The Silk Road opened around 139 BCE when China was unified under the Han dynasty. It is thought however, that significant trade occurred for about 1,000 years beforehand. In terms of the development of Buddhism, these early times were notable because of King Ashoka (reigned 322-185 BCE in North India), best known for his renunciation of war, after the conquest of the Kalinga in 261 BCE, and subsequent conversion to Buddhism. He carved Dhamma lessons into cliff rock, onto pillars, and in caves throughout India (some are still visible today), in the hope that he could provide inspiration and guidance to the people of his extensive kingdom. Three languages were used, Prakrit, Greek and Aramaic. The Prakrit inscriptions were written in scripts which a commoner could read and understand; the practice of honesty, truthfulness, compassion, benevolence, nonviolence, and considerate behaviour toward all.

After the death of King Ashoka, Buddhism in India went into decline. There was a large-scale reform in Hinduism led by Adi Sankaracharya and the Buddha became a part of Hindu history as an avatar of Vishnu. Another factor for the decline was the Muslim invasion of India and Islamic destruction of Buddhist temples, shrines, and institutions, at Taxila and Nalanda universities. Buddhist monks sought refuge in Nepal and Tibet.  

By this time however, the Buddha’s Teachings had found their way to Central and East Asia by way of the Old Silk Road. The “silk road” itself was an interconnected network of Eurasian trails followed by caravans transporting Chinese silk and other goods to and from China, through Central Asia to the Middle East and Mediterranean countries (distance 6,400 kilometres, 4,000 miles). Few individuals crossed the entirety of the Silk Road, instead relying on a succession of middlemen based at various stopping points along the way. In addition to goods, the network facilitated an exchange of ideas, religions, especially Buddhism.

Buddhism is associated with the rise of the Kushan Empire, present-day Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Northern India. Kushan coins show that all along the Silk Road kings and rulers had built monasteries and temples. This combination of patronage, the founding of monasteries, and the rise of Buddhist scholarship all contributed to make Buddhism a very significant presence all over Central Asia.

The greatest success in the spreading of Buddhism came with its introduction to China, where it reinvigorated the existing philosophy, culture, and literature. The Silk Road also reached Korea and Japan. Its encounter with Daoism and Confucianism helped establish deep roots among the peoples of East Asia. Here Buddhism became a religious and spiritual presence as well as the catalyst for greater links with Eurasia.

From the 4th century onward, Chinese pilgrims also started to travel on the Silk Road to India, the origin of Buddhism, in order to get improved access to the original scriptures, the most famous of these is Xuanzang. At age 27, he began his seventeen-year overland journey to India, making his way through various central Asian cities, and through to Northern India. He also spent some time at Nalanda Buddhist monastic university (mahavihara) in ancient Magadha in modern day Bihar, India where he studied with the monk, Śīlabhadra.

On his return to China in 645 CE, Xuanzang was greeted with much honor but he refused all high civil appointments offered by the still-reigning emperor, Emperor Taizong of Tang. Instead, he retired to a monastery and devoted his energy to translating Buddhist texts until his death in 664 CE. According to his biography, he returned with “over six hundred Mahayana and Hinayana texts, seven statues of the Buddha and more than a hundred śarīra relics (pearl or crystal-like bead-shaped objects that are apparently found among the cremated ashes of Buddhist spiritual masters).

During the fifth and sixth centuries C.E., merchants played a large role in the spread of Buddhism. The moral and ethical teachings of Buddhism were found to be an appealing alternative to previous religions. As a result, merchants supported Buddhist monasteries along the Silk Roads. In return, the Buddhists gave the merchants somewhere to stopover. Merchants then spread Buddhism to foreign encounters as they travelled. Merchants also helped to establish diaspora within the communities they encountered and over time, their cultures were based on Buddhism. Because of this, these communities became centers of literacy and culture with well-organized marketplaces, lodging, and storage.

At the Mediterranean end of the Silk Road, the Greeks were the first Europeans to embrace Buddhism, centuries before the advent of Christianity, and there is evidence that the first sculptors to depict the Buddha in the form of statues were of Greek descent. These were the first anthropomorphic representations of the Buddha himself. Before this innovation, the Buddha was only represented through his symbols (an empty throne, the Bodhi Tree, Buddha footprints, the Dharmachakra, the Dharma Wheel).

Buddhism flourished under the Indo-Greeks, the Milindapañha (English publication:  available: ‘Questions of Milinda’) dated between 100 BC and 200 AD, is a dialogue between the Indian Buddhist sage Nāgasena, and the 2nd century BC Indo-Greek King Menander I of Bactria, in Sāgalā, present-day Sialkot. The book speaks of the encounter of two civilizations — Hellenistic Greece and Buddhist India — and is of continuing relevance as the wisdom of the East meets the modern Western world. King Milinda poses questions about dilemmas raised by Buddhist philosophy that we might ask today. And Nagasena’s responses are full of wisdom, wit, and helpful analogies.

Great Buddhist scholars always looked at the Silk Road as a connecting thread with what they regarded as the founding values of Buddhism. With the 7th Century invasion of Islam in Central Asia, the transmission of Buddhism started to disappear. An increasing Muslim dominance all along the route made it difficult for Buddhist monks and pilgrims to travel between India and China, and the Silk Road transmission between Eastern Buddhism and Indian Buddhism eventually came to an end.

Buddhism recovered in China during the Song Dynasty (960–1279), the “golden age” of Chan (known today as Zen).  Chan Buddhism spread south to Vietnam as Thiền and north to Korea as Seon, and, in the 13th century, east to Japan as Japanese Zen. Pure Land Buddhism also became popular during this period and was often practiced together with Chan.

(More next week)

Header Image: 4th Century Chinese pilgrim monk, Xuanzang