Tibetan Buddhism (Gelukpa Monastric System)

Chronology of Indian and Tibetan Buddhism (summarized by me)

422-399 B.C.E.     Life of Sakyamuni Buddha

405                        First Buddhist Council at Rajagrha

305                        Second Buddhist Council at Vaisali

284                        Third Buddhist Council at Pataliputra

100                        Beginnings of Mahanaya Buddhism in India

1st Century C.E.    Buddhism enters Central Asia and China

150-250                Life of Nagarjuna (teacher-systematized Mahanaya teaching of emptiness and path of the             bodhisattva)

6th Century            Tibet invades Chinese territories in Central Asia

618-906                Chinese Tang DynastyL apogee of Buddhism in China

640                        Chinese princess Wencheng travels to Tibet to marry Songtsen Gampo

720-798                Tantric Buddhism arises and develops in India

760                        Santaraksita and Padmasambhava travel to Tibet, beginning of " First dissemination" of Buddhism

767                         Consecration of Samye, first monastery in Tibet

838-842                  Reign of Lang Darma, end of first dissemination

845                          Persecution of Buddhism in China

950                          Beginning of rivival of monastic Buddhism in central Tibet

late 10th century       Tibetans travel to India to study Buddhism

958-1055                 Life of great translator : Rinchen Sangpo

978                          Rinchen Sangpo returns from India, beginning of "second dissemination"

1042                       Atisa arrives in Tibet

1290-1364             Life of Pudon, Tibetan canon compiled by 1334

1292-1361             Life of Dolpopa, who initiated "other-emptiness" doctrine

1357-1419             Lift of Tsong Khapa, beginning of Gelukpa order

1409                       Founding of Ganden Monastery near Lhasa

1543-1588             Life of Sonam Gyatso, the third Dalai Lama, beginning of Dalai Lama lineage

1617-1682             Life of fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang Losang Gyatso, beginning of rule of Tibet by Dalai Lama

1644-1912             Qing Dynasty in China, patronage of Tibetan Buddhism

1909-10                 Chinese troops under command of Ma Weiqi and Zhao Erfeng invade eastern Tibet, sack monasteries and march on Lhasa

1918                       Formal boundary between Tibet and China established

1950                       People's Liberation Army enters Tibet

1955                       Process of collecticization begins in Kham, monasteries destroyed, monks and nuns killed

1959                       March 10 uprising, fourteenth Dalai Lama flees to India, establishes government in exile, persecution of Buddhism by Chinese

1964-1974              Cultural Revolution in China and Tibet, widespread destruction of religious monuments

1976                        Death of Mao Zedong, some easing of religious repression

1987                         Dalai Lama proposes Five Point Peace Plan

1989                        Dalai Lama awarded Nobel Peace Prize, Nobel Committee accused by China of "politicizing" the prize and interfering with its internal affairs, riots by scores of TIbetans suppressed by Chinese security forces

2006                       Dalai Lama denounces wearing of fur during Kalacakra ceremony in India, sparking fur burnings all over Tibetan cultural area