Early Buddhism

The term Early Buddhism can refer to:

• Pre-sectarian Buddhism, which refers to the Teachings and monastic organization and structure, founded by Gautama Buddha.
• The Early Buddhist schools, into which pre-sectarian Buddhism split (without formal schisms, in the sense of Vinaya).

The period of Pre-sectarian Buddhism lasted until about 150 years after the death of Gautama Buddha. The various splits within the monastic organization went together with the introduction and emphasis on Abhidhammic literature by some schools. This literature was specific to each school, and arguments and disputes between the schools were often based on these Abhidhammic writings. However, actual splits were originally based on disagreements on vinaya (monastic discipline), though later on, by about 100 CE or earlier, they could be based on doctrinal disagreement. Pre-sectarian Buddhism, however, did not have Abhidhammic scriptures, except perhaps for a basic framework, and not all of the early schools developed an Abhidhamma literature.

Several hundreds of years after the advent of Mahayana Buddhism (in the fifth century CE), the early Buddhist schools entered a period of decline in India, while Mahayana Buddhism became stronger. The seventh century Chinese pilgirm Xuanzang reports, however, that non-Mahayana Buddhists continued to comprise a substantial majority of Buddhists in India at that time, and it is likely that this was the case right up to the end of Buddhism in India altogether.

Timeline: Development and propagation of Buddhist traditions (c. 450 BCE – c. 1300 CE)
	450 BCE		250 BCE	100 CE		500 CE		700 CE	800 CE		1200 CE
Indien	Early Sangha
		Early Buddhist schools				Mahāyāna		Vajrayāna
Sri Lanka & Southeast Asia
			Theravāda
Tibetan Buddhism								Nyingma
										Kadam
										Kagyu
											Dagpo
										Sakya
											Jonang
East Asia				Early Buddhist schools and Mahāyāna (via the silk road to China, and ocean contact from India to Vietnam)			Tangmi
							Nara (Rokushū)		Shingon
						Chan
								Thiền, Seon
										Zen
						Tiantai / Jìngtǔ
									Tendai
											Nichiren
											Jōdo-shū
Central Asia & Tarim Basin			Greco-Buddhism
			Silk Road Buddhism
	450 BCE		250 BCE	100 CE		500 CE		700 CE	800 CE		1200 CE
Legend:   = Theravada   = Mahayana   = Vajrayana   = Various / syncretic

Sources

• Buswell, Jr., Robert E. (ed.) (2003). Encyclopedia of Buddhism (MacMillan). ISBN 0-02-865718-7.
• Cousins, L.S. (1996). "The Dating of the Historical Buddha: A Review Article" in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Series 3, 6.1 (1996): 57-63. Retrieved 29 Nov 2008 from "Indology" at http://indology.info/papers/cousins/.
• Embree, Ainslie T. (ed.), Stephen N. Hay (ed.), Wm. Theodore de Bary (ed.), A.L. Bashram, R.N. Dandekar, Peter Hardy, J.B. Harrison, V. Raghavan, Royal Weiler, and Andrew Yarrow (1958; 2nd ed. 1988). Sources of Indian Tradition: From the Beginning to 1800 (vol. 1). NY: Columbia U. Press. ISBN 0-231-06651-1.
• Gombrich, Richard F. (1988; 6th reprint, 2002). Theravāda Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benares to Modern Colombo (London: Routledge). ISBN 0-415-07585-8.
• Harvey, Peter (1990; 15th printing, 2007). An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). ISBN 0-521-31333-3.
• Keown, Damien and Charles S Prebish (eds.) (2004). Encyclopedia of Buddhism (London: Routledge). ISBN 978-0-415-31414-5.
• Robinson, Richard H. and Willard L. Johnson (1970; 3rd ed., 1982). The Buddhist Religion: A Historical Introduction (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing). ISBN 0-534-01027-X.
• Williams, Paul with Anthony Tribe (2000). Buddhist Thought (London: Routledge). ISBN 0-415-20701-0. Retrieved 29 Nov 2008 from "Google Books" at http://books.google.com/books?id=v0Rpvycf1t0C.