Buddhism, the First Millennium

This book, "Buddhism - The First Millenium" is the second in a series of 3 books that chronicle the history of Buddhism. Much of the history of Buddhism during its first millenium is unlear. A major effort to formulate the Buddhist canon took place not long after Shakyamuni (Siddhartha Gautama) died, at what is known as the First Council. Subsequently, there arose differences of interpretation and a schism between the monastic community and the lay believers. Nevertheless, Buddhism survived and developed.It came into contact with the West as early as the period when the latter was under the influence of the Greek states and it also spread to Southeast Asia, China, Korea and Japan. Contributing to this process were certain individuals - exceptional rulers like king Ashoka of India and the Greek philosopher-king Menander. Other include monks like Nagarjuna and Vasubandhu. Daisaku Ikeda pieces together the fabric of events from the distant past with insightful conjecture to bring to the surface the basic pattern of how and why Buddhism came to be a major world religion.

The history of the Buddhist religion during the centuries following the death of its founder, Shakyamuni, is as fascinating and important as it is problematic. Little documentary evidence remains, but it was in this period that the religion split into its two major branches, the Maha sanghika and the Theravada, and spread beyond India to Central Asia and China in the north and Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia to the south. In Buddhism, The First Millennium, the author pieces together the fabric of events from the distant past with insightful conjecture to bring to the surface the basic pattern of how and why Buddhism came to be a major world religion--spreading into Southeast Asia, China, Korea and Japan--helped along by exceptional rulers like the Indian king Ashoka and the Greek philosopher-king Menander and monks and lay believers like Vimalakirti, Nargarjuna and Vasubandu. The author shows the relevance of the teaching and spirit of the Buddha, not only to Indian society as it was then, but to the world and humankind as they are now.