Mind-Benders of Buddhist History
All true, and all a little hard to believe — collisions of time, journey, and mind across the Buddhist world.
A life across the mapA Silk Road pilgrim six centuries before Marco Polo
Around 629 CE, in the early years of the Tang dynasty, the Chinese monk Xuanzang set out across the deserts and mountain passes of Central Asia toward India — and he is recorded as having left against an imperial travel ban. He followed Silk Road routes that the Venetian traveler Marco Polo would cross in the opposite direction, toward China, more than six hundred years later.
How we know
Xuanzang departed c. 629 CE (some sources 627 CE; Tang founded 618 CE); Marco Polo left Venice in 1271 CE — a gap of ~642 years.
The pilgrim who took the sea route through Sumatra
Unlike the overland pilgrims, the monk Yijing sailed to India by ship, departing around 671 CE and returning around 695 CE. On the way he stopped for extended study in Srivijaya (in what is now Sumatra, Indonesia), then a thriving center of Buddhist learning, and he later advised India-bound monks to prepare there first. He spent roughly a decade at the monastic university of Nalanda and brought back close to 400 Sanskrit texts.
How we know
Yijing sailed for India c. 671 CE, studied ~10 years at Nalanda, stopped in Srivijaya (Sumatra) both ways, and returned to China in 695 CE with ~400 Sanskrit texts (Wikipedia; Encyclopedia.com; Tsadra Foundation Buddha-Nature).
One teacher, two epic voyages — to Sumatra, then over the Himalayas
Before he ever went to Tibet, the Indian master Atiśa is traditionally said to have sailed to Suvarṇadvīpa (Sumatra) and studied there for about twelve years under the teacher known as Serlingpa. Decades later, in 1042 CE, he crossed the Himalayas into Tibet at roughly the age of sixty; he never returned to India, dying at Nyethang near Lhasa in 1054.
How we know
Atiśa Dīpaṃkara Śrījñāna, b. c. 982 CE (Bengal); c. 12 years in Suvarṇadvīpa/Sumatra under Dharmakīrtiśrī (Serlingpa), returned to India c. 1025; arrived Tibet (Ngari) 1042 CE at age ~60; d. 1054 CE at Nyethang near Lhasa (Wikipedia; Treasury of Lives).
The illiterate woodcutter who became a patriarch
Huineng (638–713) is traditionally described in the Platform Sutra as a poor, illiterate woodcutter from southern China who never learned to read, yet he came to be recognized in the Chan tradition as its Sixth Patriarch, and the text attributed to his teachings remains one of the most influential in Chinese Buddhism. He lived during the Tang dynasty (618–907).
How we know
Huineng, Sixth Patriarch of Chan Buddhism, c. 638–713 CE, Tang dynasty (618–907); the Platform Sutra is the text traditionally attributed to him.
A life that spanned two centuries
The Chan master Xuyun is commonly dated 1840-1959, which would make him about 119 years old at his death (traditionally reckoned as 120 in the Chinese counting system). His life is said to have spanned the late Qing empire, the short-lived Republic of China, and the early People's Republic; his birth year of 1840 is debated among scholars, though his 1959 death is well documented.
How we know
Xuyun (Hsu Yun): commonly dated 1840-1959; death (13 Oct 1959) securely documented, 1840 birth traditional but disputed; 1959-1840 = 119 yrs Western count, 120 by traditional Chinese (sui) reckoning.
Translations still recited after sixteen centuries
Kumārajīva (344–413), born in Kucha on the Silk Road and later working in Chang'an, produced Chinese renderings of texts such as the Lotus Sutra and the Diamond Sutra that remain the standard, widely recited versions across East Asia more than 1,600 years later.
How we know
Kumārajīva, c. 344–413 CE; born Kucha (Central Asia), translated at Chang'an under Later Qin patronage (arrived c. 401); his Lotus and Diamond Sutra renderings remain the standard East Asian versions. 2026 − 413 = 1,613 years (> 1,600).
From fleeing the Himalayas to founding a university
Chögyam Trungpa (1939–1987) fled Tibet in 1959, crossing the Himalayas into exile, and in 1974 founded the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado. In 1988 it became the first Buddhist-inspired academic institution in North America to earn United States regional accreditation — just 14 years after its founding and within three decades of his mountain crossing.
