Buddhism (2009)Buddhism is a family of beliefs, derived from the teachings of Buddha who died around 400 BCE. The emperor Ashoka Maurya (who r.272-231BC) was responsible for the first large-scale stone art in India and he also redistributed the Buddha's relics among (supposedly) 84,000 simple stupas (or solid memorial mounds containing relics) across his empire. It is from this act that Buddhist architecture and art springs.In addition to offering an introduction to Buddhism, the documentary visits these locations: the Amaravati Monastery in Hemel Hempstead, England; the Great Stupa, Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh, India; an early Buddhist monastery carved out of rock in the Caves at Ajanta in Maharashtra, India; Borobudur in Magellan, Central Java, Indonesia; the largest wooden buliding in the world that houses a colossal bronze statue of the Buddha in Nara, Japan; the Puning Temple in Chengde, China; and Komyo-ji Temple in Shikoku, Japan.