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Buddhism There are two branches of Buddhism in China: Theravada Buddhism: This type of buddhism is close to the original form of Buddhism, handed down by Buddha. None of Siddhartha Gautama's teachings were written down until several hundred years later. This Buddhism spread because of a great Mauryan emperor, Asoka, who decided to convert to Buddhism and began to sponsor several monasteries throughout the country. He even sent missionaries to various countries both east and west. During his reign, the teachings of buddha spread all across India and Sri Lanka. Since a council of buddhist monks were disturbed of Buddhist heresies, they convened at the Mauryan capital of Patna during the third century BC to purify the doctrine. What they came up with were the definitive teachings of Theravad Buddhism, and from then onn, little changes were made to the Buddhism teachings. Mahayana Buddhism: Because Theravada Buddhism focused primarily on meditation and concentration, it centered ona monastic life and extreme expenditure of time in meditating. This left the bulk of society from being able to join in the religion therefore a new schism was created within the ranks of Buddhism in the first century AD. This one would attempt