Evidence of the Spread of Buddhism Outside of India During the Buddha Time

Abstract

The spread of Buddhism began since the enlightenment of the Lord Buddha. Most of the evidence of the Buddha’s biography in the Pali scriptures is usually about the story within the land of the India. There are only a few stories outside the India. This may cause some people to think that during the Buddha time, Buddhism was limited to the India only. However, from the study, it was found that there is evidence indicating that the cultural exchange between civilizations has been going on for thousands of years before the Christian era due to various reasons at different times, such as migration, war, trade, education, etc. During the Buddha time, there is evidence in the scriptures showing the travel to spread Buddhism to many places, including the names of many places outside the India. This shows that Buddhism has been spreading outside the India through various methods since the time of the Buddha. From the evidence of ancient sites, antiques, inscriptions, scriptures, local culture, legends, etc., even though this evidence has different weights of credibility, the answers are related and consistent in the same direction, showing that Buddhism has been spreading outside the India since the Buddha time.