A new form of State Shinto arose as a strong competitor to Buddhism when it was adopted by the Japanese government. The form that predominated, via the south of Tibet, was a blend of mahāyāna and vajrayāna from the universities of the Pāla empire of the Bengal region in eastern India. This was to last until the rise of the Pāla Empire (8th-12th centuries) in the Bengal region. After the fall of Harsha's empire, the Gangetic plain saw the rise of many small feuding kingdoms. Some of the earliest known Buddhist artifacts found in China are small statues on "money trees", dated c. Buddhism was introduced in China during the Han dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE) and was present by around 50 CE. Although the archaeological record confirms that Buddhism was introduced sometime during the Han dynasty, it did not flourish in China until the Six Dynasties period (220-589 CE). During the Yuan dynasty, Tibetan Buddhism became the state religion. In the period between 460 and 525 CE during the Northern Wei dynasty, the Chinese-constructed Yungang Grottoes, and the Longmen Grottoes, which include some impressive monumental sculptures. Pure Land Buddhism also became popular during this period and was often practiced together with Chan.

During this period Chinese Chan influenced Korean and Japanese Buddhism. Buddhism continued to be popular in the Goryeo period (918-1392), in particular Seon (Zen) Buddhism. Great Buddhist scholars such as Atisha and Santaraksita date from this period. It was at these great Buddhist centers that scholars developed the philosophies of Vajrayana, Abhidharma, Madhyamaka, Yogacara and Pramana, as well as the study of linguistics, medicine, astronomy, music, painting, and sculpture. The Tang dynasty also saw the growth of Chan Buddhism (Zen), with the great Zen masters such as Mazu Daoyi and Linji Yixuan. Great Buddhist philosophers like Dignaga, and Dharmakirti taught philosophy there. They also supported older centers like Nalanda and Bodh Gaya. Once the practitioner has established your dosha and reviewed your symptoms, he will tailor his recommendations for things like diet, exercise, meditation and stretching to your dosha. It just becomes more apparent that yoga has been around for a very long time and by the looks of things, it will still be keeping its grounds for many, many more years to come. The Mañjusrimulakalpa, which later came to classified under Kriyatantra, states that mantras taught in the Shaiva, Garuda and Vaishnava tantras will be effective if applied by Buddhists since they were all taught originally by Manjushri.

Some mantras have no literal meaning, yoga originated from which country but are meaningful in a spiritual way. These holy books have become the main sources of information about yoga and the literature of that time. Various classes of Vajrayana literature developed as a result of royal courts sponsoring both Buddhism and Saivism, especially the Buddhist Yogini tantras. It promoted new practices such as the use of mantras, dharanis, mudras, mandalas and the visualization of deities and Buddhas and developed a new class of literature, the Buddhist Tantras. The Guhyasiddhi of Padmavajra, a work associated with the Guhyasamaja tradition, prescribes acting as a Shaiva guru and initiating members into Saiva Siddhanta scriptures and mandalas. The Samvara tantra texts adopted the pitha list from the Shaiva text Tantrasadbhava, introducing a copying error where a deity was mistaken for a place. It was mainly a center of sravakayana Buddhism (that is, non-Mahayana), but was also a place for the study of numerous subjects including secular topics of higher education (such as medicine, logic and grammar). Nalanda remained a central place for the study of epistemology (pramana).

Another major Buddhist university was Valabhi, in western India, which was second only to Nalanda in the 5th century. A Tibetan exile community was established in India, with its center at Dharamsala, which today contains various Buddhist monasteries and is a center for the study of Tibetan Buddhism. The Communist Cultural Revolution (1966-76) led to the closing of all Buddhist monasteries and widespread destruction of Buddhist institutions. In the southern Kingdom of Champa, Hinduism, Theravada, and Mahayana were all practiced until the 15th century, when an invasion from the north led to the dominance of Chinese-based forms of Buddhism. Indonesian Buddhism, alongside Hinduism, continued to thrive under the Majapahit Empire (1293-1527), but was completely replaced by Islam afterward. The Pālas were stanch supporters of Buddhism, and built several important Buddhist centers, such as Vikramashila, Somapura and Odantapuri. Despite a reversal in Buddhist influence which began under King Langdarma (836-842), the following centuries saw a colossal effort in collecting available Indian sources, many of which are now extant only in Tibetan translation. A subsect of this school, Mūlasarvāstivāda was the source of the Tibetan Vinaya. In the fifth century, Chinese Buddhists also developed new schools and traditions, such as the Tiantai school, the Huayen school, the Pure Land school and Chan Buddhism.