List of former Buddhists

The following is a list of former Buddhists who no longer identify as such, organized by their current religious affiliation or ideology.

Christianity

Name	Nationality	Notes	Refs.
David Yonggi Cho	Korean	senior Pastor of the Yoido Full Gospel Church	[1]
Betty Faria	Brazilian	Actress
Mitsuo Fuchida	Japanese	Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service Captain noted for involvement in the attack on Pearl Harbor who later became an evangelist	[2][3]
Zack Lee	Indonesian	Actor and boxer	[4]
Jaruvan Maintaka	Thai	former Auditor-General of Thailand	[5]
Chieko N. Okazaki	American	Relief Society leader	[6]
Talduwe Somarama	Sri Lankan	former Buddhist monk and assassin	[7]
Charlie Soong	Chinese	businessman and missionary	[8]
Paul Williams	English	professor in Indian Religions at the University of Bristol	[9]
Vanness Wu	Taiwan	actor and singer	[10]
Janice Vidal	Hong Konger	singer	[11][12]

Hinduism

• Mihirakula – Huna ruler^[13]
• Rajasinghe I – Sri Lankan king who conquered Kandy^[14]
• Rishabhadatta – Satrap viceroy^[15]
• Rudradaman I – Satrap ruler and conqueror of the Satavahanas^[16]
• Vasudeva I – Kushan king and numismatist^[17]

Islam

• The Barmakid family – originally the guardians of the great Buddhist shrine near Balkh, upon conversion they became "the greatest family" in the early Abbasid caliphate^[18]
• Mahmud Ghazan – seventh ruler of the Ilkhanate^[19]
• Korguz – was an Uyghur governor of Khorasan^[20] during the reign of the Mongol ruler Ogedei Khan.^[21]
• Muhammad Khodabandeh – eighth Ilkhaid dynasty ruler in Iran from 1304 to 1316^[22]
• Mubarak Shah – head of the ulus of the Chagatai Khanate (1252–1260, March–September 1266)^[23]
• Daniel Moore – poet^[24]
• Donei Kalaminjaa – king of the Maldives^[25]
• Tarmashirin – Khan of the Chagatai Khanate following Duwa Timur^[26]
• Hussein Ye – Islamic scholar of Chinese descent whose lectures are frequently aired on Peace TV^[27]
• Rinchan – king of Kashmir
• Öljaitü – the son of Arghun and eighth ruled of the Ilkhanate, he converted to Islam from Buddhism.
• Jihadi Sid - A member of Islamic State who converted from Buddhism to Islam.^[28]

References

1. Profile of Rev. David Yonggi Cho
2. "Christianity Today newsletter". Christianitytoday.com. Retrieved 2012-11-02.
3. From Pearl Harbor to Calvary by Mitsuo Fuchida.
4. ""Kesaksian hidup Zack Lee (suami Nafa Urbach)" at". gmstrueworshippers.wordpress.com. Retrieved June 30, 2012.
5. ""God's on My Side" at". Nationmultimedia.com. Retrieved 2012-11-02.
6. "New Relief Society General Presidency Called," Ensign, May 1990, pp. 110–11.
7. "Ceylon: To Find Forgiveness – TIME". Time.com. 1962-07-13. Retrieved 2012-11-02.
8. "The Chinese Revolution and Chinese Communism". Web.ku.edu. Retrieved 2012-11-02.
9. Buddhism: Critical Concepts in Religious Studies Edited and with a new introduction by Paul Williams (London: Routledge, 2005). Eight volumes. ISBN 978-0-415-33226-2
10. Tan, Theresa. "Vanness Wu: Christian First, Entertainer Second". City News. Retrieved March 20, 2009.
11. Janice Vidal (2009). Twins effect inspires Janice Vidal (衛蘭) (interview footage). Hong Kong: South China Morning Post.
12. Janice: Except God, I trust Leon the Most (Traditional Chinese), Oriental Daily, Retrieved on 2010-07-08
13. Thakur, Upendra. The Hunas in India. The Chowkhamba Senskrit, Banaras, 1967.
14. Dona Catherina: the last empress of Lanka Lanka Library
15. Divatia 42
16. Divatia, N. B. (1993). Gujarati Language and Literature. Asian Educational Services. ISBN 8120606485.
17. Coins of India Calcutta : Association Press ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1922
18. Kennedy, Hugh (2004). The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates. Longman. pp. 137, 143.
19. Mahmud Ghazan. Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. 2 July 2007.
20. Genghis Khan: his life and legacy By Paul Ratchnevsky, Thomas Nivison Haining, pg. 204
21. The Cambridge history of Iran, Volume 5 By University of Cambridge, pg. 204
22. Limbert, J. W. (2004). Shiraz in the age of Hafez: the glory of a medieval Persian city. Seattle: University of Washington Press. p.87
23. A Sketch of the History of Hindustan from the First Muslim Conquest to the Fall of the Mughal Empire by H. G. Keene
24. Moore, Abd al-Hayy.CHOOSING ISLAM: ONE MAN'S TALE. University of New Hampshire.
25. Maldives By Stefania Lamberti, pg.15
26. "The Chaghadaids and Islam: the conversion of Tarmashirin Khan (1331–34). – Journal, Magazine, Article, Periodical". Goliath.ecnext.com. 2002-10-01. Retrieved 2010-04-07.
27. "Peace Tv". Peacetv.in. Retrieved 2010-04-07.
28. "Jihadi Sid converted from Buddhism to Islamic extremism after attending Omar Bakri sermon". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-01-13.