Kanishka was a king of the Kushan Empire in South Asia, in the 2nd century of the common era, famous for his military, political, and spiritual achievements. His capital was in the modern city of Peshawar in Pakistan. Kanishka - A great Kushan king. Kanishka was a Kushan of Yuezhi ethnicity. He probably spoke an Indo-European language related to Tocharian, and he used the Greek script in his inscriptions. Kanishka was the successor of Vima Kadphises, as demonstrated by an impressive geneaology of the ...

Including:

• Kanishka - A great Kushan king
• Kanishka - Conquests in India and Central Asia
• Kanishka - Kanishka's coinage
• Kanishka - Hellenistic phase
• Kanishka - Iranian/Indian phase
• Kanishka - Kanishka and Buddhism
• Kanishka - Buddhist coinage
• Kanishka - Kanishka casket
• Kanishka - Transmission of Buddhism to China
• Kanishka - Notes

Read more here: » Kanishka: Encyclopedia - Kanishka

Kanishka kanishka (Sanskrit) A celebrated ruler or king in Northern India who reigned around the first century. Next to Asoka, he was among the greatest patrons and supporters of Indian Buddhism, building some of the finest stupas or dagobas in Northern India and Kabulistan.

(See also: Kanishka, kanishka, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Kanishka's reputation in Buddhist tradition is based mainly on his having convened the 4th Buddhist Council in Kashmir. This council is attributed with having encouraged the spread of Mahayana Buddhism. He provided encouragement to both the Gandhara school of Greco-Buddhist Art and the Mathura school of Hindu art (An inescapable religious syncretism pervades Kushana rule). Kanishka personally seems to have embr ...

See also:

Kanishka, Kanishka - A great Kushan king, Kanishka - Conquests in India and Central Asia, Kanishka - Kanishka's coinage, Kanishka - Hellenistic phase, Kanishka - Iranian/Indian phase, Kanishka - Kanishka and Buddhism, Kanishka - Buddhist coinage, Kanishka - Kanishka casket, Kanishka - Transmission of Buddhism to China, Kanishka - Notes

Read more here: » Kanishka: Encyclopedia II - Kanishka - Kanishka and Buddhism

The first Buddhist council was held soon after the death of the Buddha under the patronage of king Ajatasatru, and presided by a monk named Mahakasyapa, at Rajagaha (today's Rajgir). Its objective was to record the Buddha's sayings (sutra) and codify monastic rules (vinaya). Buddhist Councils - 2nd Buddhist council 383 BC. The second Buddhist council was convened by king Kalasoka and held at Vaisali, following conflicts between the conservative and liberal elements of Sangha. The conservative school ...

Including:

• Buddhist Councils - 1st Buddhist council 5th century BC
• Buddhist Councils - 2nd Buddhist council 383 BC
• Buddhist Councils - 3rd Buddhist council c. 250 BC
• Buddhist Councils - 4th Buddhist council c. 100 AD
• Buddhist Councils - 5th Buddhist council c. 1871 A.D
• Buddhist Councils - 6th Buddhist council c. 1954 A.D

Read more here: » Buddhist Councils

Buddhism: History of the Buddhist schools

Three months after the passing of Gautama Buddha, The First Council was held at Rajagaha by his immediate disciples who had attained Arahantship (Enlightenment). Maha Kassapa, the most respected and elderly monk, presided at the Council. Only two sections the Dhamma and the Vinaya were recited at the First Council. All Arahants unanimously agree that no disciplinary rule laid down by the Buddha should be changed, and no new ones should be introduced. At this point, no conflict about what the Buddha taught is known to have occurred, so the teachings were divided into various parts and each was assigned to an elder and his pupils to commit to memory. These groups of people often cross-checked with each other to ensure that no omissions or additions were made.

Read more here: » Buddhism: History of the Buddhist schools

Buddhism after the Buddha

Buddhism spread slowly in India until the powerful Mauryan emperor Asoka converted to it and actively supported it. His promotion led to construction of Buddhist religious sites and missionary efforts that spread the faith into the countries listed at the beginning of the article.

