Buddhism

===Post-Ashokan expansion===
{{Main|Silk Road transmission of Buddhism}}
[[File:ExtentOfBuddhismAndTrade.jpg|thumb|left|Extent of Buddhism and trade routes in the 1st century CE]]
According to the [[Edicts of Ashoka|edicts of Aśoka]], the Mauryan emperor sent emissaries to various countries west of India to spread "Dharma", particularly in eastern provinces of the neighbouring [[Seleucid Empire]], and even farther to [[Hellenistic civilization|Hellenistic]] kingdoms of the Mediterranean. It is a matter of disagreement among scholars whether or not these emissaries were accompanied by Buddhist missionaries.{{sfnp|Gombrich|2005a |p=135}}

[[File:Buddhist Expansion.svg|thumb|right|Buddhist expansion throughout Asia]]
In central and west Asia, Buddhist influence grew, through Greek-speaking Buddhist monarchs and ancient Asian trade routes, a phenomenon known as [[Greco-Buddhism]]. An example of this is evidenced in Chinese and Pali Buddhist records, such as ''[[Milinda Panha|Milindapanha]]'' and the [[Greco-Buddhist art]] of [[Gandhara|Gandhāra]]. The ''Milindapanha'' describes a conversation between a Buddhist monk and the 2nd-century BCE Greek king [[Menander I|Menander]], after which Menander abdicates and himself goes into monastic life in the pursuit of nirvana.{{sfnp|Trainor|2004|pp=103, 119}}<ref>{{cite book |author=Jason Neelis |title=Early Buddhist Transmission and Trade Networks: Mobility and Exchange Within and Beyond the Northwestern Borderlands of South Asia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GB-JV2eOr2UC |year=2010 |publisher=Brill Academic |isbn=978-90-04-18159-5 |pages=102–106 |access-date=10 July 2016 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111060324/https://books.google.com/books?id=GB-JV2eOr2UC |url-status=live }}</ref> Some scholars have questioned the ''Milindapanha'' version, expressing doubts whether Menander was Buddhist or just favourably disposed to Buddhist monks.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Ann Heirman |author2=Stephan Peter Bumbacher |title=The Spread of Buddhism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kr_M1e7yImoC |year=2007|publisher=Brill Academic |isbn=978-90-04-15830-6|pages=139–142 }}</ref>

The [[Kushan empire]] (30–375 CE) came to control the Silk Road trade through Central and South Asia, which brought them to interact with [[Gandharan Buddhism]] and the Buddhist institutions of these regions. The Kushans patronised Buddhism throughout their lands, and many Buddhist centres were built or renovated (the Sarvastivada school was particularly favored), especially by Emperor Kanishka (128–151 CE).<ref>Kurt A. Behrendt, ''The Buddhist architecture of Gandhara, Handbuch der Orientalistik'' Brill, 2004, p. 13</ref><ref name="Heirman, Ann p. 57">Heirman, Ann; Bumbacher, Stephan Peter (editors). The Spread of Buddhism, Brill, p. 57</ref> Kushan support helped Buddhism to expand into a world religion through their trade routes.<ref name="Liu2010p42">{{cite book|author=Xinru Liu|title=The Silk Road in World History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FJ8RDAAAQBAJ|year=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-533810-2|page=42|access-date=28 November 2018|archive-date=11 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111060324/https://books.google.com/books?id=FJ8RDAAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> Buddhism spread to [[Kingdom of Khotan|Khotan]], the [[Tarim Basin]], and China, eventually to other parts of the far east.<ref name="Heirman, Ann p. 57"/> Some of the earliest written documents of the Buddhist faith are the [[Gandharan Buddhist texts]], dating from about the 1st century CE, and connected to the [[Dharmaguptaka]] school.{{sfnp|Warder2000|p=278}}<ref>"The Discovery of 'the Oldest Buddhist Manuscripts'" Review article by Enomoto Fumio. ''The Eastern Buddhist'', Vol NS32 Issue I, 2000, p. 161</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Abstract: Sects & Sectarianism. The Origin of the three existing Vinaya lineages: Theravada, Dharmaguptaka, and Mulasarvastivada|author=Bhikkhu Sujato|author-link=Bhante Sujato|url=http://www.congress-on-buddhist-women.org/index.php?id=62|access-date=12 March 2017|archive-date=18 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191218065734/http://www.congress-on-buddhist-women.org/index.php?id=62}}</ref>

The [[Muslim conquest of Persia|Islamic conquest]] of the [[Iranian Plateau]] in the 7th-century, followed by the [[Muslim conquests of Afghanistan]] and the later establishment of the [[Ghaznavids|Ghaznavid kingdom]] with Islam as the state religion in Central Asia between the 10th- and 12th-century led to the decline and disappearance of Buddhism from most of these regions.<ref name="Kudara2002">{{cite journal |last1=Kudara|first1=Kogi|date=2002|title=A Rough Sketch of Central Asian Buddhism |url=http://www.shin-ibs.edu/publications/pacific-world/third-series-number-4-fall-2002/|journal=Pacific World: Journal of the Institute of Buddhist Studies |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=93–107 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180406102117/http://www.shin-ibs.edu/publications/pacific-world/third-series-number-4-fall-2002/|archive-date=6 April 2018|access-date=28 November 2018}}</ref>