List of Buddhists
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A number of noted individuals have been Buddhists.
Major Buddhist thinkers, historical figures and founders of schools
- the Buddha
- Ananda, Sakyamuni Buddha's brother and one of his chief disciples
- Asanga
- Ashoka the Great, Mauryan Emperor of Ancient India
- Atisha (founder of the Gelugpa school of Tibetan_Buddhism)
- Bodhidharma (legendary first patriarch of Zen in China)
- Buddhaghosa (Theravadin commentator)
- Chandrakirti
- Dharmakirti
- Chih I (founder of Tien Tai school)
- 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)
- Fa-Tsang
- Fa Xian (translator and pilgrim)
- Gampopa Dagpo Lharje, a student of Jetsun Milarepa and founder of the Karma Kagyü lineage of Tibetan Buddhism
- Hakuin (Rinzai Zen)
- Hui Neng (6th Patriarch of Zen in China)
- Ingen (17th Century Chinese Zen monk, founder of the Ōbaku sect of Zen)
- Jetsun Milarepa, a student of Marpa Lotsawa and one of Tibet's most famous yogis
- 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)
- Luipa
- Longchenpa
- Mahakashyapa, a disciple of the Buddha
- Marpa Lotsawa (Marpa the Translator, Marpa of Lhobrag), a student of Naropa and first Tibetan founder in the Kagyü lineage of Tibetan Buddhism
- Milinda (2nd century BCE Greek king of Bactria, questioned Nāgasena about Buddhism in the Milinda Pañha)
- 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 Daishonin (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)
- Tilopa, recipient of four separate transmissions from Nagarjuna, Nagpopa, Luipa, and Khandro Kalpa Zangmo; Naropa's teacher
- Tsongkapa
- Uisang (7th Century Korean monk, founder of Hwaeom tradition, based upon the Chinese Huayan school)
- Vasubandhu
- Yi Jing (pilgrim and translator)
- Xuanzang (brought Yogacara to China to found Faxiang school, significant pilgrim, translator)
Recent or contemporary figures
- Ajahn Chah
- Ajahn Mun
- Ayya Khema (1923-1997)
- Buddhadasa Bhikkhu
- S. N. Goenka
- Joseph Goldstein
- Mahasi Sayadaw
- Sharon Salzberg
- Sayadaw U Pandita
Tibetan Buddhist teachers
- Chögyam Trungpa (1940-1987)
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama
- Dhardo Rimpoche (1917-1990)
- Ole Nydahl (1942- )
- Pema Chodron (1936- )
- Reginald Ray
- Tarthang Tulku
Zen teachers
- Robert Aitken, Roshi (1917- )
- Tenshin Reb Anderson
- Zentatsu Richard Baker, Roshi
- Jan Chozen Bays
- Charlotte Joko Beck
- Zoketsu Norman Fischer
- Tetsugen Bernard Glassman, Roshi
- Joan Halifax
- Daiun Harada, Roshi (1871-1961)
- Sandra Jishu Holmes
- the Ven. Hsu Yun (1840-1959)
- Phillip Kapleau, Roshi (1912- )
- Dainin Katagiri
- Jiyu Kennett, Roshi (1924-1996)
- Geri Larkin
- John Daido Loori, Roshi
- Taizan Maezumi, Roshi
- Kyozan Joshu Sasaki, Roshi (1907- )
- Seung Sahn, Soen Sa (1927- )
- the Ven. Shêng Yen (1931- )
- Eido Shimano, Roshi
- Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki (1870-1966)
- Shunryu Suzuki, Roshi (1904-1971)
- Haku'un Yasutani, Roshi (1885-1973)
Scholars and teachers in other traditions
- Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891-1956)
- Stephen Batchelor
- Edward Conze (1904-1979)
- Anagarika Dharmapala (1864-1933)
- Natalie Goldberg
- Thich Nhat Hanh (1926- )
- C.A.F. Rhys Davids (1857-1942)
- T.W. Rhys Davids (1843-1922)
- Sangharakshita (1925- )
- D.T. Suzuki
Celebrity Buddhists
- Roberto Baggio
- Fabien Barthez
- Jackie Chan
- Leslie Cheung
- Leonard Cohen
- Penelope Cruz
- Michael Everson
- Kathleen Dee-Anne Norris
- Richard Gere
- Philip Glass
- Herbie Hancock
- Charles Johnson
- Jet Li
- John Milius
- Anita Mui
- Keanu Reeves
- Steven Seagal
- Oliver Stone
- Tina Turner
- Adam Yauch (MCA)
Infamous Buddhists
See also: List of people by belief, list of people