Historical Background
The religion was established in 520BCE in Northeastern India. After Buddha died the, Mahakashyapa became leader of the sangha. He called a meeting of 500 monks to figure out what they should do next. This meeting was called the first Buddhist Council meeting. The meeting was set to preserve the teaching of the Buddha and to define the laws in which the monks should live by. When Mahakashyapa died, Ananda became leader of the sangha. The 40 years he lead the Buddhist religion, he was able to spread the word all throughout India. With the increasing numbers of followers many disagreements occurred. After the 100 years of Buddha passing, Second Council was established to deal with these disputes. Between the 6th century and the 18th century Buddhism was spread through out the whole South East Asia. Now Buddhism has 360 million followers.
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