Silk Road transmission of Buddhism

Buddhism entered Han China via the Silk Road, beginning in the 1st or 2nd century CE. The first documented translation efforts by Buddhist monks in China were in the 2nd century CE via the Kushan Empire into the Chinese territory bordering the Tarim Basin under Kanishka. These contacts transmitted strands of Sarvastivadan and Tamrashatiya Buddhism throughout the Eastern world.

Theravada Buddhism developed from the Pāli Canon in Sri Lanka Tamrashatiya school and spread throughout Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, Sarvastivada Buddhism was transmitted from North India through Central Asia to China.

Direct contact between Central Asian and Chinese Buddhism continued throughout the 3rd to 7th centuries, much into the Tang period. From the 4th century onward, Chinese pilgrims like Faxian (395–414) and later Xuanzang (629–644) started to travel to northern India in order to get improved access to original scriptures. Between the 3rd and 7th centuries, parts of the land route connecting northern India with China was ruled by the Xiongnu, Han dynasty, Kushan Empire, the Hephthalite Empire, the Göktürks, and the Tang dynasty. The Indian form of Buddhist tantra (Vajrayana) reached China in the 7th century. Tibetan Buddhism was likewise established as a branch of Vajrayana, in the 8th century.

But from about this time, the Silk road trade of Buddhism began to decline with the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana (e.g. Battle of Talas), resulting in the Uyghur Khaganate by the 740s. Indian Buddhism declined due to the resurgence of Hinduism and the Muslim conquest of India. Tang-era Chinese Buddhism was briefly repressed in the 9th century (but made a comeback in later dynasties). The Western Liao was a Buddhist Sinitic dynasty based in Central Asia, before Mongol invasion of Central Asia. The Mongol Empire resulted in the further Islamization of Central Asia. They embraced Tibetan Buddhism starting with the Yuan dynasty ( Buddhism in Mongolia). The other khanates, the Ilkhanate, Chagatai Khanate, and Golden Horde eventually converted to Islam ( Religion in the Mongol Empire#Islam).

Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Taiwanese and Southeast Asian traditions of Buddhism continued. As of 2019, China by far had the largest population of Buddhists in the world at nearly 250 million; Thailand comes second at around 70 million (see Buddhism by country).

Northern transmission (from North India and Central Asia)

The Buddhism transmitted to China is based on the Sarvastivada school, with translations from Sanskrit to the Chinese languages and Tibetic languages. These later formed the basis of Mahayana Buddhism. Japan and Korea then borrowed from China. Few remnants of the original Sanskrit remain. These constituted the 'Northern transmission'.

First contacts

Buddhism entered China via the Silk Road. Buddhist monks travelled with merchant caravans on the Silk Road to preach their new religion. The lucrative Chinese silk trade along this trade route began during the Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE), with voyages by people like Zhang Qian establishing ties between China and the west.

Alexander the Great established Hellenistic kingdoms (323 BC – 63 BC) and trade networks extending from the Mediterranean to Central Asia (furthest eastern point being Alexandria Eschate). The Greco-Bactrian Kingdoms (250 BC-125 BC) in Afghanistan and the later Indo-Greek Kingdoms (180 BC-10 CE) formed one of the first Silk Road stops after China for nearly 300 years. One of the descendant Greek kingdoms, the Dayuan