Buddhism in Central Asia before the Kushans

The areas of Central Asia to which Buddhism spread can be divided into three major regions. In modern-day geo-political terms, these are (1) Pakistan, east­ern Iran and Af­ghanistan as far north as the Hindu Kush moun­tains, (2) Af­ghani Turki­stan to the north of the Hin­du Kush, and parts of West Turki­stan, now [1990] under the Soviet Union, and (3) parts of East Turki­stan, now Xinjiang pro­vince of China. 

Pakistan includes the Sindh in the south, with Baluchistan to its west, the western Punjab in the center and the Swat valley to the northwest. Also important are Kashmir and the moun­tainous re­gions of the Karakoram Range, particularly the Gil­git valley to the east of Swat. These areas are currently disputed between India and Pakistan. 

West Turki­stan in­cludes, going from south to nor­th, Taji­ki­stan in the Pamir mountain area, with Turk­menistan to its west, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan in the Tian Shan moun­tains, and Kazakh­stan.

East Turk­istan has two areas. One con­tains the oasis cities to the north and south of the Tak­la­makan desert around the peri­phery of the Tarim Basin. The second is Dzun­garia to the north of that. 

The major ancient kingdoms of these re­gions are located as follows. (1) Gandhara constituted the area of Pakistani and Indian Pun­jab. (2) The lands on both sides of the Khyber Pass, namely northwestern Pakistan, including the Swat valley, and eastern Afghanistan south of the Hindu Kush mountains and east of Kabul con­stituted Oddi­yana (Tib. o-rgyan). This was to the west of Gandhara.

(3) Bactria was the area between the Hindu Kush and the Oxus (Amu Darya) River, to the north of the western half of Oddiyana. It included Afghani Turkis­tan and parts of Turkmen­ia. (4) Tokharistan was the mountainous region of north­east­ern Afghanis­tan, to the east of Bactria.

(5) Par­thia was in northeastern Iran and sometimes reached to the regi­ons north of that in parts of Turk­menistan and western Uzbek­istan. It was to the west of Oddiyana and Bactria. (6) Sog­dia was the West Turkistani region mostly between the Oxus and the Iaxar­tes (Syr Darya) riv­ers. It was to the north of Bactria and ­in­cluded parts of Uzbek­i­stan, Taji­kistan and probably Kyrgyzstan. (7) Ferghana was in the Iaxartes River valley to the east of Sogdia.

The major East Turkistani states along the southern rim of the Tarim Basin, going from west to east, were (8) Kash­gar and (9) Khotan. The major states along the north­ern rim, also from west to east, were (10) Kucha, (11) Karashahr and (12) Turfan. To the east of the Tak­lamakan desert was (13) Dunhuang, in mod­ern-day western Gan­su province of China.

Buddhism traveled along the Silk Route from India to Chi­na. This road had several branches. One route went through Gandhara to Oddiyana and over the Hindu Kush mountains to Bac­tria. From there one could go east to Tokhari­stan, fol­low the course of the Oxus River up the Wakhan Corri­dor and cross the Pamirs to Kashgar. An al­terna­tive route was through either Gilgit or Kashmir and Ladakh, across the Kara­korum Mountains southeast of Kashgar. From Kash­gar, one could take either the northern route through Kucha or the southern one through Kho­tan around the Takla­makan desert. The two routes met at Dun­huang. From there, one conti­nued down the Gansu Corridor to China, reaching Chang’an (modern-day Xi’an) in Shaanxi province and further east to Luoyang.

Another route from Bactria was to continue north to Sogdia, then east through the Ferghana Val­ley. One crossed the Tian Shan mountains south of Lake Issyk-Kul and then joined the nor­th­ern route around the Taklamakan. Par­thia was on the por­tion of the Silk Route that conti­nued westward from Bactria to Greece and Rome.

Shakyamuni Buddha (approximately 480–400 BCE) demonstrated his enligh­tenment at Vajrasana (Bodh Gaya) the age of twenty-nine. Forty-nine days afterwards, at the Deer Park in Sar­nath, Buddha began his first round of teachings. One week later, Tapas­su (Trapusa) and Bhallika (Bahalika), two merchant broth­ers from Bac­tria, became the first disciples to receive layman’s vows. Bhallika later became a monk and built a monas­tery near his home city, Balkh, in pre­sent-day northern Af­ghanistan. He brought with him eight hairs of the Buddha as relics, for which he built a stupa monument.

