Buddhism in Iran

Buddhism in Iran dates back to the 2nd century, when Parthian Buddhist missionaries, such as An Shigao and An Xuan, were active in spreading Buddhism in China. Many of the earliest translators of Buddhist literature into Chinese were from Parthia and other kingdoms linked with present-day Iran.

Quotes

• The demon But is that which they worship in India and in his image a spirit is resident which is worshipped as Bodasf.
  • The Iranian text of Bundahism translated by H.W. Bailey. (Indian Studies, Volume in Honour of Edward James Rapson, edited by J. Bloch et al., London, 1931, Delhi Reprint, 1988, p. 279). Bodasf is Persian for Bodhisattva.

• It seems noteworthy, with this in mind, that Buddhism survived longer in Iran than it did in the South-Asian subcontinent, although we know little about the form of Buddhism that was professed for about fifty years by the Mongols of Iran until the time of Arghun (1284-91) and his son Ghazan (1295-1304). Iran sheltered a large number of Buddhist 'Bakhshis' and was strewn with Buddhist establishments. When Ghazan converted to Islam in 1295, this was accompanied by the destruction of the Buddhist places of worship and the migration of many Buddhists to Kashmir, India, China, Tibet, and Uyghuristan. But it can be shown that Buddhism lingered in Iran for some time longer, until the fourteenth century.
  • A. Wink, Al-Hind-The-Making-of-the-Indo-Islamic-World-Vol-2-The-Slave-Kings-and-the-Islamic-Conquest-11th-13th-Centuries pp 349-350