Psychiatry | volume=55 | issue=6 | date=2013 | pages=S165-70 | issn=0019-5545 | pmid=23858249 | pmc=3705677 | doi=10.4103/0019-5545.105517 | doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Lion's Roar"/> This conception is rooted in 19th century [[Orientalism|orientalist]] writers, such as [[Theosophy|theosophist]] [[Henry Steel Olcott]], which reinterpreted Buddhism in a [[Protestantism|Protestant]] lens and viewed contemporary Buddhism in Asia as representing a debased religious form of what was originally non-religious and rational.<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Southwold|1978 |pp=362–379}}: "From Olcott's catechism grew the tradition of Buddhist ambivalence (if not outright hostility) toward the concept of religion, but his catechism had a religious origin in Olcott's own liberal Protestant Christian background. He took his challenge to be one of purifying Buddhism by returning to the fundamental teaching of the founder as recorded in its authoritative scriptures. The teaching he found in these texts had much in common with the liberal Protestantism of the late nineteenth century. It was opposed to 'superstitious' practices, suspicious of miracles and the supernatural, and respectful of the canons of reason."|{{harvnb|Stewart|2018}}: "The view that Buddhism is a 'philosophy' and 'not a religion' is a prime example of nineteenth-century Orientalist scholarship entering into the Western public consciousness that persists even now [...] [b]ut such a view is overly reductionist."|{{harvnb|van der Velde|2014|pp=30–31}}: "What was practice in 19th and early 20th century Asia was often considered aberrational, a perversion of what was once a pure practice. The purity of this practice was supposedly lost once Buddhism changed into the religion it now was in Asia. The original dharma could be reconstructed if the teachings were liberated from the 'cultural' and 'local' Asian context [...] In fact, our perception of Buddhism is still colored by these presuppositions."}}</ref> Some Buddhist teachers and commentators, such as {{em|Dharmavidya}} David Brazier, have criticised the persistence of this view.<ref name="Brazier Brazier 2015 h916">{{cite web | last=Brazier | first=Dharmavidya David | title=It Needs Saying: Buddhism is a Religion | website=Tricycle: The Buddhist Review | date=2015-05-30 | url=https://tricycle.org/article/buddhism-is-a-religion/ | access-date=2024-02-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Why Are We Surprised When Buddhists Are Violent? |author=Dan Arnold and Alicia Turner |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=2018 |access-date=16 February 2024 |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/05/opinion/buddhists-violence-tolerance.html }}</ref> Among Buddhists in [[Sri Lanka]], Buddhism is parallel to [[Hinduism]], [[Islam]], and [[Christianity]] as an {{em|āgama}},{{sfn|Southwold|1978|p=363}} literally "scripture" or "teaching".<ref>See [[Āgama (Buddhism)]]</ref>

==Cultural influence==
{{Main|Culture of Buddhism}}

[[File:Potala Palace, Tibet.jpg|thumb|Lhasa's [[Potala Palace]], today a [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage Site]], pictured in 2019]]
[[File:Mahabodhitemple.jpg|thumb|upright|India's [[Mahabodhi Temple]], built under the [[Gupta Empire]], 6th century CE]]

Buddhism has had a profound influence on various cultures, especially in Asia. [[Buddhist philosophy]], [[Buddhist art]], [[Buddhist architecture]], [[Buddhist cuisine]] and [[Buddhist festivals]] continue to be influential elements of the modern [[Culture of Asia]], especially in [[East Asia]] and the [[East Asian cultural sphere|Sinosphere]] as well as in [[Southeast Asia]] and the [[Indosphere]]. According to Litian Fang, Buddhism has "permeated a wide range of fields, such as politics, ethics, philosophy, literature, art and customs", in these Asian regions.<ref>Fang, Litian (2018). ''"Chinese Buddhism and Traditional Culture,"'' p. 212. Routledge.</ref> Buddhist teachings influenced the development of modern [[Hinduism]] as well as other [[Religion in Asia|Asian religions]] like [[Taoism]] and [[Confucianism]]. Buddhist philosophers like [[Dignāga|Dignaga]] and [[Dharmakirti]] were very influential in the development of [[Indian logic]] and [[Pramana|epistemology]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Dreyfus |first=George |date=1997 |title=Recognizing Reality: Dharmakirti's Philosophy and its Tibetan Interpretations |publisher=SUNY |pages=15–16}} {{ISBN?}}</ref> Buddhist educational institutions like [[Nalanda]] and [[Vikramashila]] preserved various disciplines of classical Indian knowledge such as grammar, astronomy/astrology and medicine and taught foreign students from Asia.{{sfnp|Dutt|1988|pp=332–333}}

