The Spread of Buddhism

The Spread of Buddhism
Author: Ann Heirman
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 485
Release: 2007-05-11
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9004158308

This book unravels some of the complex factors that allowed or hampered the presence of (certain aspects of) Buddhism in the regions to the north and the east of India, such as Central Asia, China, Tibet, Mongolia, or Korea.

Early History of the Spread of Buddhism and the Buddhist Schools

Early History of the Spread of Buddhism and the Buddhist Schools
Author: Nalinaksha Dutt
Publisher: Genesis Publishing Pvt Ltd
Total Pages: 344
Release: 2005
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9788130700922

Ref: CosmoMr. Dutt's work is a compendium where all information connected with the progress of Buddha's work is available in a well-ordered form. Such a work, the details of which have been laboriously collected from the Buddhist scriptures and arranged in such a way as to enable one to see the large masses of details about Buddha's career in their logical and chronological relations, has certainly a great value not only for scholars but for ordinary readers interested in the history of the spread of Buddhism. This generally is the matter that forms the first part of this treatise. The second part constitutes of the details delineating the four principal schools of Buddhism including resumes of their doctrines. The portions of the sketches bearing on the origin, development, and activities of the schools have been drawn by Mr. Dutt for the first time from the existing material The book remains a major contribution to the proper study and understanding of the Buddhist religion.

The Spread of Theravada Buddhism in South India

The Spread of Theravada Buddhism in South India
Author: Ven Dr Hindagala Gnanadhara Thero
Publisher:
Total Pages: 358
Release: 2018-03-02
Genre:
ISBN: 9781642492149

It is surprising that the chronicle Mahavamsa fails to make any reference to the son of Asoka, Arahan Mahinda and Sri Lanka Bhikkus (monks) and Bhikkhunis (nuns), who propagated Buddhism in Tamil Nadu. Scholars like I.K. Sharma and Sathian Nathan Iyar stated that Atahanta Mahinda functioned as the head of Tondamandalam Vihara at Kaveri Pattinam. Reference to the Theravada Buddhist concept paticcasamuppada (causality), four noble truths and Tilakkhana suggest the widely prevalent Theravada Buddhism in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Scholars Srinivasan and Nilakanta Sastri established the birthplace of Buddhagosa, who arrived here in the 5th Century and composed 14 Pali commentaries, at Mahavihara in Anuradhapura, from a village called Moranam in Kanchipuram. Traveller Hiuen Tsang stated that 10000 priests were in 100 monasteries in Tamil Nadu. Thirty-five plates of Buddha statues unearthed there were included in the text. Ilankilli, brother of Kanchipuram Chola king Killivalavam, constructed a Temple with a chetiya (pagoda). Many Chola kings had Buddhist names like Buddhavarman and Asokavarman. They extended their patronage to Buddhism. Vajrabodhi, Bodhidharma and Dhammaruci propagated Buddhism in China, translating the Mayana Buddhist text to Chinese. The text also includes information given by scholars, clergymen and laymen of the 9th century, who were witnesses to the existence of Buddhism in Tamil Nadu.

The Buddhist Conquest of China

The Buddhist Conquest of China
Author: Erik Zürcher
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 511
Release: 2007
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9004156046

At the repeated request of many scholars and students here is a new edition of E. Zürcher's groundbreaking The Buddhist Conquest of China. In his extensive introduction Stephen F. Teiser (D.T. Suzuki Professor in Buddhist Studies, Princeton University) explains why the book is still the standard in the field of early Chinese Buddhism.