Read more here: » Buddhism: Buddhism after the Buddha

The Kushan Empire (c. 1st–3rd centuries) was a state that at its height, about 105–250, stretched from Tajikistan to the Caspian Sea to Afghanistan and down into the Ganges river valley in northern India. The empire was created by the Kushan tribe of the Yuezhi, a people from modern Xinjiang, China, possibly related to the Tocharians. They had diplomatic contacts with Rome, Sassanian Persia and China, and for several centuries were at the center of exchange between the East and the West. Kushan Empire - Origins. < ...

Including:

• Kushan Empire - Origins
• Kushan Empire - A multi-cultural Empire
• Kushan Empire - Heraios 1-30 CE
• Kushan Empire - Kujula Kadphises 30-80 CE
• Kushan Empire - Vima Taktu 80-105 CE
• Kushan Empire - Vima Kadphises 105-127 CE
• Kushan Empire - Kanishka I 127-147 CE
• Kushan Empire - The Kushans and Buddhism
• Kushan Empire - Depiction of Kushan devotees in the art of Gandhara
• Kushan Empire - Contacts with Rome
• Kushan Empire - Contacts with China
• Kushan Empire - Decline
• Kushan Empire - Main Kushan rulers

Read more here: » Kushan Empire: Encyclopedia - Kushan Empire

Vima Kadphises was a Kushan emperor from around 90-100 CE. As detailed by the Rabatak inscription, he was the son of Vima Takto and the father of Kanishka. Vima Kadphises added to the Kushan territory by his conquests in Afghanistan and north-west India. He was the first to introduce gold coinage in India, in addition to the existing copper and silver coinage. Most of the gold seems to have been obtained through trade with the Roman Empire. The gold weight standard of approximately eight grams corresponds to that of the ...

Read more here: » Vima Kadphises: Encyclopedia - Vima Kadphises

Ašvaghosa (?80-?150 CE) was an Indian philosopher-poet, born in Saketa in Central India. He is believed to have been the first Sanskrit dramatist, and is considered the greatest Indian poet before Kalidasa. He was first a student of non-Buddhist teaching, but upon losing an argument with Parshva converted to Buddhism. He became a religious adviser to the Kushan king Kanishka. He is said to be the author of the influential Buddhist text Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana. He also wrote a life of the Buddha called Buddhac ...

Read more here: » Asvaghosa: Encyclopedia - Asvaghosa

Bagrām (Also Begram, anciently Kapici or Kapisa) is an antique city 60 kilometers northwest of Kabul in Afghanistan, near today's city of Charikar. It was built at the junction of the Ghorband and the Panjshir valley, acting as a passage point to India on the Silk Road, towards Kabul and Bamiyan. Bagram - Origins. The city was destroyed by Cyrus, restored by Darius, and then fortified and rebuilt by Alexander the Great as Alexandria of the Caucasus. Begram then became one of the capita ...

Including:

• Bagram - Origins
• Bagram - The Begram treasure
• Bagram - Today

Read more here: » Bagram: Encyclopedia - Bagram

An aureola or aureole (diminutive of Latin aura, "air") is the radiance of luminous cloud which, in paintings of sacred personages, surrounds the whole figure. In the earliest periods of Christian art this splendour was confined to the figures of the persons of the Christian Godhead, but it was afterwards extended to the Virgin Mary and to several of the saints. The aureola, when enveloping the whole body, generally appears oval or elliptical in form, but occasionally circular or quatrefoil. When it appears merely ...

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Lokaksema (Ch: 支娄迦谶 Zhi Loujiachan， sometimes abbreviated 支谶 Zhi Chan), born around 147 CE, The name "Lokaksema" translates into 'welfare of the world' in Sanskrit. He is the earliest known Buddhist monk to have translated Mahayana Buddhist scriptures into the Chinese language. Lokaksema - Origins. Lokaksema was a Kushan of Yuezhi ethnicity from Gandhara. His ethnicity is described in his adopted Chinese name by the prefix Zhi (Ch:支), abbreviation of Yuezhi (Ch:� ...

