Teachings and spread of Buddhism

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They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</span></div></div> <div class="mt-20"> <div class="mb-20 font-sans-serif font-weight-bold"> Below is the article summary. For the full article, see <a href="/topic/Buddhism">Buddhism</a>. </div> <div class="collection-content topic-paragraph"> <article class="content"><span class="marker before-article"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref1"><span class="marker PREMOD1 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="82276" data-asm-type="image"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/70/75470-050-DA87B94B/Altar-Kunming-temple-Buddhist-Yunnan-China.jpg" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center media-overlay-link card-media" data-href="/media/1/83184/82276"><picture><source media="(min-width: 680px)" srcset="https://cdn.britannica.com/70/75470-050-DA87B94B/Altar-Kunming-temple-Buddhist-Yunnan-China.jpg?w=740&h=416&c=crop"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/70/75470-050-DA87B94B/Altar-Kunming-temple-Buddhist-Yunnan-China.jpg?w=740&h=416&c=crop" alt="Buddhism: temple in Kunming, China" data-width="1600" data-height="1067" loading="eager"></picture><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/70/75470-050-DA87B94B/Altar-Kunming-temple-Buddhist-Yunnan-China.jpg" data-href="/media/1/83184/82276">Buddhism: temple in Kunming, China</a><span>Altar at a Buddhist temple, Kunming, Yunnan province, China.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph"><strong>Buddhism</strong>, Major world religion and philosophy founded in northeastern India between the 6th and 4th centuries <span class="text-smallcaps">bce</span>. Based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, called the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/summary/Buddha-founder-of-Buddhism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Buddha</a>, Buddhism takes as its goal the escape from suffering and from the cycle of rebirth: the attainment of nirvana. It emphasizes <a href="https://www.britannica.com/summary/meditation-mental-exercise" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">meditation</a> and the observance of certain moral precepts. The Buddha’s teachings were transmitted orally by his disciples; during his lifetime he established the Buddhist monastic order (sangha). He adopted some ideas from the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/summary/Hinduism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Hinduism</a> of his time, notably the doctrine of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/summary/karma" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">karma</a>, but also rejected many of its doctrines and all of its gods. In India the emperor <a href="https://www.britannica.com/summary/Ashoka" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Ashoka</a> promoted Buddhism during the 3rd century <span class="text-smallcaps">bce</span>, but it declined in succeeding centuries and was nearly extinct there by the 13th century. It spread south and flourished in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, and it moved through Central Asia and China (including Tibet; <em>see</em> Tibetan Buddhism), Korea, and Japan (<em>see</em> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/summary/Pure-Land-Buddhism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Pure Land Buddhism</a>; <a href="https://www.britannica.com/summary/Zen" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Zen</a>). In the 19th century Buddhism spread to Europe and the United States, and it became increasingly popular in the West in the second half of the 20th century. Buddhism’s main teachings are summarized in the Four Noble Truths, of which the fourth is the Eightfold Path. Buddhism’s two major branches, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/summary/Mahayana" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Mahayana</a> and Theravada, have developed distinctive practices and unique collections of canonical texts. In the early 21st century the various traditions of Buddhism together had more than 375 million followers.