How we know
Chögyam Trungpa b. 5 Mar 1939, d. 4 Apr 1987; fled Tibet 1959 (post-uprising); founded Naropa Institute 1974 (Boulder, CO); Naropa regionally accredited by the North Central Association 1988 (first Buddhist-inspired academic institution in the US to be so accredited). Sources: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chögyam_Trungpa, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naropa_University.
Three teachers, one century
The Buddha in India, Confucius in China, and Pythagoras in Greece all belonged to the same brief span of world history — the sixth-to-fifth centuries BCE — teaching within roughly a hundred years of one another, though the Buddha's exact dates (around 480–400 BCE on the shorter academic chronology) are still debated by historians.
How we know
Confucius 551–479 BCE; Pythagoras c. 570–495 BCE; the Buddha c. 480–400 BCE (short academic chronology; traditionally 563–483 BCE) — all active within the 6th–5th centuries BCE.
The monk and the Mongol invasions
The Japanese teacher Nichiren (1222-1282) lived through both Mongol invasions of Japan, in 1274 and 1281, launched by Kublai Khan (1215-1294), a grandson of Genghis Khan. Nichiren died in 1282, the year after the second fleet was scattered.
How we know
Nichiren 1222-1282; Mongol invasions of Japan 1274 and 1281; Kublai Khan 1215-1294 (grandson of Genghis Khan).
Born into Genghis Khan's world
Sakya Paṇḍita (1182–1251), one of Tibet's foremost Buddhist scholars, was born while Genghis Khan (c. 1162–1227) was still a young man gathering his following. In 1247 Sakya Paṇḍita met Genghis's grandson, Prince Godan, at Liangzhou and negotiated the terms under which Tibet came under Mongol authority.
How we know
Sakya Paṇḍita 1182–1251; Genghis Khan c. 1162–1227 (birth year debated, hence "c."); Prince Godan/Köden = son of Ögedei, grandson of Genghis; Liangzhou (Wuwei) meeting 1247.
Two Buddhists at the 1893 Chicago Parliament
At the World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893, the Sri Lankan revivalist Anagārika Dharmapāla (1864–1933) addressed the delegates in person at age 29 — while the paper presented for the Japanese Zen master Soyen Shaku had been translated into English by his young student, the future writer D. T. Suzuki (1870–1966), then in his early twenties.
How we know
World's Parliament of Religions, Chicago (Sept 11–27, 1893): Anagārika Dharmapāla (b. 17 Sept 1864, d. 1933) spoke in person; Soyen Shaku's paper "The Law of Cause and Effect as Taught by Buddha," translated by D. T. Suzuki (b. 18 Oct 1870, d. 1966; then 22), was read aloud by an organizer.
The monk behind Japan's ABCs
Kūkai (774–835), founder of the Shingon school of Buddhism, is traditionally credited with composing the iroha — a poem that uses each character of the Japanese kana syllabary exactly once — and in popular tradition he was long honored as a shaper of the kana writing system itself.
How we know
Kūkai (Kōbō Daishi), 774–835 CE, founder of Shingon Buddhism; the iroha is a 47-kana pangram traditionally (but doubtfully, per modern scholarship) ascribed to him. Sources: Wikipedia "Kūkai" and "Iroha".
The real pilgrim behind the Monkey King
The monk Xuanzang's 16-year overland journey to India (629–645) to gather and translate Buddhist scriptures became the historical seed of the Ming-era novel "Journey to the West" (earliest surviving edition c. 1592), whose pilgrim-monk Tang Sanzang is modeled on him. Its fictional companion, the Monkey King Sun Wukong, went on to become one of the most famous characters in all of Chinese literature.
How we know
Xuanzang c. 602–664 CE; pilgrimage to India 629–645 (16-year absence, per his collaborators' biographies; a 627 start appears in some East Asian versions); "Journey to the West" earliest surviving edition 1592 (Ming dynasty), monk-character Tang Sanzang based on Xuanzang, companion Sun Wukong.
