Buddhist | Western | Major Events | World Figures and Events |
- 120* | 6th Century B.C.E. * | . Life of Guatama, the historical Buddha: conventional dates: 566-486 BCE (According to more recent research, revised dates are: 490-410 BCE). | . Persian Empire founded by
Cyrus the Great (550 B.C.E.) |
- 20 | 5th Century | . First Buddhist
Council at Rajagaha (486) after the Parinirvana*, under the
patronage of King Ajatasattu. | .
Socrates (469-399) . Plato (427-347) . Battle of Marathon (490) . Greek-Persian Wars (490-479) . Partheon Built (438) |
144 | 4th Century | . Second Buddhist Council at
Vesali (386) about 100 year after the Parinirvana. | . Aristotle (384-322) . Alexander the Great
(356-323) |
244 | 3rd Century | . Reign of Indian Emperor Asoka (272-231) who converts and establishes the
Buddha's Dharma on a national level for the first time. | . Great Wall of China (250) . Hadrian's Wall circa 3rd Century AD . Hannibal Barca (247?-183?) |
344 | 2nd Century | . Beginnings of
Mahayana Buddhism
(20O). | . Buddhist monuments: Sanchi, Amaravati, Bodhi Gaya, India. (185-175) . Han Dynasty in
China |
444 | 1st Century | . The entire scriptural canon of the
Theravada School was committed to writing on palm leaves in Pali at the Aloka Cave, near Matale, Sri Lanka (35-32) | . 01BCE Mar 1, Start of the revised Julian calendar in Rome. . Julius Caesar (100-44) . Virgil, Latin poet (70-19) |
544 | 1st Century C.E.* | . King Kaniska (78-101)
convened the Fourth Buddhist Council at Jalandhar or in Kashmir around 100 C.E.
(This is not recognized by the Theravadins). | . Jesus of Nazareth (0-33 C.E.) . Destruction of Jerusalem and the second Temple: (70 C.E.) . The Buddha first represented in art as human form. |
644 | 2nd Century | . The Age of
Indian Buddhist philosopher Nargarjuna (150) founder
of the school of Madhyamika ('the Middle
Way'). | . Roman Empire reaches the height of its
power. |
744 | 3rd Century | . Expansion of Buddhism to
Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and Indonesia. | . Three Kingdoms dynasty (220-265) Division into three states:
Wei, Shu, Wu. Many scientific advances adopted from India. |
844 | 4th Century | . Asanga
(310-390) and his brother Vasubandhu (420-500) prominent teachers of the Yogacara school of Buddhism. | . Gupta dynasty exemplified by Chandra Gupta II (375-415) dominated North Central India. . Saint Augustine (354-430)
|
944 | 5th Century | . Buddhist monastic university
founded at Nalanda, India. | . 5th Century Anglo-Saxon Invasion of England . Earliest hospital in Sri
Lanka (437) . Fall of the Western Roman Empire (476) |
1044 | 6th Century | . Bodhidharma founder of Ch'an (Zen) arrives in China from
India. (526) | . Prophet Mohammed (570-632) . The Age of Islamic
Expansion . First pagoda built in China (600) |
1144 | 7th Century | . Construction of Potala
Palace, Jokang and Ramoche temples to house Buddha images (641-650) | . Islam sweeps
across North Africa (700-800) . Tang dynasty, China (618-906) |
1244 | 8th Century | . Academic
schools (Jöjitsu, Kusha,
Sanron, Hossö, Ritsu, and Kegon) proliferate in
Japan. | . Nara Period in Japanese history (710-784) . First monastery built in Tibet (Sam-ye) (749) . Moslem invasion of Central Asia (760) . Charlemagne (742-814) |
1344 | 9th Century | . Khmer kings build Angkor Wat, the world's largest religious
monument. . Biography of Buddha translated into Greek by Saint John of Damascus and distributed in Christianity as "Balaam" and "Josaphat". | . Heian Period in Japanese
history (794-1185) . First printed book, Diamond Sutra, China (868) |
1444 | 10th Century | . First complete printing of Chinese Buddhist Canon (983), known as the Szechuan edition. . Buddhism in Thailand (900-1000) . Islam replaces Buddhism in Central Asia (900-1000). | . Sung Dynasty in Chinese History (960-1279) . 1000 C.E The population at
this time was about 200 million people in the world. |
1544 | 11th Century | . Conversion of King Anawrahta of Pagan (Burma) (1044-77) by Shin Arahan. . Atisha (982-1054)
arrives in Tibet from India (1042).
.The bhikkhu and bhikkhuni (monk and nun) communities at Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, die out following invasions from South India. . Sakya School of Tibetan Buddhism
established. | . 1000-1100 There was a Confucian revival in China. . Edward the Confessor,
English king (1042-1066) . Great Schism between Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches (1054) . 1st Crusades (1096-1099) |
1644 | 12th Century | . Theravada Buddhism established in Burma. . Eisai (1141-1215) founds the Rinzai Zen School of Japanese Buddhism. . In 1193 the Moslems attacked and conquered Magadha, the heartland of Buddhism in India, and with the destruction of the Buddhist Monasteries and Universities (Valabhi and Nalanda) - in that area Buddhism was wiped out. . Buddhism in Korea flourishes under the Koryo dynasty (1140-1390). | . Omar Khayyam, Persian poet and mathematician (1044-1123) . 1119 Bologna University founded in Italy; Paris University, in France, is founded in 1150. . Kamakura Period in Japanese history (1192-1338) |
1744 | 13th Century | . Shinran
(1173-1263 ) founds
True Pure Land School of Japanese
Buddhism. | . Francis of Assisi
(1181-1226) |
1844 | 14th Century | . Bu-ston collects and edits Tibetan Buddhist
Canon. | . John Wycliffe (1328-1384)
English theologian and biblical translator. . China regains its independence from the Mongols under the Ming dynasty (1368) |
1944 | 15th Century | . Beginning of Dalai Lama lineage in Tibetan Buddhism. . In Cambodia, the Vishnuite temple, Angkor Wat, founded in the 12th century, becomes a Buddhist centre. | . Development of
printing in Europe . Leonardo DaVinci (1452-1519) . Columbus "finds" the new world (1492) |
2044 | 16th Century | . Tibet's Gelugpa leader receives the title of
"Dalai" from Altan Khan (1578). | . Martin Luther
(1483-1546) . Protestant Reformation . Shakespeare, (1564-1616) . Galileo (1564-1642) |
2144 | 17th Century | . Control of
Japanese Buddhism by Tokugawa Shögunate (the ruling feudal government) (I603-1867) | . Japan closes the door to foreigners
(1639) |
2244 | 18th Century | . Colonial occupation of Sri
Lanka, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. | . 1700s Age of Enlightenment
introduces revolutionary new ideas to Europe. |
2344 | 19th Century | . New sects begin to emerge
in Japanese Buddhism. | . Meiji Restoration in Japanese history 1868, marking end
of military rule. . 1833 Abolition of slavery in British empire.
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2444-2544 | 20th Century | . Buddhist Society of Great
Britain, founded (1907). | . Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) . WW I (1914-1918)
. Russian revolution (1917-1922) . 1919 Ernest Rutherford
splits atom for first time. . WW II (1939-1945) . Cultural Revolution
(China) (1966) . Pope John Paul II pardons Galileo (1995) . The Fall of the Berlin Wall, the Cold War ends. (1989)
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