This first contact that Central Asia had with Buddhism oc­curred during the early Achaemenid Dynasty of Iran. During the reign of its founder, Cyrus II the Great (559–529 BCE), the Achae­menid Em­pire stre­tched from Egypt to Par­thia and Sogdia. The second emperor, Darius I the Great (522–486 BCE) added to it Bac­tria, Od­diyana and Gandhara. 

In 349 BCE, several years after the Second Buddhist Coun­cil, the Mahasanghika tradition of Hinayana split off from the Theravada. It made a great distinction between an arhat (lib­erated being) and a Buddha and can be seen as a forerunner to Mahayana. Although many Mahasanghika fol­lowers stayed in east­ern and southeastern India, a significant number moved to Oddiyana and even further west into present-day central Af­ghanistan. It is unclear if any settled in Gand­hara on their way to Oddi­yana. A Theravada elder, Sambhuta Sanavasi, soon followed and tried to establish his trad­ition in these regi­ons. He was unsuc­cessful, and Maha­sanghika took root.

Several subgroups developed within the Mahasanghika. The most prominent was Lokottaravada, which elevated the Buddha into a transcendent, superhuman figure. This sect later be­came established at Bamyan in the center of the Hindu Kush moun­tains.

In 330 BCE, Alexander the Great of Macedonia conquered most of the Achaemenid Em­pire, including not only Per­sia, but also Parthia, Bactr­ia, Oddiyana and Gan­dhara. He was tolerant of the religious traditions of these regions and seemed in­terested primarily in military conquest. The Sog­dians, in alliance with the nomadic Shakas of the step­pes to the north, resisted very stro­ngly, and the Greeks were unable to subdue them. 

The Shakas had not been a part of the Achaemenid Empire. They spoke an Iranian tongue and were re­lated to the Scy­thians of the Black Sea region. In fact, the Greek sources refer to both as Scyth­ians, while the Iranian term for both is Sakas. Their two cultures were similar. 

The Shakas were not related to the Shakya clan of mo­dern-day south-centr­al Nepal into which the Buddha was born. There is an account, however, that some members of the Shakya clan moved to western Oddiyana soon after the Buddha passed away. Some speculate that the famous skull relic of the Buddha kept in a stupa monument near modern-day Jalalabad in eastern Af­ghanistan was brought there by the Sha­kyas. This is uncertain.

Alexan­der died without any heir. The Greek dyn­as­ty that followed from his general, Seleucus, and which ruled over most of the Achaemenid areas, from Greece to beyond the Indus, was known as the Seleucid. Lasting until 171 BCE, it gradu­al­ly broke apart since it was too pro-Macedonian and never won the full allegiance of the people, neither the local Iranians nor the Greek settlers. 

In 317 BCE, the Greeks with­drew from northern India. Tak­ing advan­tage of this situa­tion, Chan­dragupta Maurya overthrew the local Indian rulers and started the Maurya Dynasty. It was cen­tered in the central part of North India at Magadha, the principal land where the Buddha had taught. In 305 BCE, Chan­dragupta defeated Seleu­cus, who sur­ren­dered eastern Iran, Oddiyana and Gan­dhara to the Indi­ans. These areas, then, were only very superficial­ly Hel­lenized during this period of about twen­ty-five years. The Seleucids, however, re­main­ed in control over Bactr­ia and to the west in Iran until 171 BCE, gradually losing parts of their empire during the years befor­e. 

The great Buddhist King Ashoka ruled the Mauryan Empire from 268 to 232 BCE. Through his missions, Buddhism was fur­ther stren­gthened in Central Asia. Ashoka favored the Therava­da school of Hina­yana, which had not been widely accepted in Central Asia a century earlier. Consequently, to counter the strong Mahasanghika presence, he sent two Theravada masters. Maj­jhan­tika spread Theravada in Gandhara and introduced it to Kashmir, where he foun­ded the city of Srina­gar. Maharakkshita was deputed to the regions where there were still Greek set­tlers. He went primarily to Oddiyana and present-day central and southern Afghanistan. 

