Buddhism, The First Millennium

After Shakyamuni’s death, his followers were able to establish the foundation of Buddhism and spread it beyond India, transcending national boundaries. How did they succeed in doing so? Ikeda offers his insight into the period of uncertainty in which doubt and dissention arose among his followers and discrepancies over the interpretation of Shakyamuni’s teachings were brought to the surface. Despite these problematic challenges, his disciples continuously endeavored to seek the realm of enlightenment Shakyamuni had attained and made Buddhism grow into one of the major world religions. Ikeda vividly describes how Buddhism was handed down from one disciple to another and was spread from India to other areas, shedding light on the formation of the scriptures of Mahayana Buddhism, the Lotus Sutra in particular, and such well-known figures as King Ashoka, King Milinda and Nagarjuna, who practiced and developed Buddhism.