Missionary

===Buddhist missions===
[[File:Buddhism Growth in Hellenic World.png|alt=|thumb|Buddhist [[proselytism]] at the time of king Ashoka (260–218 BCE), according to his [[Edicts of Ashoka|Edicts]]]]
[[File:Central Asian Buddhist Monks.jpeg|thumb|[[Central Asia]]n [[Bhikkhu|Buddhist monk]] teaching a [[Chinese people|Chinese]] monk. [[Bezeklik]], 9th-10th century; although [[Albert von Le Coq]] (1913) assumed the [[blue eyes|blue-eyed]], [[red hair|red-haired]] monk was a [[Tocharians|Tocharian]],<ref>von Le Coq, Albert. (1913). [http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/toyobunko/LFc-42/V-1/page/0003.html.en ''Chotscho: Facsimile-Wiedergaben der Wichtigeren Funde der Ersten Königlich Preussischen Expedition nach Turfan in Ost-Turkistan'']. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer (Ernst Vohsen), im Auftrage der Gernalverwaltung der Königlichen Museen aus Mitteln des Baessler-Institutes, [http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/toyobunko/VIII-1-B-31/V-1/page-hr/0107.html.en Tafel 19]. (Accessed 3 September 2016).</ref> modern scholarship has identified similar [[Caucasian race|Caucasian figures]] of [[:File:BezeklikSogdianMerchants.jpg|the same cave temple]] (No. 9) as ethnic [[Sogdia]]ns,<ref name="gasparini 2014 pp134-163">Gasparini, Mariachiara. "[http://heiup.uni-heidelberg.de/journals/index.php/transcultural/article/view/12313/8711#_edn32 A Mathematic Expression of Art: Sino-Iranian and Uighur Textile Interactions and the Turfan Textile Collection in Berlin]," in Rudolf G. Wagner and Monica Juneja (eds), ''Transcultural Studies'', Ruprecht-Karls Universität Heidelberg, No 1 (2014), pp 134–163. {{ISSN|2191-6411}}. See also [http://heiup.uni-heidelberg.de/journals/index.php/transcultural/article/view/12313/8711#_edn32 endnote #32]. (Accessed 3 September 2016.)</ref> an [[Eastern Iranian people]] who inhabited [[Turfan]] as an ethnic minority community during the phases of [[Tang dynasty|Tang Chinese]] (7th-8th century) and [[Kingdom of Qocho|Uyghur rule]] (9th-13th century).<ref>Hansen, Valerie (2012), ''The Silk Road: A New History'', Oxford University Press, p. 98, {{ISBN|978-0-19-993921-3}}.</ref>]]

The first Buddhist missionaries were called "Dharma Bhanaks", and some{{who|date=October 2017}} see a missionary charge in the symbolism behind the Buddhist wheel, which is said to travel all over the earth bringing Buddhism with it. The Emperor [[Ashoka]] was a significant early Buddhist missioner. In the 3rd century BCE, [[Dharmaraksita]]—among others—was sent out by emperor Ashoka to proselytize<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dokras |first=Dr Uday |date=2021-01-01 |title=Greece Kingdoms in India |url=https://www.academia.edu/51499705 |journal=Indo Nordic Author's Collective}}</ref> the [[Buddhist]] tradition through the Indian [[Maurya Empire]], but also into the Mediterranean as far as Greece. Gradually, all India and the neighboring island of [[Ceylon]] were converted. Then Buddhism spread eastward and southeastward to the present lands of [[Burma]], [[Thailand]], [[Laos]], [[Cambodia]], [[Vietnam]], and [[Indonesia]].<ref name="Welty, Paul Thomas 1966 pg. 77">Welty, Paul Thomas. The Asians: Their Heritage and Their Destiny (Revised Edition). Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co. (1966); pg. 77.</ref>

Buddhism was spread among the [[Turkic people]] during the 2nd and 3rd centuries BCE into modern-day Pakistan, [[Kashmir]], [[Afghanistan]], eastern and coastal [[Iran]], [[Uzbekistan]], [[Turkmenistan]], and [[Tajikistan]]. It was also taken into China brought by [[Kasyapa Matanga]] in the 2nd century [[Common Era|CE]], [[Lokaksema (Buddhist monk)|Lokaksema]] and [[An Shigao]] translated Buddhist sutras into Chinese. [[Dharmarakṣa]] was one of the greatest translators of Mahayana Buddhist scriptures into Chinese. Dharmaraksa came to the Chinese capital of [[Luoyang]] in 266 [[Common Era|CE]], where he made the first known translations of the [[Lotus Sutra]] and the [[Dasabhumika Sutra]], which were to become some of the classic texts of Chinese Mahayana Buddhism. Altogether, Dharmaraksa translated around 154 [[Hīnayāna]] and [[Mahāyāna]] ''[[sutra]]s'', representing most of the important texts of Buddhism available in the Western Regions. His [[proselytizing]] is said to have converted many to Buddhism in China, and made [[Chang'an]], present-day [[Xi'an]], a major center of Buddhism. Buddhism expanded rapidly, especially among the common people, and by 381 most of the people of northwest China were Buddhist. Winning converts also among the rulers and scholars, by the end of the [[Tang dynasty]] Buddhism was found everywhere in China.<ref>Welty, Paul Thomas. The Asians: Their Heritage and Their Destiny (Revised Edition). Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co. (1966); pg. 146–147.</ref>