Including:

• Lokaksema - Origins
• Lokaksema - Activity in China
• Lokaksema - References:
• Lokaksema - Notes

Read more here: » Lokaksema: Encyclopedia - Lokaksema

Ayodhya (Sanskrit: अयोध्या, IAST Ayodhyā) is an ancient city of India, the old capital of Awadh, in the Faizabad district of Uttar Pradesh. Under the British Raj the city and the administrative area around it was called Oudh. It is on the right bank of the river Gogra, 555 km east of New Delhi. The word ayodhya is Sanskrit for "not to be warred against". Some Puranas like the Brahmanda Purana (4/40/91) consider Ayodhya as one of the six holiest cities. In the first few centuries A.D. it was caled Ś ...

Including:

• Ayodhya - Legacy and Importance
• Ayodhya - Ayodhya Debate
• Ayodhya - Terrorist Attack

Read more here: » Ayodhya: Encyclopedia - Ayodhya

The first Buddhist council was held soon after the death of the Buddha under the patronage of king Ajatasatru, and presided by a monk named Mahakasyapa, at Rajagaha (today's Rajgir). Its objective was to record the Buddha's sayings (sutra) and codify monastic rules (vinaya). Buddhist Councils - 2nd Buddhist council 383 BC. The second Buddhist council was convened by king Kalasoka and held at Vaisali, following conflicts between the conservative and liberal elements of Sangha. The conservative school ...

Including:

• Buddhist Councils - 1st Buddhist council 5th century BC
• Buddhist Councils - 2nd Buddhist council 383 BC
• Buddhist Councils - 3rd Buddhist council c. 250 BC
• Buddhist Councils - 4th Buddhist council c. 100 AD
• Buddhist Councils - 5th Buddhist council c. 1871 A.D
• Buddhist Councils - 6th Buddhist council c. 1954 A.D

Read more here: » Buddhist Councils: Encyclopedia - Buddhist Councils

Greco-Buddhism, sometimes spelled Græco-Buddhism, is the cultural syncretism between the culture of Classical Greece and Buddhism, which developed over a period of close to 800 years in Central Asia in the area corresponding to modern-day Afghanistan and Pakistan, between the 4th century BCE and the 5th century CE. Greco-Buddhism influenced the artistic (and, possibly, conceptual) development of Buddhism, and in particular Mahayana Buddhism, before it was adopted by Central and Northeastern Asia from the 1st century CE, ultima ...

Including:

• Greco-Buddhism - Historical outline
• Greco-Buddhism - Religious interactions
• Greco-Buddhism - Alexander the Great in Bactria and India 331-325
• Greco-Buddhism - The Mauryan empire 322–183 BCE
• Greco-Buddhism - The Greek presence in Bactria 325 to 125 BCE
• Greco-Buddhism - The Indo-Greek kingdom and Buddhism 180 BCE –10 CE
• Greco-Buddhism - The Kushan empire 1st–3rd century CE
• Greco-Buddhism - Artistic influences
• Greco-Buddhism - The anthropomorphic representation of the Buddha
• Greco-Buddhism - A Hellenized Buddhist pantheon
• Greco-Buddhism - Greco-Buddhism and the rise of the Mahayana
• Greco-Buddhism - Conceptual influences
• Greco-Buddhism - Gandharan proselytism
• Greco-Buddhism - Intellectual influences in Asia
• Greco-Buddhism - Greco-Buddhism and the West
• Greco-Buddhism - Exchanges
• Greco-Buddhism - Religious influences
• Greco-Buddhism - Notes

Read more here: » Greco-Buddhism: Encyclopedia - Greco-Buddhism

Kanishka (Sanskrit). A King of the Tochari, who flourished when the third Buddhist Synod met in Kashmir, i.e., about the middle of the last century B.C., a great patron of Buddhism, he built the finest stupas or dagobas in Northern India and Kabulistan.

(See also: Kanishka, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Detail of the Indra, Buddha, Brahman trilogy. Detail of Kanishka, surrounded by the Sun-God and the Moon-God. Detail of the Buddha, surrounded by cherubs, with devotee or bodhisattava. Detail of the flight of sacred geese, or Hamsa. ...