In the Western world, Buddhism has had a strong influence on modern [[New Age]] spirituality and other alternative spiritualities. This began with its influence on 20th century [[Theosophists]] such as [[Helena Blavatsky]], which were some of the first Westerners to take Buddhism seriously as a spiritual tradition.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cush |first1=Denise |title=The Encyclopedic Sourcebook of New Age Religions |publisher=[[Prometheus Books]] |isbn=1-59102-040-9 |editor-last=Lewis |editor-first=James R. |editor-link=James R. Lewis (scholar) |language=en |chapter=British Buddhism and the New Age|date=2004 }}</ref> More recently, Buddhist meditation practices have influenced the development of modern [[psychology]], particularly the practice of [[Mindfulness-based stress reduction]] (MBSR) and other similar [[mindfulness]] based modalities.<ref>Fromm, Erich (1989, 2002). ''The Art of Being''. NY: Continuum. {{ISBN|0-8264-0673-4}}.</ref><ref>Kabat-Zinn, Jon (2005). ''Coming to Our Senses: Healing Ourselves and the World Through Mindfulness''. pp. 12–13. Hyperion. {{ISBN|0-7868-8654-4}}.</ref> The influence of [[Buddhism and psychology|Buddhism on psychology]] can also be seen in certain forms of modern [[psychoanalysis]].<ref>Hoffer (ed.); ''Freud and the Buddha: The Couch and the Cushion''.</ref><ref>[[Erich Fromm|Fromm, Erich]], [[D. T. Suzuki]] & Richard De Martino (1960). ''Zen Buddhism and Psychoanalysis''. pp. 77–78, NY: Harper & Row. {{ISBN|0-06-090175-6}}.</ref>

==Demographics==
{{See also|Buddhism by country}}
[[File:2020+ Proportion of people in world religions.svg |thumb |Global percentage of adherents by religion. Buddhists comprise about 4.1% of the world's population.<ref name=Pew_20250609>{{cite web |last1=Hackett |first1=Conrad |last2=Stonawski |first2=Marcin |last3=Tong |first3=Yunping |last4=Kramer |first4=Stephanie |last5=Shi |first5=Anne |last6=Fahmy |first6=Dalia |title=How the Global Religious Landscape Changed From 2010 to 2020 |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/06/09/how-the-global-religious-landscape-changed-from-2010-to-2020/ |publisher=Pew Research Center |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260222070137/https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/06/09/how-the-global-religious-landscape-changed-from-2010-to-2020/ |archive-date=22 February 2026 |date=9 June 2025 |url-status=live |quote=Source: Pew Research Center estimates based on more than 2,700 censuses and surveys. "How the Global Religious Landscape Changed From 2010 to 2020"}}</ref>]]
[[File:Buddhism percent population in each nation World Map Buddhist data by Pew Research.svg|alt=China40.5/|thumb|300x300px|Percentage of [[Buddhists]] by country in 2010, according to the [[Pew Research Center]]]]
Buddhism is practised by an estimated 324 million in 2020, representing 4.1% of the world's total population.<ref name="populationchange">{{Cite web |last1=Hackett |first1=Conrad |last2=Stonawski |first2=Marcin |last3=Tong |first3=Yunping |last4=Kramer |first4=Stephanie |last5=Shi |first5=Anne |last6=Fahmy |first6=Dalia |date=2025-06-09 |title=6. Buddhist population change |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/06/09/buddhist-population-change/ |access-date=2025-06-17 |website=Pew Research Center |language=en-US}}</ref> Buddhists are the only major religious group that declined in size between 2010 and 2020, according to the Pew Research Center, dropping from about 343 million to 324 million people; a decrease of roughly 5%.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Tong |first1=Yunping |last2=Fahmy |first2=Dalia |last3=Hackett |first3=Conrad |title=Why is Buddhism shrinking worldwide? |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/03/11/why-is-buddhism-shrinking-worldwide/ |website=Pew Research Center |date=March 11, 2026 |access-date=15 April 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Buddhism’s Recent Decline in East Asia |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2026/03/11/buddhisms-recent-decline-in-east-asia/ |website=Pew Research Center |date=March 11, 2026 |access-date=15 April 2026}}</ref> This decline is attributed to demographic factors such as an aging population and low fertility rates, as well as religious disaffiliation, with many individuals raised as Buddhists no longer identifying with the religion in adulthood.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Tong |first1=Yunping |last2=Fahmy |first2=Dalia |last3=Hackett |first3=Conrad |title=Why is Buddhism shrinking worldwide? |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/03/11/why-is-buddhism-shrinking-worldwide/ |website=Pew Research Center |date=March 11, 2026 |access-date=15 April 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Buddhism’s Recent Decline in East Asia |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2026/03/11/buddhisms-recent-decline-in-east-asia/ |website=Pew Research Center |date=March 11, 2026 |access-date=15 April 2026}}</ref>

