List of Buddhists

A number of noted individuals have been Buddhists.

Historical Buddhist thinkers and founders of schools

The Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama
Ananda, Siddhartha's cousin and one of his chief disciples
An Shih Kao, a Parthian monk and the first known Buddhist missionary to China, in 148 CE.
Asanga
Atisha (indirect founder of the Geluk school of Tibetan Buddhism)
Bodhidharma (legendary first patriarch of Zen in China)
Buddhaghosa (Theravadin commentator)
Chandrakirti
Dharmakirti
Dharmaraksa, a Yueh-Chih Buddhist monk, the first known translator of the Lotus Sutra into Chinese.
Dharmaraksita, a Greek Buddhist missionary of Emperor Ashoka, and a teacher of Nagasena.
Dogen Zenji (founder of Soto Zen, based upon the Chinese Caodong tradition)
Eisai (12th century Japanese monk, travelled to China and returned to found the Japanese Rinzai sect of Zen)
Fazang
Fa Xian (translator and pilgrim)
Gampopa Dagpo Lharje, a student of Jetsun Milarepa and founder of the Karma Kagyü lineage of Tibetan Buddhism
Gihwa (1376-1433) Korean Seon monk; wrote commentaries on the Diamond Sutra and Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment
Hakuin Ekaku (1686-1769, Rinzai Zen)
Huineng (6th Patriarch of Zen in China)
Ingen (17th century Chinese Zen monk, founder of the Ōbaku sect of Zen)
Jinul Korean Seon monk (1158-1210); founder of modern Korean gong'an meditation system
Jnanagupta (translator)
Jnanayasas (translator)
Joshu (9th century Chinese Zen monk)
Khandro Kalpa Zangmo
Khungpo Nyaljor, founder of the Shangpa Kagyü lineage
Kukai (9th century Japanese monk, founder of Shingon)
Linji (9th century Japanese monk, founder of the Linji sect of Zen)
Lokaksema, a Kushan monk, the first translator of Mahayana scriptures into Chinese, around 180 CE.
Longchenpa
Luipa
Mahakashyapa, a disciple of the Buddha
Mahadharmaraksita (A Greek Buddhist master during the time of Menander)
Marpa Lotsawa (Marpa the Translator, Marpa of Lhobrag), a student of Naropa and first Tibetan founder in the Kagyü lineage of Tibetan Buddhism
Menander (Pali: Milinda, 2nd century BCE, an Indo-Greek king of northwestern India, who questioned Nāgasena about Buddhism in the Milinda Pañha)
Jetsun Milarepa, a student of Marpa Lotsawa and one of Tibet's most famous yogis
Nagarjuna (influential Buddhist philosopher)
Nāgasena (2nd century BCE Buddhist sage questioned about Buddhism by Milinda, the Greek king of Bactria in the Milinda Pañha)
Nagpopa
Naropa, Tilopa's primary disciple, teacher of Marpa the Translator and Khungpo Nyaljor
Nichiren (founder of Nichiren Buddhism)
Nikko (founder of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism)
Padmasambhava (semi-legendary founder of Nyingma school of Tibetan_Buddhism)
Rōben (8th century Japanese monk, invited Simsang to Japan and founded the Kegon tradition, based upon the Korean Hwaeom school)
Ryokan (18th century Japanese Zen monk and poet)
Saicho (9th century Japanese monk, founder of Tendai tradition, based upon the Chinese Tiantai school)
Sariputta (Pali. Shariputra Sanskrit. One of two chief disciples of the Buddha.)
Shantideva (8th century Indian)
Shinran
Simsang (8th century Korean monk, who at the request of Rōben helped transmit Hwaeom to Japan, thereby founding the Japanese Kegon tradition)
Takuan Soho (Zen teacher, and, according to legend, mentor of the swordsman Miyamoto Musashi)
Tilopa, recipient of four separate transmissions from Nagarjuna, Nagpopa, Luipa, and Khandro Kalpa Zangmo; Naropa's teacher
Tsongkhapa (14th century Tibetan monk, founder of the Geluk school of Tibetan Buddhism, based upon the Kadam tradition)
Uisang (7th century Korean monk, founder of Hwaeom tradition, based upon the Chinese Huayan school)
Vasubandhu
Weonhyo (617-668) Korean monk; prolific commentator on Mahayana sutras
Wonchuk
Xuanzang (brought Yogacara to China to found Faxiang school, significant pilgrim, translator)
Yi Jing (pilgrim and translator)
Zhiyi (founder of Tiantai school)
Zongmi (WG: Tsung-mi; fifth patriarch of Chinese Huayan school)

Historical rulers and political figures

Ashoka the Great, Mauryan Emperor of Ancient India
Brhadrata, the last ruler of the Mauryan dynasty
Jayavarman VII (1181-1219), king of Cambodia
Mongkut, king of Thailand and founder of the Thammayut Nikaya
Shōtoku (574-622), crown prince and regent of Japan
Wu Zetian

Modern teachers

Theravada / Vipassana teachers

Ven. Ledi Sayadaw (1846-1923)
Ajahn Brahm (1951- )
Ajahn Chah (1918-1992)
Ajahn Mun
Ven. Ananda Maitreya (1896-1998)
Ayya Khema (1923-1997)
Bhante Henepola Gunaratana (1927- )
Buddhadasa Bhikkhu (1906-1993)
S. N. Goenka (1924- )
Joseph Goldstein
Mahasi Sayadaw (1904-1982)
Sharon Salzberg
Sayadaw U Pandita (1921- )

Tibetan Buddhist teachers

Zen teachers

Robert Aitken, Roshi (1917- )
Tenshin Reb Anderson
Zentatsu Richard Baker, Roshi
Jan Chozen Bays
Charlotte Joko Beck
John Crook (1930- )
Zoketsu Norman Fischer
Tetsugen Bernard Glassman, Roshi
Joan Halifax
Daiun Harada, Roshi (1871-1961)
Sandra Jishu Holmes
the Ven. Hsing Yun (1927-)
the Ven. Hsu Yun (1840-1959)
Philip Kapleau, Roshi (1912-2004)
Dainin Katagiri
Jiyu Kennett, Roshi (1924-1996)
Jakusho Kwong, Roshi (1935- )
Geri Larkin
John Daido Loori, Roshi
Taizan Maezumi, Roshi
Kyozan Joshu Sasaki, Roshi (1907- )
Seung Sahn, Soen Sa (1927-2004)
the Ven. Sheng-yen (1931- )
Soyen Shaku, Roshi (1859-1919)
Nyogen Senzaki, Roshi (18??-1958)
Eido Shimano, Roshi
Shunryu Suzuki, Roshi (1904-1971)
Haku'un Yasutani, Roshi (1885-1973)

List of Buddhists

Historical Buddhist thinkers and founders of schools

Historical rulers and political figures

Modern teachers

Theravada / Vipassana teachers

Tibetan Buddhist teachers

Zen teachers

Miscellaneous

Teachers of controversial Buddhist or Buddhist-influenced groups

Modern scholars and authors

Modern politicians, activists, and protestors

Celebrity Buddhists

See also