Near the end of Ashoka’s rule, the Sarvas­tivada school broke away from the Theravada. The Sarvastivada monastic com­munity left the western part of North India and settled in Kashmir and Gandhara, which then became its stronghold. Thus, Sarvas­tivada quickly joined Mahasanghika and Theravada as the major Budd­hist schools in Central Asia.

After the death of Ashoka in 232 BCE, his son Jaloka be­came the ruler of Kashmir and built the first Sarvastivada monas­tery there. Kashmiri monks then brought Buddhism to the Gilgit area and to what later became known as Tokhari­stan.

Shortly afterwards, there was a re­bellion in Gan­dhara, which was put down by another of Ashok­a’s sons. It is sup­posedly at this time that exiles from Gandh­a­ra went to East Turkistan and founded Khotan. Ac­cor­ding to anoth­er source, it was foun­ded jointly by one of Ashoka’s ministers and a native prince of the area who had been the adop­ted son of a Chinese regional king. In any case, it is clear that the early cul­ture in Kho­tan was a mix­ture of Indian and Chi­nese aspects.

Khotan had Iranian cultural elements as well. Khotanese is a Mid­dle Iranian tongue, with many borrowed terms from Indian lan­gua­ges. Some early Zoroas­tr­ian influence is evidenced by the Khotanese word for “sun,” “urmaysde,” being a cognate of Ormazd, ano­ther name for Ahura Mazda. During the second century BCE, with the military movements of the Shaka and Yuezhi through Sogdia and Bactria, many Iranian peoples of these areas fled to northern Tibet and Khotan. Some Russian scholars postulate that certain aspects of the Bon religion developed from their interaction with the Tibetans there over the next several centuries.

All so­urces agree that B­uddhism only came to Kho­tan 165 years after its fou­nd­ing. This was the Hina­yana Sar­vasti­vada school from Kashmir in the mid-first cen­tury BCE. It was in­troduced by a mission led by the monk Vairochana during the reign of the Khotanese King Vijayasambahva. Shortly after­wards, several stupas and monasteries were built.

During the mid-third century BCE, the local nobility and Greek commu­nity of Bactria, led by the Greek Diodot­us, had rebe­lled against the Mace­donian domination of the Seleu­cids. Bact­ria became independent of the Seleucid Empire in 239 BCE and was joined with Sogdia as a Greco-Bac­trian king­dom. It in­cluded Kashmir as well. In 197 BCE, Bactria conquered Oddi­yana and Gan­dhara from the Mauryas. 

A period of cross-cultural influence between Greek and Indian culture now began in the area from Sogdia to Gandhara. Greek medicine, astrology and art affected the tradi­tions in the northwestern part of the Indian sub-continent. The Indian Sar­vas­tivada scho­ol of Hinayana came to Bac­tria from Gandhara and Kashmir. This interaction between Greek and Indian civili­zation had far-reaching effects in Europe and India. It conti­nued during the ensuing centuries when this area of Central Asia was ruled by the Kushans.

Sarvas­tivada most likely spread to Sog­dia as well during the Greco-Bactrian period. Al­though there had been a Buddhist monas­tery in Bactria at the time of the Bud­dha, it is unclear how long afterwards the Buddhist pre­sence continued. It is also uncer­tain if Mahasan­ghika spread from Oddiyana to Bac­tria prior to the advent of Sarvas­tivada to the area. 

Despite the efforts of King Ashoka’s missions, Theravada was not strong in the Greco-Bactrian regions. Nevertheless, there was a presence of this Hinayana tradition. One of the Grec­o-Bac­trian kings who follow­ed, Menan­dros (Pal­i: Mil­in­da, ruled 165/155–130 BCE), was a follower of Theravada due to the influence of the Indian monk Nagasena. In Gandhara, in modern-day nor­theastern Pakistan across the bor­der from Jammu, the king put many questions to this Indian master. Their dialogue became known as the Milindapañho (Questions of Milinda). Shor­tly afterwards, relations were established between the Greco-Bactrian state and Sri Lanka. As a consequence of this cultu­ral contact, the Milindapañho was transmitted orally to Sri Lanka. It later be­came an extracan­on­ical text in the Thera­vada tra­di­tion. 

In 247 BCE, Arsaces took control of Par­thia, extend­ing its area and declaring inde­pendence from the Se­leu­cids. But unlike Bactria, the rebe­llion in Par­thia was started by Irani­an noma­dic tribes who wanted to get rid of the Greek community. They allied with nomads to the north in modern-day Turkmen­istan. Arsa­ces died in 211 BCE, after establish­ing the kingdom of Par­thia. Full indepen­dence from the Seleu­cids was gained only in 171 BCE. 