[[Buddhism in Thailand|Thailand]] is the country with the largest population of [[Buddhists]],<ref name="Hackett-2025">{{Cite web |last=Hackett|first=Conrad|date=2025-06-09|title=Buddhist population change|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/06/09/buddhist-population-change/|access-date=2025-10-28|website=Pew Research Center|language=en-US|last2=Stonawski|first2=Marcin|first3=Yunping|last3=Tong|last4=Kramer|first4=Stephanie|first5=Anne|last5=Shi|first6=Dalia|last6=Fahmy}}</ref> approximately 64 million or 94.4% of its total population.<ref name="Hackett-2025" /> [[China]] is the second-largest country with the largest population of Buddhists, approximately 42 million or 4% of its total population.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nadeem |first=Reem |date=2023-08-30 |title=Buddhism |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2023/08/30/buddhism/ |access-date=2025-10-23 |website=Pew Research Center |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-09-21 |title=6 facts about Buddhism in China |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/09/21/6-facts-about-buddhism-in-china/ |access-date=2025-10-23 |website=Pew Research Center |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="religion2023">2023 approximations of the statistics from the [[China Family Panel Studies]] (CFPS) of the year 2018, as contained in the following analyses:

*{{Cite web |date=30 August 2023 |title=Measuring Religion in China |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2023/08/PF_2023.08.30_religion-china_REPORT.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230909075729/https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2023/08/PF_2023.08.30_religion-china_REPORT.pdf |archive-date=9 September 2023 |publisher=Pew Research Center}}{{cite web |date=30 August 2023 |title=Measuring Religions in China |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2023/08/30/measuring-religion-in-china/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230930132002/https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2023/08/30/measuring-religion-in-china/ |archive-date=30 September 2023}} A compilation of statistics from reliable surveys held throughout the 2010s and early 2020s, with an emphasis on the CFPS 2018.
*the 2010s and early 2020s, with an emphasis on the CFPS 2018.
*{{cite journal |last=Wenzel-Teuber |first=Katharina |year=2023 |title=Statistics on Religions and Churches in the People's Republic of China – Update for the Year 2022 |url=https://www.china-zentrum.de/fileadmin/PDF-Dateien/E-Journal_RCTC/2023/RCTC_2023-2.18-44_Wenzel-Teuber_-_Statistics_on_Religions_and_Churches_in_the_People%E2%80%99s_Republic_of_China_%E2%80%93_Update_for_the_Year_2022.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Religions & Christianity in Today's China |publisher=China Zentrum |volume=XIII |pages=18–44 |issn=2192-9289 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230623210716/https://www.china-zentrum.de/fileadmin/PDF-Dateien/E-Journal_RCTC/2023/RCTC_2023-2.18-44_Wenzel-Teuber_-_Statistics_on_Religions_and_Churches_in_the_People%E2%80%99s_Republic_of_China_%E2%80%93_Update_for_the_Year_2022.pdf |archive-date=23 June 2023}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Zhang |first1=Chunni |last2=Lu |first2=Yunfeng |last3=He |first3=Sheng |year=2021 |title=Exploring Chinese folk religion: Popularity, diffuseness, and diversities |url=http://www.shehui.pku.edu.cn/upload/editor/file/20220323/20220323092720_6133.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Chinese Journal of Sociology |publisher=SAGE Publications |volume=7 |pages=575–592 |doi=10.1177/2057150X211042687 |issn=2057-150X |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231015040713/http://www.shehui.pku.edu.cn/upload/editor/file/20220323/20220323092720_6133.pdf |archive-date=15 October 2023 |number=4}}</ref> They are mostly followers of [[Chinese Buddhism|Chinese schools]] of [[Mahayana]], making it the largest branch of Buddhism. Mahayana, also practised in broader [[Buddhism in East Asia|East Asia]], is followed by over half of world Buddhists.<ref name="Pew_2012a">{{cite web |date=18 December 2012 |title=Buddhists |url=http://www.pewforum.org/2012/12/18/global-religious-landscape-buddhist/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200408011020/https://www.pewforum.org/2012/12/18/global-religious-landscape-buddhist/ |archive-date=8 April 2020 |access-date=13 March 2015 |work=Global Religious Landscape |publisher=Pew Research Center}}</ref> [[Theravada]] is the second-largest branch and is mostly followed in [[Mainland Southeast Asia]] and [[Sri Lanka]] with around 36% population as of 2010.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Johnson |first1=Todd M. |url=http://media.johnwiley.com.au/product_data/excerpt/47/04706745/0470674547-196.pdf |title=The World's Religions in Figures: An Introduction to International Religious Demography |last2=Grim |first2=Brian J. |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=2013 |location=Hoboken, NJ |page=36 |access-date=2 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020100448/http://media.johnwiley.com.au/product_data/excerpt/47/04706745/0470674547-196.pdf |archive-date=20 October 2013}}</ref>

