List of Buddhists

A number of noted individuals have been Buddhists.

Table of contents

1 Major Buddhist thinkers, historical figures and founders of schools
2 Recent or contemporary figures
3 Celebrity Buddhists
4 Infamous Buddhists

Major Buddhist thinkers, historical figures and founders of schools

Ananda
Asanga
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)
Fa-Tsang
The Buddha
Hakuin (Rinzai Zen)
Hsuan Tsang (took Tripitaka to China)
Hui Neng (6th Patriarch of Zen in China)
Kukai (founder of Shingon)
Longchenpa
Nagarjuna
Nichiren Daishonin (founder of Nichiren Buddhism)
Padmasambhava (semi-legendary founder of Nyingma school of Tibetan_Buddhism)
Ryokan (18th_Century Japanese Zen monk and poet)
Sariputta (Pali. Shariputra Sanskrit. One of two chief disciples of the Buddha]]
Shantideva (8th_Century Indian)
Shinran
Tsongkapa
Vasubandhu
Xuanzang