</p><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span></section> </article></div> </div> <div class="imagelink-with-image-on-the-side card card-horizontal mb-20" > <div class="position-relative card-media" style="flex: 0;"> <a class="ilf-image position-relative" href="/summary/bodhisattva"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/18/60118-004-4BBDF620/Avalokitesvara-figure-arms-ability-heads-needs-humankind.jpg?w=100&h=75&c=crop" alt="Avalokiteshvara, the compassionate bodhisattva, shown with 11 heads and 8 arms, symbolic of his ability to sense humankind's needs everywhere in the universe; in the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden, Neth." width="100" height="75" /> </a> </div> <div class="card-body ilf-content"> <a class="font-weight-semi-bold d-block mb-5 font-16 ilf-title" href="/summary/bodhisattva" >bodhisattva Summary</a> <div class="font-weight-light font-serif font-14 line-clamp clamp-2 ilf-description">Bodhisattva, in Buddhism, one who seeks awakening (bodhi)—hence, an individual on the path to becoming a buddha. In early Indian Buddhism and in some later traditions—including Theravada, at present the major form of Buddhism in Sri Lanka and other parts of Southeast Asia—the term bodhisattva was</div> </div> </div> <div class="imagelink-with-image-on-the-side card card-horizontal mb-20" > <div class="position-relative card-media" style="flex: 0;"> <a class="ilf-image position-relative" href="/summary/Ashoka"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/52/142552-050-F75BD366/Pillar-Ashoka-Vaishali-Bihar-India.jpg?w=100&h=75&c=crop" alt="Pillar commemorating Ashoka at Vaishali" width="100" height="75" /> </a> </div> <div class="card-body ilf-content"> <a class="font-weight-semi-bold d-block mb-5 font-16 ilf-title" href="/summary/Ashoka" >Ashoka Summary</a> <div class="font-weight-light font-serif font-14 line-clamp clamp-2 ilf-description">Ashoka was the last major emperor of the Mauryan dynasty of India. His vigorous patronage of Buddhism during his reign (c. 265–238 bce; also given as c. 273–232 bce) furthered the expansion of that religion throughout India. Following his successful but bloody conquest of the Kalinga country on the</div> </div> </div> <div class="imagelink-with-image-on-the-side card card-horizontal mb-20" > <div class="position-relative card-media" style="flex: 0;"> <a class="ilf-image position-relative" href="/summary/Honen"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-134/images/shared/default3.png?v=3.134.9" class="default " height="75" width="100"/> </a> </div> <div class="card-body ilf-content"> <a class="font-weight-semi-bold d-block mb-5 font-16 ilf-title" href="/summary/Honen" >Hōnen Summary</a> <div class="font-weight-light font-serif font-14 line-clamp clamp-2 ilf-description">Hōnen was a Buddhist priest and the founder of the Pure Land (Jōdo) Buddhist sect of Japan. He was seminal in establishing Pure Land pietism as one of the central forms of Buddhism in Japan. Introduced as a student monk to Pure Land doctrines brought from China by Tendai priests, he stressed</div> </div> </div> <div class="imagelink-with-image-on-the-side card card-horizontal mb-20" > <div class="position-relative card-media" style="flex: 0;"> <a class="ilf-image position-relative" href="/summary/Avalokiteshvara"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/57/133057-050-AC74BBA2/Avalokiteshvara-bodhisattva-compassion-Mount-Jiuhua-China-province.jpg?w=100&h=75&c=crop" alt="Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion, Mount Jiuhua, Anhui province, China." width="100" height="75" /> </a> </div> <div class="card-body ilf-content"> <a class="font-weight-semi-bold d-block mb-5 font-16 ilf-title" href="/summary/Avalokiteshvara" >Avalokiteshvara Summary</a> <div class="font-weight-light font-serif font-14 line-clamp clamp-2 ilf-description">Avalokiteshvara, in Buddhism, and primarily in Mahayana (“Greater Vehicle”) Buddhism, the bodhisattva (“buddha-to-be”) of infinite compassion and mercy, possibly the most popular of all figures in Buddhist legend. Avalokiteshvara is beloved throughout the Buddhist world—not only in Mahayana</div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"TopicCollectionPage","templateName":"CONCISE","pageNumber":1,"pagesTotal":6,"pageId":null,"pageLength":null,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-134/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.134.9"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-134/dist/topic-collection-page.js?v=3.134.9' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"A","adLeg":"A","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"TopicCollectionPage","pageSubtype":"CONCISE","articleTemplateType":null,"gisted":false,"pageNumber":1,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":false,"hasAiTopQuestions":false,"hasSimplifyButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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Teachings and spread of Buddhism | Britannica