Buddhism is the dominant religion in [[Buddhism in Thailand|Thailand]], [[Buddhism in Cambodia|Cambodia]], [[Buddhism in Myanmar|Myanmar]], [[Buddhism in Sri Lanka|Sri Lanka]], [[Buddhism in Bhutan|Bhutan]], [[Buddhism in Laos|Laos]], [[Buddhism in Mongolia|Mongolia]], [[Buddhism in Japan|Japan]],<ref>{{cite web|title=ASIA SOCIETY: THE COLLECTION IN CONTEXT|url=https://www.asiasocietymuseum.org/region_results.asp?RegionID=6&CountryID=14&ChapterID=38|access-date=2021-03-31|website=www.asiasocietymuseum.org|archive-date=16 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416092020/https://www.asiasocietymuseum.org/region_results.asp?RegionID=6&CountryID=14&ChapterID=38|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Planet|first=Lonely|title=Religion & Belief in Hong Kong, China|url=https://www.lonelyplanet.com/china/hong-kong/background/other-features/af97b38c-7398-4ff0-94a1-5fe469b38888/a/nar/af97b38c-7398-4ff0-94a1-5fe469b38888/355975|access-date=2021-03-31|website=Lonely Planet|language=en|archive-date=16 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416083614/https://www.lonelyplanet.com/china/hong-kong/background/other-features/af97b38c-7398-4ff0-94a1-5fe469b38888/a/nar/af97b38c-7398-4ff0-94a1-5fe469b38888/355975|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Buddhism in Singapore|Singapore]]<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kuah|first=Khun Eng|date=1991|title=State and Religion: Buddhism and NationalBuilding in Singapore|journal=Pacific Viewpoint|language=en|volume=32|issue=1|pages=24–42|doi=10.1111/apv.321002|issn=2638-4825|doi-access=free}}</ref> and [[Buddhism in Vietnam|Vietnam]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Vietnam Buddhism|url=https://www.insidevietnamtravel.com/travel-guide/vietnam-buddhism.html|access-date=31 March 2021|archive-date=16 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416094732/https://www.insidevietnamtravel.com/travel-guide/vietnam-buddhism.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Large Buddhist populations live in [[Chinese Buddhism|mainland China]], [[Buddhism in Taiwan|Taiwan]], [[Buddhism in Korea|North Korea]], [[Buddhism in Nepal|Nepal]] and [[Buddhism in Korea|South Korea]].<ref name="The Pew Forum">{{cite web|title=Global Religious Landscape – Religious Composition by Country|url=http://features.pewforum.org/grl/population-percentage.php|access-date=28 July 2013|publisher=The Pew Forum|archive-date=1 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130101080244/http://features.pewforum.org/grl/population-percentage.php}}</ref> The Indian state of [[Maharashtra]] accounts for 77% of all Buddhists in India.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Moudgil |first1=Manu |title=Dalits Are Still Converting to Buddhism, but at a Dwindling Rate |url=https://www.thequint.com/news/india/dalits-converting-to-buddhism |access-date=10 November 2022 |work=TheQuint |date=17 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221109053113/https://www.thequint.com/news/india/dalits-converting-to-buddhism |archive-date=9 November 2022 |language=en}}</ref> In Russia, Buddhists form majority in [[Tuva]] (52%) and [[Kalmykia]] (53%). [[Buryatia]] (20%) and [[Zabaykalsky Krai]] (15%) also have significant Buddhist populations.<ref>{{cite web |title=ФСО доложила о межконфессиональных отношениях в РФ |publisher=ZNAK |url=https://www.znak.com/2016-03-24/na_tyumenskom_severe_kazhdyy_desyatyy_gotov_vzyat_v_ruki_oruzhie |access-date=15 April 2017 |archive-date=16 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170416051753/https://www.znak.com/2016-03-24/na_tyumenskom_severe_kazhdyy_desyatyy_gotov_vzyat_v_ruki_oruzhie |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Buddhism is the only major religion to have declined massively in the last decade,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tong |first=Yunping |last2=Fahmy |first2=Dalia |last3=Hackett |first3=Conrad |date=2026-03-11 |title=Why is Buddhism shrinking worldwide? |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/03/11/why-is-buddhism-shrinking-worldwide/ |access-date=2026-03-28 |website=Pew Research Center |language=en-US}}</ref> particularly due to growing irreligion in East Asia.