It's the red stuff used for stamps/seals/signatures in East Asia. The Olmec were also keen on their red pigment, as you can see from the Tomb of the Red Queen.
It's also mercury-based, so pretty fucking toxic.
Edit: Also for OP, the Wikipedia articles on Vermilion. Pigments were usually prized everywhere, and both China and India have very long art histories that predate most religions anyway but Buddhism is only 2000 years old.