Timeline | Exeter Interbeing

NB. many early dates are very approximate

c.6th-4th C BCE Laozi (Lao Tzu / Lao Tze) – legendary philosopher and poet – ‘founder’ of Daoism/Taoism

551-479 BCE Confucius

5th C BCE Democritus

c.490-410 Buddha (these very provisional dates are based on contemporary scholarship)

469-399 Socrates

427-347 Plato

c.4th C BCE Zhuang Zhou (Zhuangzi/Chuang Tzu) – influential Daoist philosopher (and name of Daoist text)

c.3rd C Spread of Buddhism to Sri Lanka, Thailand and Burma – Theravada Schools

384-322 Aristotle

c.360-c.270 Pyrrho – founder of school of scepticism (reputed to have started out as a painter

356-323 Alexander the Great (Pyrrho may have been on Alexander’s Indian expedition, c.327)

341-270 Epicurus

c.320-c.230 Timon of Phlius – poet, writer and student of Pyrrho

272-231 Asoka reigns as Buddhist Emperor of most of India (except far south)

died c.50 Lucretius – author of On the Nature of Things

c.7 BCE – 33CE Life of Jesus Christ

c.2nd C CE Buddhism travels along Silk Road to China + first translations of texts into Chinese

2nd C CE Nagarjuna – influential figure in Madhyamika School of Buddhism

2nd-3rd C Buddhism migrates from India to Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos – reaching Korea, 4th C

2nd or 3rd C Sextus Empiricus – physician and writer of Outlines of Pyrrhonism

5th C Bodhidharma (legend: brought Buddhism to China, taught at Shaolin temple) 1st Zen patriarch

c.570-632 Life of Muhammad

c.580 C Development of a form of Chinese Chan Buddhism in Vietnam (known as Thien Buddhism)

c.635-713 Hui Neng – 6th patriarch in Chinese Zen/Chan Buddhism – very influential

c.8th C Buddhism spreads from India into Tibet and eventually Mongolia – Zen/Seon develops in Korea

c.8th-9th C Han Shan – famous Chinese poet and Buddhist, friend of Shi Te (known as Kanzan and Jittoku in Japanese)

died c.850 Huangbo / Huangpo – influential Chinese Zen teacher

11th C Founding of Sakya School of Tibetan Buddhism

1133-1212 Honen – founder of Pure Land School of Japanese Buddhism

1141-1215 Eisai – founder of Rinzai Zen School of Japanese Buddhism

1200-1253 Dogen – influential teacher in Japanese Soto Zen tradition

1533-1592 Michel de Montaigne (writer of famous essays – humanist and Christian sceptic)

c.1564-1616 Shakespeare

1622-1693 Bankei – influential Rinzai Zen teacher – used the term, the Unborn (sunyata or anutpāda)

1661 Founding of Obaku School of Zen – a small School, related to Rinzai in practice

1686-1768 Hakuin – very influential Japanese Rinzai Zen teacher

1711-1776 David Hume – Scottish sceptical philosopher

1813-1855 Soren Kierkegaard – Danish Christian sceptical theologian

1870-1966 D T Suzuki – influential writer and advocate for Zen Buddhism

1905-1971 Shunryu Suzuki – Soto Zen teacher (taught about ‘beginner’s mind’)

1912-1998 Kosho Uchiyama – Soto Zen teacher (also known as ‘homeless’ Kodo)

1915-1968 Thomas Merton – Trappist monk (Catholic) (wrote about Zen and Christian mysticism)

1915-1973 Alan Watts – influential writer on Zen – author of The Way of Zen

1926- Thich Nhat Hanh – Vietnamese Zen Buddhist teacher and writer

1927-2004 Seung Sahn – Korean Zen teacher (taught about ‘don’t know mind’)

1927- Henepola Gunaratana – Sri Lankan Buddhist teacher of vipassana/insight meditation (writer of Mindfulness in Plain English)