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Buddhism is a Dharmic religion originating in ancient India. A brief history of major events regarding the history of Buddhism in India is given below.

Siddhartha Gautama

Siddhārtha Gautama was the historical founder of Buddhism. Siddhartha Gautama was born as a Kshatriya prince in ancient India.

After asceticism and meditation, Siddhartha Gautama discovered the Buddhist Middle Way—a path of moderation away from the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification.

Siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenment sitting under a pipal tree, now known as the Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya. Gautama, from then on, was known as "The Perfectly Self-Awakened One", the Samyaksambuddha.

Buddha found patronage in the ruler of Magadha, emperor Bimbisara. The emperor accepted Buddhism as personal faith and allowed the establishment of many Buddhist "Viharas". This eventually led to the renaming of the entire reigon as Bihar.

At the Deer Park near Vārāṇasī in northern India, Buddha set in motion the Wheel of Dharma by delivering his first sermon to the group of five companions with whom he had previously sought enlightenment. They, together with the Buddha, formed the first saṅgha, the company of Buddhist monks, and hence, the first formation of Triple Gem (Buddha, Dharma and Sangha) was completed.

For the remaining 45 years of his life, the Buddha is said to have traveled in the Gangetic Plain of Northeastern India and other reigons.

Buddha attained Parinirvana in the abandoned jungles of Kuśināra.

Buddhist movements

Many movements emerged during the next 400 years following Buddha's passing: first the schools of Nikaya Buddhism, of which only Theravada remains today, and then the formation of Mahayana, a pan-Buddhist movement based on the acceptance of new scriptures.

Ashoka

Emperor Ashoka the Great (304 BC–232 BC) was the ruler of the Maurya Empire in present-day eastern India from 273 BC to 232 BC.

Ashoka reigned over most of India after a series of military campaigns. Emperor Ashoka's kingdom streched from South Asia and beyond, from present-day Afghanistan and parts of Persia in the west, to Bengal and Assam in the east, and as far south as Mysore.

According to legend, emperor Ashoka was overwhelmed by guilt after the conquest of Kalinga, following which he accepted Buddhism as personal faith with the help of his Brahmin mentors Radhasvami and Manjushri. Ashoka established monuments marking several significant sites in the life of Shakyamuni Buddha, and according to Buddhist tradition was closely involved in the preservation and transmission of Buddhism. He used his position to propagate the relatively new philosophy to new heights, as far as ancient Rome and Egypt.

Dharma masters

Indian shramanas propogated Buddhism in reigons, including China, Vietnam and Central Asia.

The Indian dhyana master Buddhabhadra was the founding abbot and patriarch of the Shaolin Temple. Buddhist monk and esoteric master from North India (6th Century CE), Bodhiruci is regarded as the patriarch of the Ti-Lun school. Bodhidharma (c. 6th century CE) was the Buddhist monk traditionally credited as the founder of Chán (Zen) Buddhism in China.

In 580, an Indian monk named Vinitaruci travelled to Vietnam after completing his studies with Sengcan, the third patriarch of Chinese Zen. This, then, would be the first appearance of Vietnamese Zen, or Thien Buddhism.

The Yogācāra texts were composed in the period of Buddhism known to practitioners as The Third Turning of the Wheel. The Yogācāra studies texts form a survey of all of The Three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma. Originating around a set of scriptures and treatises composed by such early Indian masters as the brothers Vasubandhu and Asanga (who was said to be inspired by the legendary Maitreya-natha), this school held a prominent position in the Indian scholastic tradition for several centuries. It was also transmitted to Tibet by Dharmarakshita who intiated Atisha into the Yogachara lineage, where its teachings became an integral part of much of Tibetan Buddhism up to modern times, and to East Asia, where it was studied with intensity for several centuries.

Padmasambhava, in Sanskrit meaning "lotus-born", is said to have brought Tantric Buddhism to Tibet in the 8th century. In Bhutan and Tibet he is better known as "Guru Rinpoche" ("Precious Master") where followers of the Nyingma school regard him as the second Buddha.

Decline of Buddhism in India

Buddhism declined in India following the revival of Hinduism under Adi Shankaracharya, the Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent and the weakening of empires such as Magadha and Kosala. Buddhism also lost patronage due to fall of sympathetic rulers at the hands foreign invaders such as the White Huns and Timur.

Anagarika Dharmapala and his followers

Buddhist revival began in India in 1891, when the Sri Lankan Buddhist leader Anagarika Dharmapala founded the Maha Bodhi Society. Its activities expanded to involve the promotion of Buddhism in India. In June 1892, a meeting of Buddhists was organized at Darjeeling. Dharmapala spoke to the Tibetian Buddhists and presented a relic of the Buddha to be sent to the Dalai Lama.

Dharmapala built many viharas and temples in India, including the one at Sarnath, the place of Buddha's first sermon. He died in 1933, the same year he was ordained a bhikkhu. .

Tibetian Buddhism

Following Dalai Lama's departure from Tibet, Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru offered to permit him and his followers to establish a "government-in-exile" in Dharamsala.

Tibetan exiles have settled in the town, numbering several thousand. Most of these exiles live in Upper Dharamsala, or McLeod Ganj, where they established monasteries, temples and schools. The town is sometimes known as "Little Lhasa", after the Tibetan capital city, and has become one of the centres of Buddhism in the world.

The Dalai Lama has defended Hinduism and further believes that Buddhism has a very close connection with Hinduism. When in the Maha Khumb Mela in 2000 wit hthe VHP, His Holiness said, "I am very happy to be here and I am looking forward to bringining the Buddhists and Hindus together because I consider them as twins.... This place is really impressive and the whole place is really spiritual." He has further said, "When I say that Buddhism is part of Hinduism, certain people (e.g. neo-Buddhists) criticize me. But if I were to say that Hinduism and Buddhism are totally different, it would not be in conformity with truth."

Dalit Buddhist movement

A Buddhist revivalist movement among Dalit Indians was initiated in 1890s by Dalit leaders such as Iyothee Thass, Brahmananda Reddy, and Dharmananda Kosambi. In, 1956 B. R. Ambedkar converted to Buddhism along with followers, giving a major impetus to the Dalit Buddhist movement in India.

References

1. India by Stanley Wolpert Page 32
2. India by Stanley Wolpert Page 32
3. "Bodhisattva that the Brahman," see Chap. xvi
4. Faure, Bernard. Chan Insights and Oversights: an epistemological critique of the Chan tradition, Princeton University Press, 1993. ISBN 0-691029-02-4
5. The Founder Of Shaolinsi The founder of Shaolinsi
6. Concise Encyclopedia Brittanica Article on Bodhidharma
7. Ahir, D.C. (1991). Buddhism in Modern India. Satguru. ISBN 81-7030-254-4.
8. Ahir, D.C. (1991). Buddhism in Modern India. Satguru. ISBN 81-7030-254-4.

• History of Buddhism
• Buddhism in India