‘Dalai’ is a Mongolian word for ‘ocean’
The title "Dalai Lama" was first conferred in 1578, when the Mongol ruler Altan Khan honored Sonam Gyatso; "dalai" is Mongolian for "ocean" and "lama" is Tibetan for "teacher." The man now counted as the First Dalai Lama, Gendun Drup, had died in 1474 — 104 years before the title existed — and received his number only in retrospect.
How we know
Title conferred by Altan Khan on Sonam Gyatso in 1578; Gendun Drup (b. 1391, d. 1474) numbered First Dalai Lama posthumously; 1578 − 1474 = 104 years.
The ruler who began the Potala Palace
The Fifth Dalai Lama (1617–1682), known as "the Great Fifth," became the political ruler of a unified Tibet in 1642 and began construction of the Potala Palace in Lhasa around 1645; the Ganden Phodrang government he established endured until 1959 — some 317 years.
How we know
Fifth Dalai Lama Ngawang Lobzang Gyatso b.1617 d.1682; unified Tibet under Ganden Phodrang 1642 (with Gushri Khan); Potala Palace White Palace begun 1645; Ganden Phodrang government ended 1959. 1959−1642 = 317 years.
India's constitution-drafter founded a modern Buddhist movement
B. R. Ambedkar (1891-1956), who chaired the drafting committee of independent India's constitution and served as its first Law Minister, publicly embraced Buddhism at a mass ceremony in Nagpur on 14 October 1956, launching the movement later known as Navayana. He died 53 days later, on 6 December 1956, and his book 'The Buddha and His Dhamma' was published posthumously the following year.
How we know
Ambedkar (b. 14 Apr 1891, d. 6 Dec 1956) converted to Buddhism at Nagpur (Deekshabhoomi) on 14 Oct 1956; 'The Buddha and His Dhamma' published posthumously 1957.
At 76 he addressed the UN General Assembly Hall
On 29 August 2000, the Vipassana teacher S. N. Goenka — a former businessman from a family of Indian merchants in Burma — spoke to the Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders inside the United Nations General Assembly Hall in New York. He was 76 at the time.
How we know
S. N. Goenka b. 30 Jan 1924, d. 29 Sep 2013; addressed the Millennium World Peace Summit at the UN General Assembly Hall, New York, on 29 Aug 2000 (Wikipedia; vridhamma.org).
The first Buddhist monk to hold a Western university chair
In 1964 the Sri Lankan monk Walpola Rahula became a professor at Northwestern University in Illinois — described as the first Buddhist monk to hold a full professorial chair in the Western world. He was 57, and his book "What the Buddha Taught" had appeared five years earlier.
How we know
Walpola Rahula Thera (9 May 1907 – 18 September 1997): appointed Professor of History and Literature of Religions at Northwestern University in 1964, first bhikkhu to hold a professorial chair in the West; "What the Buddha Taught" published 1959. (Wikipedia; Encyclopedia of Buddhism)
The first Zen monastery outside Asia
Shunryū Suzuki arrived in San Francisco in 1959 and, in 1967, helped establish Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in the mountains of central California — often described as the first Zen Buddhist monastery founded outside Asia. He was 63 the year it opened.
How we know
Shunryū Suzuki: b. May 18, 1904 – d. Dec 4, 1971; arrived San Francisco May 23, 1959 (age 55); Tassajara Zen Mountain Center founded 1967 (age 63), widely cited as the first Zen monastery outside Asia (Santa Lucia Mts / Ventana Wilderness, inland from Big Sur).
An English-born writer became a leading voice of Zen in the West
Alan Watts was born in Chislehurst, England, in 1915 and never trained as a monk in Asia; earlier in life he had even been ordained an Episcopal priest. His 1957 book 'The Way of Zen,' written when he was about 42, became one of the most widely read English-language introductions to the subject.
How we know
Alan Watts: born Chislehurst, Kent, England, 6 Jan 1915; ordained Episcopal priest 1945 (age 30); 'The Way of Zen' published 1957 (age 42); died 16 Nov 1973. (Wikipedia; Britannica)
Every fact here is hand-verified. Tap “How we know” on any card for the dates behind it.