Lecture 2 Flashcards
Who was king asoka
(r. circa 272-231 BCE)
third king of mauryan dynasty
important king for buddhism (and later india)
good at expanding kingdom w force
stories say after he expanded he converted to buddhism and was devoted
did not try and force people to convert but active in trying to convince them without force
put up pillars around empire with inscriptions (declarations of his kingship, icriptions, etc)
why was king asoka important for buddhism
when a king converts to a religion there is a huge spike in the followers
who is Mahinda
one of asoka’s sons (r. circa 247BCE)
sent to sri lanka around this time to spread buddhism and create interest/community
where did buddhism spread to
sri lanka vietnam, burma china korea japan mongolia indonesia tibet
when and how did buddhism spread to vietnams, burma
circa 247 BCE (again from china, approx. 700 lyears later)
when and how did buddhism spread to china
from north west afghanistan/central asia, circa 1st century
enabled spread through silk road
when and how did buddhism spread to korea
from china, late 4th centru
when and how did buddhism spread to japan
via korea, 6th centry
when and how did buddhism spread to mongolia
silk route 4th centry
when and how did buddhism spread to indonesia
from south asia 4th/5th centuries CE
when and how did buddhism spread to tibet
from south asia 7th centry CE
were all the forms of buddhism the same
no, changes slightly with each location
what is the point of cosmologies
provide existential orientation and give meaning and direction to human life
what is cosmology
the ‘big picot’ and how we fit in, what our place is
what is buddhist cosmology
not set out particularly in literature clearly, but found in legends, beliefs that are transferred as part of common culture
