Buddhist neighbors
What Buddhist neighbors believe, what they celebrate, and what they wish you’d just ask.
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Questions people ask
- Do Buddhists believe in God? Most Buddhist traditions don’t teach belief in a creator God the way Judaism, Christianity, and Islam do. 3 min read
- What happens when we die? What do different faiths teach? Every major tradition has a teaching about death, and no two are quite the same, though many share a shape. 4 min read
Through time
More than 15,000 years ago: Native peoples in North AmericaAbout 2000 BC: Abraham answers God's callAbout 1500 BC: The Rig VedaAbout 1450 BC: The Exodus and the Torah at SinaiAbout 400 BC to AD 200: The Bhagavad GitaAbout 6 BC: Jesus is bornAbout AD 30: Jesus' death and resurrectionAD 610: The Qur'an's revelation beginsAD 622: The Hijra1469: Guru Nanak is born1699: The Khalsa is founded1787: No religious test for office1791: The First Amendment1820: The First VisionApril 6, 1830: The Church is organized1965: Immigration and Nationality Act1978: American Indian Religious Freedom Act2023–24: 29 percent unaffiliated About 500 BC: The Buddha teachesAbout 250 BC: Emperor Ashoka1st century AD: Buddhism reaches ChinaAD 538 or 552: Buddhism reaches Japan1893: Dharmapala speaks in Chicago1899: Buddhist Mission of North America
- About 500 BCThe Buddha teaches. Siddhartha Gautama becomes the Buddha, the "Awakened One"; Buddhists follow his path to end suffering.
- About 250 BCEmperor Ashoka. India's Emperor Ashoka embraces Buddhism and supports it, helping the teaching spread across India and beyond.
- 1st century ADBuddhism reaches China. Traders and teachers bring Buddhism along the Silk Road to China, where it later becomes a major faith.
- AD 538 or 552Buddhism reaches Japan. A Korean king sends a Buddha statue and scriptures to Japan, where Buddhism soon wins royal support.
- 1893Dharmapala speaks in Chicago. Anagarika Dharmapala of Sri Lanka speaks for South Asia's Buddhists at Chicago's World's Parliament of Religions.
- 1899Buddhist Mission of North America. Japanese immigrants start a Pure Land temple in San Francisco, the root of today's Buddhist Churches of America.