Historical Background
Originally promulgated in what is now northern India by Siddhartha Gautama (likely 563–483 B.C.E.), who became known as the Buddha, or "Enlightened One," the teachings of Buddhism quickly spread across the subcontinent and, over the next half millennium, throughout central, eastern, and southeastern Asia. Its emphasis on the need for context-specific responses and resolutions tailored to each new linguistic and cultural environment resulted in a distinctive pattern of accommodation and advocacy through which Buddhism steadily diversified, resulting over time in a complex "ecology of enlightenment."
Traditionally, Buddhist teachings and practices have been classified into three broad evolutionary streams: the Hinayana ("Small Vehicle") stream, which is prevalent today in southeastern Asia and more commonly is called the Theravada, or "way of the elders"; the Mahayana ("Great Vehicle") stream, which is most prevalent in eastern Asia; and the Vajrayana ("Diamond Vehicle") stream, which is associated primarily with Tibet and the societies and cultures of north-central Asia. None of these streams has a universally central text such as the Confucian Analects, the Christian Bible, or the Muslim Qur'an. There also are no globally fixed Buddhist institutions or centralized authorities.