The Parthians built a large empire, stretch­ing from Babylon through all of Persia and includ­ing mo­dern-day Turkmenistan and Baluchistan. This period of Par­thian rule was known as the Arsacid Dynasty and lasted until 226 CE. 

The Parthian Empire underwent two periods. During the first, from 171 BCE to 10 CE, there was a stro­ng Hel­lenic cultural influence. The Greek lan­guage was used to a great extent, and there was religious tolerance, or per­haps even indifference, to Zoroastrianism, Mithraism and the spread­ing Bud­dhism. The kings were preoccupied with their wars with Rome, with which they shared a border in Babylon. In 53 BCE, they defeated the attacking Romans and thus cut off any Latin influence in the Greco-Iranian-Indian cultural area to the east. 

From 10 to 162 CE, Parthia underwent a very Persian na­tion­alistic period. The use of the Greek script was reduced, and the Pahlavi alphabet became more and more prominent. The Zoro­astrian holy text, the Avesta, was compiled. There was offi­cial opposition to all things foreign, especially Roman and Greek, al­though there does not seem to have been any per­secu­tion of Buddhism. 

The Parthian Empire was roughly contempo­rary with the Han Dynasty of China (206 BCE – 220 CE), it maintained diplomatic and trade relations with the Chinese court. The Silk Route from China to Rome passed through Par­thia, and both the Chinese and Parthians were anxious to keep it open.

In approximately 190 BCE, the Dharma­guptaka school also broke away from Theravada. This took place in the weakened Maur­yan state of North India that had lost Oddiyana, Gandhara and Kashmir to the Gre­co-Bactrians. Dharmaguptaka first estab­lished it­self in the Gujarat and Sindh areas. From there, it spread to Oddi­yana and especi­ally to the easte­rn areas of the Parthian Empire. From Par­thia, it went to China and, to a limited ex­tent, Khot­an. This spread to China occurred most strongly in the second and third centu­ries CE but began with the arrival of An Shigao (安世高) in Luoyang in 148 CE. An Shigao was the first historically documented translator of Buddhist scriptures into Chinese.  

Dharma­guptaka did not make much of an inroad in Sog­dia, Bac­tria or northern East Turkistan, where Sar­vasti­vada domi­nated. In China as well, Sar­vasti­vada was the major Hina­yana school. It was brought by monks and merchants from Sogdia and the other Sarvastivada areas with which China had trade. Its abhi­dharma teachings on special know­ledge were widely stud­ied. Nevertheless, the pre­sent-day vinaya tradi­tion of monks and nuns in China, Kore­a, Viet­nam and the one found previous­ly in Japan is from the Dhar­maguptaka tradi­tion. This is because the text that provided the foundation for the Dharmaguptaka ordination was translated into Chinese in Luoyang by the Parthian monk Tandi (曇諦) in 255 CE and, shortly afterwards, the Indian monk Dharmakāla and gave ordination according to the Dharmaguptaka recension of the vows. Another Parthian monk, Dao An (道安), in the mid-fourth century, formulated strict monastic rules to supplement the Dharmaguptaka vows in bringing about monastic harmony.

Buddhism began to appear in Central Asia from the time of the Buddha Shakyamuni. During the subsequent centuries, many of the Hinayana schools that developed in India spread as well to Central Asia. The most prominent were:

1. Mahasanghika and Lokottaravada in Oddiyana and central Afghanistan
2. Sarvas­ti­vada in Kashmir, Gandhara, Khotan, Bactria and Sogdia
3. Dharma­gupta in Parthia.

Although there were two attempts to spread Theravada in Central Asia, it re­mained a minor tradition, found mostly in Gandhara. The major cultures en­countered were Iranian and Greek. Their most promi­nent influ­ence on Buddhism was in the field of painting and sculpture. The Buddhist scriptures were transmitted orally in all these areas. Except for Thera­vada, the language used was Bud­dhist Hybrid Sanskrit, a sligh­tly colloquial variant of class­ical Sanskrit. Many monasteries were built, mostly in caves. The political changes in Central Asia during these first cen­turies little affected the development of Buddhism.