<ref name="populationchange" /> Buddhism has seen growth only in parts of India where marginalized [[Dalits]] Hindus have converted to Buddhism,<ref name="financialexpress-dalits">{{cite web |date=2 July 2017 |title=Dalits who converted to Buddhism better off in literacy and well-being: Survey |url=https://www.financialexpress.com/india-news/dalits-who-converted-to-buddhism-better-off-in-literacy-and-well-being/745230/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200903210259/https://www.financialexpress.com/india-news/dalits-who-converted-to-buddhism-better-off-in-literacy-and-well-being/745230/ |archive-date=3 September 2020 |access-date=10 November 2019}}</ref><ref name="thequint.com">{{cite web |date=17 June 2017 |title=Dalits Are Still Converting to Buddhism, but at a Dwindling Rate |url=https://www.thequint.com/india/2017/06/17/dalits-converting-to-buddhism |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729095011/https://www.thequint.com/india/2017/06/17/dalits-converting-to-buddhism |archive-date=29 July 2017 |access-date=31 July 2017 |website=The Quint}}</ref> and they are called [[Navayana]].<ref name="financialexpress-dalits" /><ref name="thequint.com" /> In New Zealand, about 25–35% of the total Buddhists are converts to Buddhism.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://royalsociety.org.nz/assets/Uploads/Our-futures-submissionPaul-Morris.pdf |title=The 2013 Census and religion |website=royalsociety.org.nz |access-date=13 August 2021 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180228042454/https://royalsociety.org.nz/assets/Uploads/Our-futures-submissionPaul-Morris.pdf |archive-date=28 February 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Taonga|first=New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu|title=Buddhists|url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/diverse-religions/page-3|access-date=2020-06-12|website=teara.govt.nz|archive-date=17 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191017102131/https://teara.govt.nz/en/diverse-religions/page-3|url-status=live}}</ref> Buddhism has also spread to the [[Nordic countries]]; for example, the Burmese Buddhists founded in the city of [[Kuopio]] in [[North Savo]] the first Buddhist monastery of [[Finland]], named the Buddha Dhamma Ramsi monastery.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=71,7596,0,0,1,0 |title=Buddhist Channel {{pipe}} Buddhism News, Headlines {{pipe}} World {{pipe}} Burmese Buddhist monastery opens in Finland |publisher=Buddhistchannel.tv |date=5 January 2009 |access-date=9 April 2021 |archive-date=28 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428140017/https://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=71,7596,0,0,1,0 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Buddhism|Religion}}
{{col div|colwidth=24em}}
* [[Akriyavada]]
* [[Bhakti Movement#Buddhism, Jainism and Bhakti movement|Buddhism, Jainism and Bhakti movement]]
* [[Buddha's Dispensation]]
*[[Buddhas and bodhisattvas in art]]
* [[Buddhism and Eastern religions]]
* [[Buddhism and science]]
* [[Buddhism by country]]
* [[Buddhist philosophy]]
* [[Chinese folk religion]]
* [[Criticism of Buddhism]]
* [[Dalit Buddhist Movement]]
* [[Iconography of Gautama Buddha in Laos and Thailand]]
* [[Index of Buddhism-related articles]]
* [[Jewish Buddhist]]
* [[List of Buddhist temples]]
* [[List of Buddhists]]
* [[List of converts to Buddhism]]
* [[Outline of Buddhism]]
* [[Persecution of Buddhists]]
* [[Shinbutsu-shūgō]]
* [[Southern, Eastern and Northern Buddhism]]
* [[Tengrism#Tengrism and Buddhism|Tengrism and Buddhism]]
* [[Three Teachings]]
* [[Buddhism in Central Asia]]
* [[World Buddhist Scout Council]]
* [[Polytheism in Buddhism]]
* [[Monolatry]]
* [[Buddhist modernism]]
*[[Vegetarianism]]
* [[Buddhism and caste]]
{{colend}}