See also:

Kanishka casket, Kanishka casket - Details

Read more here: » Kanishka casket: Encyclopedia II - Kanishka casket - Details

Cultural exchanges also flourished, encouraging the development of Greco-Buddhism, a fusion of Hellenistic and Buddhist cultural elements, that was to expand into central and northern Asia as Mahayana Buddhism. Kanishka is renowned in Buddhist tradition for having convened a great Buddhist council in Kashmir. This council is attributed with having marked the official beginning of the pantheistic Mahayana Buddhism and its schism with Nikaya Buddhism. Kanishka also had the original Gandhari vernacular, or Prakrit, Mahayana Buddhist text ...

See also:

Kushan Empire, Kushan Empire - Origins, Kushan Empire - A multi-cultural Empire, Kushan Empire - Heraios 1-30 CE, Kushan Empire - Kujula Kadphises 30-80 CE, Kushan Empire - Vima Taktu 80-105 CE, Kushan Empire - Vima Kadphises 105-127 CE, Kushan Empire - Kanishka I 127-147 CE, Kushan Empire - The Kushans and Buddhism, Kushan Empire - Depiction of Kushan devotees in the art of Gandhara, Kushan Empire - Contacts with Rome, Kushan Empire - Contacts with China, Kushan Empire - Decline, Kushan Empire - Main Kushan rulers

Read more here: » Kushan Empire: Encyclopedia II - Kushan Empire - The Kushans and Buddhism

In the following century, the Yuezhi tribe of the Guishuang (Ch: 貴霜) gained prominence over the others, and welded them into a tight confederation. The name Guishuang was adopted in the West and modified into Kushan to designate the confederation, although the Chinese continued to call them Yuezhi. Gradually wresting control of the area from the Scythian tribes, the Kushans expanded south into the region traditionally known as Gandhara (An area lying primarily in Pakistan's Pothowar, and NWFP region but ...

See also:

Kushan Empire, Kushan Empire - Origins, Kushan Empire - A multi-cultural Empire, Kushan Empire - Heraios 1-30 CE, Kushan Empire - Kujula Kadphises 30-80 CE, Kushan Empire - Vima Taktu 80-105 CE, Kushan Empire - Vima Kadphises 105-127 CE, Kushan Empire - Kanishka I 127-147 CE, Kushan Empire - The Kushans and Buddhism, Kushan Empire - Depiction of Kushan devotees in the art of Gandhara, Kushan Empire - Contacts with Rome, Kushan Empire - Contacts with China, Kushan Empire - Decline, Kushan Empire - Main Kushan rulers

Read more here: » Kushan Empire: Encyclopedia II - Kushan Empire - A multi-cultural Empire

During the 1st and 2nd century, the Kushan Empire expanded militarily to the north and occupied parts of the Tarim Basin, their original grounds, putting them at the center of the profitable Central Asian commerce with the Roman Empire. They are related to have collaborated militarily with the Chinese against nomadic incursion, particularly when they collaborated with the Chinese general Ban Chao against the Sogdians in 84 CE, when the latter were trying to support a revolt by the king of Kashgar. Around 85 CE, they also assisted the Chinese gen ...

See also:

Kushan Empire, Kushan Empire - Origins, Kushan Empire - A multi-cultural Empire, Kushan Empire - Heraios 1-30 CE, Kushan Empire - Kujula Kadphises 30-80 CE, Kushan Empire - Vima Taktu 80-105 CE, Kushan Empire - Vima Kadphises 105-127 CE, Kushan Empire - Kanishka I 127-147 CE, Kushan Empire - The Kushans and Buddhism, Kushan Empire - Depiction of Kushan devotees in the art of Gandhara, Kushan Empire - Contacts with Rome, Kushan Empire - Contacts with China, Kushan Empire - Decline, Kushan Empire - Main Kushan rulers

Read more here: » Kushan Empire: Encyclopedia II - Kushan Empire - Contacts with China