What is Buddhism in Pakistan?
{{nosources|date=November 2012}} There are no significant [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] communities left in [[Pakistan]]. A few Buddhists may still exist in '''[[Northern Areas|Pakistani Kashmir]] ''' and a significant community exists in [[Jammu and Kashmir]] to the east of the [[Line of Control]]. Mostly Ladakhi and ethnically related to Tibetans (plus a few Indo-Aryan Dards), a rough dividing line between Islamic culture and Buddhist culture can be drawn through Mulbekh and Shergol in the Indus valley (to the east of Kargil) and well to the west of [[Leh]], the Nun Kun massif and Rangdum Buddhist monastery at the head of the Suru river valley (a tributary of the Indus) on the Indian Kashmiri side of the line of control. ==Historical significance== [[Image:StandingBuddha.jpg|thumb|150px|Standing Buddha, Gandhara, [[Pakistan]], 1st century CE.]] The region that is today known as Pakistan once had a large Buddhist population, with the majority of people in [[Gandhara civilisation|Gandhara]] (present day North Western Pakistan and Eastern Afghanistan) being Buddhist. Gandhara was largely [[Mahayana]] Buddhist, and was also a stronghold of [[Vajrayana]] Buddhism. The [[Swat District|Swat]] Valley, known in antiquity as Uddiyana, was a kingdom tributary to Gandhara. There are many archaeological sites from the Buddhist era in Swat. The Buddhist sage [[Padmasambhava]] is said to have been born in a village near the present day town of Chakdara in [[Lower Dir District]], which was then a part of [[Uddiyana]]. Padmasambhava is known as [[Guru Rinpoche]] in Tibetan and it is he who introduced [[Vajrayana]] Buddhism in Tibet. Buddhism was also practiced in the [[Punjab region|Punjab]] and [[Sindh]] regions. Most Buddhists in Punjab converted to [[Hinduism]] from 600 AD onwards. Buddhism was the faith practiced by the majority of the population of Sindh up to the Arab conquest by the [[Umayyad Empire|Umayyad Caliphate]] in 710 AD. After the partition of Pakistan and India, the Buddhists fled to India, similar to other fait