[[Marananta]] brought Buddhism to the Korean Peninsula in the 4th century. [[Seong of Baekje]], known as a great patron of [[Buddhism]] in [[Korea]], built many temples and welcomed priests bringing Buddhist texts directly from India. In 528, Baekje officially adopted Buddhism as its state religion. He sent tribute missions to Liang in 534 and 541, on the second occasion requesting artisans as well as various Buddhist works and a teacher. According to Chinese records, all these requests were granted. A subsequent mission was sent in 549, only to find the Liang capital in the hands of the rebel [[Hou Jing]], who threw them in prison for lamenting the fall of the capital. He is credited with having sent a mission in 538 to [[Japan]] that brought an image of [[Shakyamuni]] and several sutras to the Japanese court. This has traditionally been considered the official introduction of Buddhism to Japan. An account of this is given in ''[[Gangōji Garan Engi]]''. First supported by the Soga clan, Buddhism rose over the objections of the pro-Shinto [[Mononobe]]<ref name="Crim, Keith 1989 pg. 523">Crim, Keith (ed.). The Perennial Dictionary of World Religions. San Francisco: HarperCollins (1989). Reprint; originally pub. as Abingdon Dictionary of Living Religions, 1981; pg. 523.</ref> and Buddhism entrenched itself in Japan with the conversion of Prince [[Shotoku Taishi]].<ref name="Welty, Paul Thomas 1966 pg. 77"/> When in 710 [[Emperor Shomu]] established a new capital at [[Nara, Nara|Nara]] with urban [[Grid plan#Asia from the first millennium AD|grid plan]] modeled after the capital of China, Buddhism received official support and began to flourish.<ref name="Crim, Keith 1989 pg. 523"/>

[[Padmasambhava]], The Lotus Born, was a sage guru from Oḍḍiyāna who is said to have transmitted Vajrayana Buddhism to [[Bhutan]] and [[Tibet]] and neighbouring countries in the 8th century.

The use of missions, councils, and monastic institutions influenced the emergence of Christian missions and organizations, which developed similar structures in places that were formerly Buddhist missions.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.sats.edu.za/userfiles/Final%20Thesis%20Joseph%20Paul%20Charles.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2013-12-09 |archive-date=2013-12-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131212062522/http://www.sats.edu.za/userfiles/Final%20Thesis%20Joseph%20Paul%20Charles.pdf  }}</ref>

During the 19th and 20th centuries, Western intellectuals such as [[Arthur Schopenhauer|Schopenhauer]], [[Henry David Thoreau]], [[Max Müller]], and [[esoteric]] societies such as the [[Theosophical Society]] of [[H.P. Blavatsky]], [[Charles Henry Allan Bennett#The Buddhist Society of Great Britain and Ireland|The Buddhist Society of Great Britain and Ireland]] and the [[Buddhist Society, London]] spread interest in Buddhism. Writers such as  [[Hermann Hesse]] and [[Jack Kerouac]],   in the West, and the [[hippie]] generation of the late 1960s and early 1970s led to a re-discovery of Buddhism. During the 20th and 21st centuries Buddhism has again been propagated by missionaries into the West such as [[Charles Henry Allan Bennett|Ananda Metteyya]] ([[Theravada Buddhism]]),<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Harris |first1=Dr Elizabeth J |title=Ananda Metteya, the First British Emissary of Buddhism; see note 36 | journal=The Wheel Publication | isbn=955-24-0179-8 |date=1998a |volume=420/422 |url=https://www.bps.lk/olib/wh/wh420_Harris_Ananda-Metteyya--First-British-Emissary-of-Buddhism.pdf }}</ref> [[Suzuki Daisetsu Teitarō]] ([[Zen Buddhism]]),<ref>{{cite book | last1=Antes | first1=Peter | last2=Geertz | first2=Armin W. | last3=Warne | first3=Randi R. | title=New Approaches to the Study of Religion. Volume 1 - Regional, Critical, and Historical Approaches (p. 471 cites Fader 1986: 95, p. 472 cites Humphreys 1968: 78–79) | date=2004 | publisher=Walter de Gruyter | isbn=978-3-11-017698-8 }}</ref> the [[Dalai Lama]]<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-09-19 |title=3.8: Expansion of Buddhism |url=https://human.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Philosophy/Philosophy_of_Religion_(Picorino)/03%3A_Buddhism/3.08%3A_Expansion_of_Buddhism |access-date=2022-06-24 |website=Humanities LibreTexts |language=en}}</ref> and monks including [[Lama Surya Das]] (Tibetan Buddhism). [[Tibetan Buddhism]] has been significantly active and successful in the West since the Chinese takeover of Tibet in 1959. Today Buddhists make a decent proportion of several countries in the West such as [[New Zealand]], [[Australia]], [[Canada]], the [[Netherlands]], [[France]], and the [[United States]].

