Before the Common Era (BCE)
566 Birth of the Siddhartha the historic Buddha or possibly 448 BCE
486 Death of the Buddha
368 First Council at Rajagrha
386 – 268 Second Council at Vaisali
268 Buddhism established in kathmandu Valley
207 Buddhism established in Sri Lanka
268 – 232 Reign of King Asoka
250 Third Council at Pataliputra under Asoka
1st century Emergence of Mahayana. Earliest Buddha images appear
Common Era (CE)
25 Recording of Pali tipitaka
100 Lotus Sutra composed
2nd century Life of Nagarjuna. Spread of Buddhism to regions of Indo-China
372 Buddhism moves into Korean peninsula
401 Kumarajiva arrives in China.
500 Rock carvings appear at Ajanta Ellora
6st century Buddhism comes to Indonesia
520 Bodhidharma arrives in China with Chan Teachings
552 Official date Buddhism is adopted in Japan from Korea
600 First datable use of the term “Mahayana” in India
638 – 713 Life of Huineng in China
750 Establishment of Vajrayana. Patronage of Mahayana in Java
745 Shenhui extols the teachings of Huineng
770 Padmasambhava invited to Tibet
771 Construction of Bsam yas Tibetan monastery begins
797 Historical debate at Bsam yas monastery
840 Tamil Pandya invasion, sack of Anuradhapura Sri Lanka
842 – 845 Huichang persecution of Buddhism
10th century Mahayana renaissance in Cambodia
983 First printing of Chinese Buddhist canon
958 – 1055 Beginning of the later dissemination of Buddhism in Tibet
1010 Korean creation of complete Buddhist canon
1145 Angkor Wat founded as Vaisnavite temple
1133 – 1212 Life of Honen in Japan
1141 Rinzaishu Zen in Japan established
1203 Last Indian abbot Sakyasribhadra flees to Tibet
1220 Thai kingdom promotion of Theravada Buddhism
1200 – 1253 Life of Dogen, Japanese Soto Zen established
1222 Nichiren Buddhist school in Japan established
1236 Second Korean Buddhist canon created
1327 Theravada Buddhism established in Cambodia
1353 Theravada promoted in Laos
1360 Theravada adopted in Thailand
1475 Buddhist council at Chiangmai
1500 Angkor Wat reconceived as Buddhist site.
1535 – 1615 Unification of Ch’an & pure land in China
1578 Altan Khan confers the title on first Dalai Lama
1642 Beginning of political rule by Dalai Lamas
1753 Reinstatement of Buddhism in Thailand
1853 First Buddhist temple in San Francisco is founded
1871 Fifth Theravada Council held at Mandalay
1868 Separation of Shinto from Buddhism in Japan
1881 Founding of Pali Text Society
1891 Reestablishing of Buddhism in India
1893 World’s Parliament of Religions held first meeting in Chicago
1900 Forest monk tradition revived in Thailand
1927 Zenshuji Soto Zen temple is founded in Los Angeles
1931 Nyogen Senzaki begins to teach Los Angeles
1950’s D. T. Suzuki teaches at Columbia University
1950 Beat generation begins to publish works on Zen Buddhism
1952 Founding of World Fellowship of Buddhists
1959 Fourteenth Dalai Lama goes into exile
1966 Philip Kapleau founds the Rochester Zen Center
1969 Shambhala Publications is formed at Berkeley, California
1972 Seung Sahn a Korean monk arrives in Providence, Rhode Island
1974 Naropa Institute is founded in Boulder, Colorado
1980 Zen Mountain Monastery founded by John Daido Loori
1985 Thich Nhat Hanh presents the Order of Interbeing to America
1989 The Fourteenth Dalai Lama awarded Nobel Peace Prize
1996 Gethsemani Encounter movement met Christian/Buddhist monks
1999 The Buddhist Churches of America celebrates centennial
Source: The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 2014 Princeton University Press – Buddhism in America, 1999 Columbia University Press
Order of Engaged Buddhists 