Subsequently, Buddhaghosa, the great Theravada Buddhism philosopher came to Sri Lanka, as a young Bhikku. It was here that he wrote his renowned Visuddhi Marga (Path of Purity), a treatise on Buddhist meditation. It was also in Sri Lanka, about 50 BC, that the Theravada Buddhist canon, in Pali, was first compiled and written. Its surviving texts are the oldest extant anywhere. Because of them Pali continues as the language of Theravada Buddhism in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand and Cambodia. 

The next big triumph for non-violence and compassion after the Sri Lankan King's conversion to Buddhism in about 250 BC, was the Bactrian Greek King Menander's similar conversion about 150 BC. Buddhism now took firm root in Central Asia right upto the Oxus river. Menander's dialogues with Nagasena the learned monk philosopher who converted him, are contained in the classic ' Milindapanho' ('Questions of King Milinda' who has been identified as Menander). 

The next, and perhaps the greatest such triumph, came neither with a prince, king nor emperor but with a Jewish carpenter named Jesus Christ. His 'Sermon on the Mount' and injunctions about "turning the other cheek", being a "good Samaritan" and resisting all evil thoughts were a radical break with the long standing Jewish Mosaic Code of an "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth". The following three sayings of Christ will clearly establish this point:
"You have heard it said, love your friends and hate your enemies, but I tell you love your enemies and pray for those who revile and persecute you."
"You have heard it said, do not commit adultery, but I say to you anyone who looks at a woman with a lustful eye is guilty of committing adultery with her in his heart.
"He who raises the sword will perish by the sword" 
The similarities between the teachings of Christ and the Buddha are so striking that many seriously believe Christ came to India in his early twenties and spent some years here before beginning his public life at age 30 in Israel. It is more probable however that he met and interacted with Buddhist missionaries at Alexandria in Egypt where he spent the early years of his life. Excavations at Alexandria in recent years have revealed a number of "South Asian skulls" and these are believed to be those of Buddhist monks at the famed Alexandria Library, which was as much an international university as a library. They were there partly to teach and partly to learn. 

In his book 'Jesus and Buddha - The Parallel Sayings', Marcus Borg lists the striking similarities between the prime pronouncements of Buddha and Christ whom he describes as the "two most remarkable figures who ever lived". He also lists the various books, commencing with William James' turn of the 20th century book 'The Varieties of Religious Experience' to Roy C. Amore's 1978 book 'Two Masters, One Message' , which delve into various aspects of this amazing fact.

Irrespective of whether Christ met and was influenced by Buddha's teachings it is undeniable that his gospel of love, compassion, non-violence and good neighbourliness was a further great triumph for non violence and compassion. 

The first three hundred years of Christianity is a glorious chapter in the history of non violence. Thousands of Christians bravely faced the lions and the cross rather than renounce their faith or rise in revolt. Their suffering was finally rewarded with the conversion of the Roman Emperor Constantine to Christianity in 330 AD. This intensely persecuted religion overnight became the creed of the Roman Empire. The cross which was the symbol of inhuman cruelty and terror was transformed into one of love, forgiveness, compassion and redemption. Rome ceased to be the Imperial capital and its place was taken by the new Christian city of Constantinople which became, and remained, the capital of Christendom for almost 1100 years until it fell to Ottoman Turks in 1453 AD. 

The next triumph for Compassion and non violence was in China. Buddhism had first entered that country through the 'Silk Route' in the early 2nd cty. AD. The earliest Chinese Buddhist temple still standing is dated to 145 AD. However, as all Buddhist scriptures were either in Pali or in Sanskrit, Chinese access to them was very limited during this period.

In 383AD a Chinese military expedition attacked Kucha, located on the northern branch of the Silk Route. Among the prisoners it took was the scholarly Buddhist monk Kumarajiva. He was taken to Xian, where the Tang Emperor Yao Chang appointed him Purohit(spritual guide) to his Royal Court. This was done so promptly that one suspects this Chinese military expedition was actually a kidnap of this monk! In 388 AD, as advised by Kumarajiva, the Emperor convened a great Buddhist conclave at Xian, the imperial capital, to initiate collection and translation of important Buddhist texts. Over 800 monks attended this conclave. By the time Kumarajiva died in 413 AD, 98 major Buddhist scripturesd had been translated into Chinese. Among these that of the Saddharmapundarika (Lotus Sutra) remains the most valued and revered work. 

To fill the void created by Kumarajiva's death, the Tang Emperor invited the famed Gunavarman, who had converted the Javanese Sailendra royal family to Buddhism in about 420 AD, to come to China. He arrived in Nanking in AD 431. 

The next important milestone in Chinese Buddhism was the arrival in Canton from Kancheepuram in 520 AD, of the monk Bodhidharma, bringing with him the knowledge of 'Dhyan' and 'Kalaripayyat'. In Chinese the former came to be known as 'Chan' and in Japan as 'Zen'. 'Kalaripayyat' evolved into Chinese 'Kung Fu' and Japanese 'Judo' 

The sprouting and later flowering of Buddhism, with its essence of compassion, non-violence and mind control, was an event of far reaching importance in the development of Chinese thought and culture. Once all the major Buddhist scriptures had been translated into Chinese, this religion managed to establish itself firmly in China and came to be spoken of, along with Confucianism and Taoism, as one of "The Three Teachings" thus achieving a status of virtual equality with the native traditions. 

Whereas Buddhism was harbinger of culture and civilization in Central Asia and South East Asia, China was a notable exception. By the time Buddhism entered China in the first century AD, it already was an old and great civilization Buddhism therefore had to compete with well established indigenous philosophical and religious systems. That it succeeded in doing so makes its firm establishment in China its greatest overseas triumph. Theodore Barry, in his 'Sources of Chinese Tradition writes "For nearly eight centuries, from the fall of the Han dynasty (AD 220) to the rise of the Sung Dynasty (AD 960), Chinese culture was so closely identified with Buddhism that less civilized neighbors like the Koreans and the Japanese embraced the one with the other, and thought of great Tang China, the cynosure of the civilized world, more as a 'Buddha - land' than the 'Land of Confucius'. The famed centres of learning, to which pilgrims and scholars came from afar, were the great Buddhist Temples, where some of the best Chinese minds were engaged in teaching and developing new schools of Buddhist philosophy" 

Buddhism came to Japan through Korea in the early 6th cty AD. However, the formal date given for its arrival is AD 593, when Prince Shotoku proclaimed it