In Canada, the immense popularity and goodwill ushered in by [[Tibet]]'s [[Dalai Lama]] (who has been made honorary Canadian citizen) put Buddhism in a favourable light in the country. Many non-Asian Canadians embraced Buddhism in various traditions and some have become leaders in their respective [[Sangha (Buddhism)|sanghas]].

In the early 1990s, the French Buddhist Union (UBF, founded in 1986) estimated that there are 600,000 to 650,000 Buddhists in France, with 150,000 French converts among them.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.globalbuddhism.org/2/obadia012.html|title=Tibetan Buddhism in France: A Missionary Religion?|work=globalbuddhism.org|access-date=12 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924022707/http://www.globalbuddhism.org/2/obadia012.html|archive-date=24 September 2015}}</ref> In 1999, sociologist Frédéric Lenoir estimated there are 10,000 converts and up to five&nbsp;million "sympathizers", although other researchers have questioned these numbers.<ref>Lenoir, Frédéric. Le bouddhisme en France. Paris: Fayard, 1999.</ref>

[[Taisen Deshimaru]] was a Japanese [[Zen Buddhism|Zen Buddhist]] who founded numerous [[zendo]]s in France. [[Thich Nhat Hanh]], a [[Nobel Peace Prize]]-nominated, [[Vietnam]]ese-born Zen Buddhist, founded the [[Unified Buddhist Church]] (Eglise Bouddhique Unifiée) in France in 1969. The [[Plum Village Monastery]] in the [[Dordogne]] in southern France was his residence and the headquarters of his international [[Plum Village Tradition|sangha]].

[[File:Temple des 1000 Boudhas 2.JPG|thumb|upright=1.15|[[Temple of One Thousand Buddhas]], in [[La Boulaye]], [[Saône-et-Loire]], [[Burgundy (French region)|Burgundy]]]]

In 1968 Leo Boer and Wener van de Wetering founded a [[Zen]] group, and through two books made Zen popular in the Netherlands.<ref>Janwillem van de Wetering (1973) ''Het dagende niets'' (The Dawning of Nothingness)</ref><ref>Janwillem van de Wetering (1973) ''The Empty Mirror'' (Routledge & Kegan Paul)</ref> The guidance of the group was taken over by Erik Bruijn,<ref>[http://www.erikbruijn.nl Erik Bruijn]</ref> who is still in charge of a flourishing community. The largest Zen group now is the Kanzeon Sangha, led by Nico Tydeman under the supervision of the American Zen master [[Dennis Genpo Merzel]], Roshi, a former student of Maezumi Roshi in Los Angeles. This group has a relatively large centre where a teacher and some students live permanently. Many other groups are also represented in the Netherlands, like the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives in Apeldoorn, the [[Thich Nhat Hanh]] Order of Interbeing and the International Zen Institute Noorderpoort<ref>[http://www.zeninstitute.org/en/home.html International Zen Institute – EN – home]. Zeninstitute.org. Retrieved on 2011-01-19.</ref> monastery/retreat centre in Drenthe, led by Jiun Hogen Roshi.

Perhaps the most widely visible Buddhist leader in the world is [[Tenzin Gyatso]], the current [[Dalai Lama]], who first visited the United States in 1979. As the exiled political leader of [[Tibet]], he has become a popular cause célèbre. His early life was depicted in Hollywood films such as ''[[Kundun]]'' and ''[[Seven Years in Tibet (1997 film)|Seven Years in Tibet]]''. He has attracted celebrity religious followers such as [[Richard Gere]] and [[Adam Yauch]]. The first Western-born Tibetan Buddhist monk was [[Robert A. F. Thurman]], now an academic supporter of the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama maintains a North American headquarters at [[Namgyal Monastery]] in [[Ithaca, New York]].

Lewis M. Hopfe in his "Religions of the World" suggested that "Buddhism is perhaps on the verge of another great missionary outreach" (1987:170).