Buddhism Origins

1. BUDD
HISM

2. Hinduism = c. 15th-5th BCE
Zoroastrianism = c. 10th-5th BCE
Judaism = c. 9th-5th BCE
Jainism = c. 8th-2nd BCE
Confucianism = c. 6th-5th BCE
Buddhism = c. 6th-5th BCE
Taoism = c. 6th-4th BCE
Shintoism = c. 3rd-8th CE
THE WORLD’S 8 OLDEST RELIGIONS

3. 1) Buddhism
= c. 6th-5th
BCE; 5M
ORIGINS
OVERVIEW:
Buddhism is a faith that
was founded by
Siddhartha Gautama
(“the Buddha”) more than
2,500 years ago in India.

4. Gautama was born into
a wealthy family as a
prince in present-day
Nepal. Although he had
an easy life, Gautama
was moved by suffering
in the world. He decided
to give up his lavish
lifestyle and endure
poverty.
ORIGIN:
ORIGINS

5. When this didn’t fulfill
him, he promoted the
idea of the “Middle
Way,” which means
existing between two
extremes. Thus, he
sought a life without
social indulgences but
also without
deprivation.
ORIGIN:
ORIGINS

6. After six years of
searching, Buddhists
believe Gautama found
enlightenment while
meditating under a
Bodhi tree. He spent
the rest of his life
teaching others about
how to achieve this
spiritual state.
ORIGIN:
ORIGINS

7. When Gautama passed
away around 483 B.C., his
followers began to organize
a religious movement.
Buddha’s teachings
became the foundation for
what would develop into
Buddhism.
ORIGIN:
ORIGINS

8. In the 3rd century
B.C., Ashoka the
Great, the Mauryan
Indian emperor,
made Buddhism the
state religion of
India. Buddhist
monasteries were
built, and missionary
work was
encouraged.
ORIGINS

11. In the sixth century, the Huns invaded India and
destroyed hundreds of Buddhist monasteries,
but the intruders were eventually driven out of
the country.
Islam began to spread quickly in the region
during the Middle Ages, forcing Buddhism into
the background.

12. In the 19th century Buddhism was virtually extinct in
India. In far eastern Bengal and Assam, a few
Buddhists preserved a tradition that dated back to pre-
Muslim times, and some of them experienced a
Theravada-oriented reform that was initiated by a
Burmese monk who visited the area in the mid-19th
century. By the end of that century, a very small
number of Indian intellectuals had become interested in
Buddhism through Western scholarship or through the
activities of the Theosophical Society, one of whose
leaders was the American Henry Olcott.

13. Beginning in the early 20th century, a few Indian
intellectuals became increasingly interested in
Buddhism as a more rational and egalitarian alternative
to Hinduism. Although this interest remained limited to
a very tiny segment of the intellectual elite, a small
Buddhist movement with a broader constituency
developed in South India. Even as late as 1950,
however, an official government census identified fewer
than 200,000 Buddhists in the country, most of them
residing in east Bengal and Assam.