Eastern Buddhism

Mahāyāna arose in India around the first century BCE, and translators such as Kumārajīva carried it into China. From China the faith passed to Korea, Vietnam and Japan. Under Goryeo and the Lý dynasty of Vietnam it enjoyed the favour of the court, and Seon, the Korean form of Chan, became a religion of the state; the Trần emperor Trần Nhân Tông founded the Trúc Lâm school of Vietnamese Thiền in the 1290s.

Joseon Korea, founded in 1392, suppressed Buddhism in favour of Neo-Confucianism until monks helped to repel the Japanese invasions of 1592–98. Under the Qing, the court favoured the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism.