REL 101 World Religions: Asia - Timeline

2500 BCE: Peak of Indus Valley Civilization

1500-1000 BCE: Development of early Vedas (incl Rig Veda)

600-200 BCE: Development of Upanishads

400-100 BCE: Development of Bhagavad Gita

300-800 CE: Development of Puranas, including various versions of the story of Krishna and the Gopis

500 BCE: Historical Buddha Sakyamuni

100-200 CE: Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti and many other Mahayana Buddhist scriptures

150-250 CE: Nagarjuna, First great philosopher of emptiness

551-478 BCE: Confucius, founder of Confucianism

550-450 BCE: Laozi, first great Daoist

350-250 BCE: Zhuangzi, second great Daoist

450-550 CE: Bodhidharma, founder of Chan (Zen) Buddhism

487-593 CE: Hui-k'o (Huike), successor to Bodhidharma (Second Chan [Zen] Master)

638-713 CE: Hui-neng (Huineng), Sixth Chan (Zen) Master, protagonist of the Platform Sutra of Chan Buddhism

549-623 CE: Chi-tsang (Jizang), master of the San-lun (Sanlun) or emptiness school of Chinese Buddhism.

538-597 CE: Chih-i (Zhiyi), master of the T'ien-t'ai (Tiantai) school of Chinese Buddhism emphasizing that human nature is karmically evil.

625-702 CE: Uisang, master of the Korean Huaom school of Buddhism

617-686 CE: Wonhyo (Won Hyo), master of Korean Huaom school of Buddhism, famous for his great scholarship and unconventional behavior

1200-1253 Dogen, founding master of Soto school of Japanese Zen Buddhism

1173-1262 Shinran, founding figure of Shin Buddhism, school of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism

1926-present Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese Buddhist Master, Founder, Interbeing Order 

1927-2004 Seung Sahn, Korean Zen master, founder of Providence Zen Center