== Notes ==
{{reflist|group=note|2}}
{{Notelist|2}}

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}
<references group="web" />

==Sources ==
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{{Refend}}

;Web-sources
<references group="web" />

==External links==
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{{Sister project links|voy=Buddhism |d=Q748}}
* [http://buddhanet.net/ Worldwide Buddhist Information and Education Network], BuddhaNet
* [https://suttacentral.net/ Early Buddhist texts, translations, and parallels], SuttaCentral
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160808095741/http://alc.ucla.edu/refguide/refguide.htm East Asian Buddhist Studies: A Reference Guide], Robert Buswell and William Bodiford, UCLA
* [https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20150625131436/https://www.eastwestcenter.org/sites/default/files/filemanager/ASDP/WabashDePauw2014/Buddhist_Asia_Bibliography_China_and_Tibet.pdf Buddhist Bibliography (China and Tibet)], East West Center
* [http://www.unm.edu/~rhayes/numata.html Ten Philosophical Questions: Buddhism], Richard Hayes, Leiden University
* [http://www.accesstoinsight.org Readings in Theravada Buddhism], Access to Insight
* [http://terebess.hu/zen/hakuin.html Readings in Zen Buddhism], Hakuin Ekaku (Ed: Monika Bincsik)
* [http://www.dsbcproject.org Readings in Sanskrit Buddhist Canon], Nagarjuna Institute—UWest
* [http://www.tipitaka.org/index.shtml Readings in Buddhism], Vipassana Research Institute (English, Southeast Asian and Indian Languages)
* [[:dmoz:Society/Religion and Spirituality/Buddhism|Religion and Spirituality: Buddhism]] at Open Directory Project
* [http://www.patheos.com/Topics/Future-of-World-Religions/Buddhism.html The Future of Buddhism series], from ''[[Patheos]]''
* [http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/online/buddhism/default.htm Buddhist Art] ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201020135347/https://asia.si.edu/exhibitions/online/buddhism/default.htm/ |date=20 October 2020 }}), Smithsonian
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080106085643/http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/asia/asia_features/buddhism/index.html Buddhism&nbsp;– objects, art and history], V&A Museum
* [https://tricycle.org/beginners/ Buddhism for Beginners], ''[[Tricycle:The Buddhist Review]]''

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