The historical Buddha, Śākyamuni, lived in north-east India in the 6th to 5th century b.c. He died at the age of eighty in about 483 b.c., leaving no written records of his teaching. At that time, northern India was dominated by the kingdoms Avanti, Kosala, Vatsa and Magadha. In the north-west, Gandhāra was a province of the Achaemenian empire. In the 4th century the Achaemenian empire fell to the all-conquering Alexander, who came in person to north-west India, the furthest east he ventured. The Indian parts of the Achaemenian empire had in practice under the last Achaemenians recovered their independence. Alexander's control of these regions, which he conquered during 327–324 b.c, was short-lived. His death in 323 b.c. was followed by widespread disaffection in the east. The Indian emperor Chandragupta annexed the Indian kingdoms of the Punjab in 317 b.c. Seleucus Nicator attempted to regain all the possessions lost, but he was not exactly successful, and he was obliged to negotiate with Chandragupta about 304 b.c.

During this period of nearly two hundred years after the death of Śākyamuni, his followers were active in establishing the canonical scriptures and the religious rules for daily life among Buddhist communities. Despite the considerable number and variety of literary sources concerning the events which occurred during this process, few details can be regarded as having any marked degree of authenticity. Prominent in the sources are the events concerning two councils held in order to obtain some measure of agreement among the Buddha's followers.