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Religion
Buddhism
324 million
Followers worldwide
4.1%
Of world population
Thailand
Where most live
Where most live
China
176.3M followers
Japan
87M followers
Thailand
61.4M followers
Myanmar
44.2M followers
Sri Lanka
15.3M followers
Cambodia
14.8M followers
South Korea
12.2M followers
India
11.2M followers
Taiwan
6.6M followers
Laos
5.1M followers
Nepal
2.7M followers
Singapore
2.4M followers
Malaysia
2.3M followers
Russia
1.4M followers
Mongolia
1.2M followers
Bangladesh
1.1M followers
Australia
676K followers
France
670K followers
Bhutan
597K followers
Canada
429K followers
United Arab Emirates
348K followers
England
293K followers
Macau
123K followers
Kuwait
87K followers
Estimate: the religion's percentage in each country multiplied by the country's population.
What it is
Overview
Buddhism arose in ancient India from the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha, the enlightened one. Its central doctrine, summed up in the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, holds that life is marked by suffering, caused by desire, and that suffering can be overcome through mental discipline, ethics and meditation until one reaches nirvana, a state of release from the cycle of rebirth.
Today Buddhism has about 324 million followers, 4.1% of the world’s population, according to the Pew Research Center (2020 data), almost all of them in Asia. Thailand, where Buddhism is practically the national identity, has the most Buddhists, about 68 million. China comes next with about 53 million, although estimates for China vary widely. Japan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, South Korea and India, the land where the religion began, also have large Buddhist communities.
Buddhism and Christianity share values such as compassion, detachment from material things and the search for inner peace, but they differ on central points: in its classical form Buddhism has no personal Creator God, and salvation comes through one’s own effort rather than as a gift of grace. This contrast opens the way to deep conversations about where suffering comes from and about who gives true rest to the soul.
Many Buddhists come from a long tradition of spiritual discipline, which makes them receptive to conversations about lasting peace and grace.
Pillars and practices
1
Meditation
The central practice of training the mind, with techniques that vary by tradition, from Theravada mindfulness to the visualizations of Tibetan Buddhism.
2
The Five Precepts
Basic moral commitments undertaken by lay people: not to kill, not to steal, not to lie, not to engage in sexual misconduct and not to use substances that cloud the mind.
3
The Eightfold Path
A practical guide to ethical and mental life, divided into eight aspects such as right view, right intention and right action, which together lead to the end of suffering.
4
Monastic life (sangha)
The community of monks and nuns who live in monasteries wholly devoted to practice and study, seen as the most spiritually esteemed path in the tradition.
5
Offerings and devotion to the Buddha
Reverence for images and relics of the Buddha as reminders of his example and teaching, with offerings of flowers, incense and food at temples and home altars.
Beliefs and practices
What is believed
The Four Noble Truths
The central teaching that suffering (dukkha) exists, that suffering is caused by desire and attachment, that suffering can end, and that there is a path that leads to its end.
Anicca, impermanence
The teaching that everything that exists is constantly changing and nothing is fixed or permanent, including feelings, relationships and the body itself.
Anatta, the absence of a fixed self
The teaching that there is no permanent, unchanging soul or identity: what a person calls the 'self' is a flow of physical and mental processes that are always changing.
Nirvana
A state in which suffering and desire cease completely, and with them the cycle of rebirth, regarded as the final goal of Buddhist practice.
No Creator God
In the most traditional Buddhist schools, such as Theravada, there is no personal Creator God of the universe; the focus is on one's own effort toward purification and wisdom.
Dates and practices
Vesak
Remembers the birth, enlightenment and death of the Buddha. In the Theravada tradition all three are celebrated on the same full moon day; in East Asia they are usually marked on separate dates. It is the holiest date for many Buddhists.
Buddhist New Year
Celebrated on different dates from country to country (for example in Thailand, Sri Lanka and Myanmar), it is a time of spiritual renewal, purification and temple visits.
Asalha Puja
Commemorates the Buddha's first public teaching after his enlightenment, when he set out the Four Noble Truths for the first time to five ascetics (men who lived in voluntary self-denial) who had been his companions.
How they live
Regular meditation
Many practitioners set aside time every day, or on particular occasions, to meditate, whether at home or in a group at a Buddhist center or temple.
Visits to temples and monasteries
Worshippers visit temples to pray, make offerings and hear monks teach, especially on holy days of the lunar calendar.
Offerings to monks
In Theravada countries, lay people commonly give food and donations to monks, an act believed to earn spiritual merit.
Keeping holy days
The Buddhist lunar calendar sets aside days of special observance, such as the full moon day, when the faithful keep the precepts and practices more strictly.
Everyday ethics
The effort to follow the Five Precepts shapes everyday decisions, from diet (many avoid meat) to the kind of work they do and their personal relationships.
Brief history
c. 563 BC
Traditional date of the birth of Siddhartha Gautama in Lumbini, in what is now Nepal, as a prince of a small kingdom.
c. 528 BC
According to the traditional chronology, Gautama attains enlightenment under the Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, in northern India, becomes the Buddha and begins to teach the path to the end of suffering.
c. 483 BC
Death of the Buddha (parinirvana, his final passing into nirvana) according to the traditional chronology; many scholars today place it between 480 and 400 BC. Soon afterward, the first Buddhist council gathers his teachings to pass them on by memory.
3rd century BC
The Indian emperor Ashoka converts and sponsors the spread of Buddhism to Sri Lanka and other parts of Asia.
first centuries AD
A gradual separation, with no formal break, between the Theravada tradition, closer to the ancient texts, and Mahayana, which develops new scriptures and the figure of the bodhisattva (a being who puts off their own liberation to help others).
1st to 6th centuries AD
Buddhism spreads along the Silk Road to China, and later to Korea and Japan, with significant local adaptations.
7th to 8th centuries AD
Buddhism reaches Tibet, blending with local practices and giving rise to Tibetan Buddhism.
How to engage in dialogue
Point of contact
Buddhism's honesty about the reality of human suffering is a genuine point of contact with the Bible's diagnosis of a broken world in need of redemption.
Point of contact
The Buddhist emphasis on discipline, ethics and inner transformation can open conversations about what truly transforms the human heart, and not only outward behavior.
What to avoid
Avoid treating Buddhism as simple atheism, since many Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions venerate the Buddha, bodhisattvas and other figures almost as deities.
What to avoid
Avoid caricaturing nirvana as 'annihilation' without explaining that for Buddhists it is the end of suffering and desire, not necessarily something negative.
What to ask
Ask what the person believes causes the suffering in their own life, and how Buddhist practice has helped them deal with it, or not.
What to ask
Ask whether, if there is no permanent self (anatta), it makes sense to them to speak of forgiveness, guilt or personal responsibility. This can open the way to talk about the gospel.
Countries where it is the majority religion 11
Unreached peoples of this religion 236 in total
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What to pray for
Intercession
For the Buddhists of Thailand, China and Japan, countries with large Buddhist populations, that they may know the peace Jesus offers.
For Myanmar and Sri Lanka, where Buddhism is deeply bound up with national identity, that hearts may be open to the gospel.
For Buddhist monks and teachers, sincere seekers of wisdom, that they may find in Christ the truth they are looking for.
For India, the land where Buddhism began, where Buddhism is now a minority faith but still alive.
For those who try to free themselves from suffering by their own effort, that they may discover the grace already offered in Jesus.
For Christians in dialogue with Buddhists, that they may show genuine respect for their spiritual search and present the gospel clearly.
Pray for encounters that lead to the peace that does not depend on one's own merit.
