The spread of the religion began with contact with neighboring countries which gradually expanded over the years. Buddhism and Islam are one of the most widespread religions in Southeast Asian countries like Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. Merchants and imperial support for religion played a major role that facilitated and localized the spread of Buddhism and Islam to various countries. However, there were limitations that hindered the development of each religion in Southeast Asia, such as the introduction of new religions and changes within imperial power that would have affected their progression to becoming fully localized before the 1800s After the death of Buddha around the 5th century, divisions within the religion began to widen due to differences in the interpretation of the Buddha's teaching, resulting in Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism (Bowker 2007). , 140-141). To this day, Theravada Buddhism remains predominant in Southeast Asia. Theravada Buddhism focuses its beliefs on personal liberation while Mahayana Buddhism focuses on teaching compassion for every living being (Berzin 2010). The spread of Buddhism, mainly Theravada, began around the beginning of the 3rd century BCE, when Buddhist emissaries were sent to Indonesia and Burma by the Indian emperor Asoka (Gosling 2002:84-85). During and after his reign, his constant advocacy had supported the position of the faith throughout Southeast Asia, influencing his children to introduce Buddhism to Sri Lanka during the first and second centuries CE (Gosling 2002, 82), which later spread to Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. Vietnam (Swearer 1997, 90). This developed further due to the massive influx of Indian goods...... middle of paper ......ry CE when Muslim merchants, accompanied by Sufi missionaries, from India and Arabia arrived via the Indian Ocean trade route for business (Johnston 2002, 291). However, it was not until the 13th century that Islam began to spread across Southeast Asia, from Sumatra to Java, reaching Borneo and the Philippines in the 16th century (Houben 2003, 153) . Trade was not the only stated goal of Muslim merchants since Sufis brought about the localization of Islamic organizations for Islamic teachings that would attract local inhabitants and their leaders for valuable networks (Johnston 2002, 291). This presence of Islam was recorded by the Moroccan traveler Marco Polo in the late 13th century, indicating the advancement of Islam's location where the citizens of Perlak, Sumatra and the king of Pasai, Sultan Al-Malikus Saleh, were already converted as Muslims (Mutalib 2008).