History of Buddhism

The story begins at two brahmanical villages in India, called Upatissa and Kolita, which lay not far from the city Rajagaha. Before our Buddha had appeared in the world a brahman lady named Sari, living in Upatissa village,conceived; and also, on the same day at Kolita village, did another brahman lady whose name was Moggalli.

In many temples of Sri Lanka you will find on either side of the Buddha image, the statues of two monks. Their robes are draped over one shoulder and they stand in the attitude of reverence, with joined palms. Quite often there are a few flowers at their feet, laid there by some pious devotee.

If you ask who they are, you will be told that they are the Enlightened One's two Chief Disciples, the Arahats Sariputta and Maha Moggallana. They stand in the positions they occupied in life. Sariputta on the Buddha's right, Maha Moggallana on his left.

A. The presence of Buddhism in Vietnam

Buddhism was transmitted to Vietnam at the end of the second century and in the beginning of the third century by masters Khuong Tang Hoi and Mau Bac. Until the sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries, other lineages appeared such as Vinitaruci and Wu Yen Tong. The existence of these lineages had made Buddhism more dominant. In the tenth and eleventh centuries (after Dinh, Le, Ly, and Tran dynasties), Vietnam became independent. Buddhism had been a great contribution to the formation of Vietnam and the religious learning.

Xuanzang, world-famous for his sixteen-year pilgrimage to India and career as a translator of Buddhist scriptures, is one of the most illustrious figures in the history of scholastic Chinese Buddhism. Born into a scholarly family at the outset of the Tang (T’ang) Dynasty, he enjoyed a classical Confucian education. Under the influence of his elder brother, a Buddhist monk, however, he developed a keen interest in Buddhist subjects and soon became a monk himself at the age of thirteen.