The Spread of Tibetan Buddhism in China

The Spread of Tibetan Buddhism in China
Author: Dan Smyer Yu
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2014-01-03
Genre: Buddhism
ISBN: 9781138024892

Focusing on contemporary Tibetan Buddhist revivals in the Tibetan regions of the Sichuan and Qinghai Provinces in China, this book explores the intricate entanglements of the Buddhist revivals with cultural identity, state ideology, and popular imagination of Tibetan Buddhist spirituality in contemporary China. In turn, the author explores the broader socio-cultural implications of such revivals. Based on detailed cross-regional ethnographic work, the book demonstrates that the revival of Tibetan Buddhism in contemporary China is intimately bound with both the affirming and negating forces of globalization, modernity, and politics of religion, indigenous identity reclamation, and the market economy. The analysis highlights the multidimensionality of Tibetan Buddhism in relation to different religious, cultural, and political constituencies of China. By recognizing the greater contexts of China's politics of religion and of the global status of Tibetan Buddhism, this book presents an argument that the revival of Tibetan Buddhism is not an isolated event limited merely to Tibetan regions; instead, it is a result of the intersection of both local and global transformative changes. The book is a useful contribution to students and scholars of Asian religion and Chinese studies.

Buddhism Across Asia

Buddhism Across Asia
Author: Tansen Sen
Publisher: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies
Total Pages: 517
Release: 2014-04-02
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9814519324

"Buddhism across Asia is a must-read for anyone interested in the history and spread of Buddhism in Asia. It comprises a rich collection of articles written by leading experts in their fields. Together, the contributions provide an in-depth analysis of Buddhist history and transmission in Asia over a period of more than 2000 years. Aspects examined include material culture, politics, economy, languages and texts, religious institutions, practices and rituals, conceptualisations, and philosophy, while the geographic scope of the studies extends from India to Southeast Asia and East Asia. Readers' knowledge of Buddhism is constantly challenged by the studies presented, incorporating new materials and interpretations. Rejecting the concept of a reified monolithic and timeless 'Buddhism', this publication reflects the entangled 'dynamic and multi-dimensional' history of Buddhism in Asia over extended periods of 'integration,' 'development of multiple centres,' and 'European expansion,' which shaped the religion's regional and trans-regional identities." -- Max Deeg, Cardiff University "Buddhism Across Asia presents new research on Buddhism in comprehensive spatial and temporal terms. From studies on transmission networks to exegesis on doctrinal matters, linguistics, rituals and practices, institutions, Buddhist libraries, and the religion's interactions with political and cultural spheres as well as the society at large, the volume presents an assemblage of essays of breathtaking breadth and depth. The goal is to demonstrate how the transmission of Buddhist ideas serves as a cultural force, a lynchpin that had connected the societies of Asia from past to present. The volume manifests the vitality and maturity of the field of Buddhist studies, and for that we thank the editor and the erudite authors. " -- Dorothy C. Wong, University of Virginia

Buton's History of Buddhism in India and Its Spread to Tibet

Buton's History of Buddhism in India and Its Spread to Tibet
Author: Buton Richen Drup
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
Total Pages: 465
Release: 2013-08-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0834829525

This fourteenth-century Tibetan classic serves as an excellent introduction to basic Buddhism as practiced throughout India and Tibet and describes the process of entering the Buddhist path through study and reflection. It begins with setting forth the structure of Buddhist education and the range of its subjects, and we’re treated to a rousing litany of the merits of such instruction. We’re then introduced to the buddhas of our world and eon—three of whom have already lived, taught, and passed into transcendence—before examining in detail the fourth, our own Buddha Shakyamuni. Butön tells the story of Shakyamuni’s past lives and then presents the path the Buddha followed (the same that all buddhas must follow). After the Buddha’s story, Butön recounts three compilations of Buddhist scriptures and then quotes from sacred texts that foretell the lives and contributions of great Indian Buddhist masters, which he then relates, concluding with the tale of the eventual demise and disappearance of the Buddhist doctrine. The text ends with an account of the inception and spread of Buddhism in Tibet, focused mainly on the country’s kings and early adopters of the foreign faith. An afterword by Ngawang Zangpo, one of the translators, discusses and contextualizes Butön’s exemplary life, his turbulent times, and his prolific works.

Early Buddhist Transmission and Trade Networks

Early Buddhist Transmission and Trade Networks
Author: Jason Neelis
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 391
Release: 2010-11-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 9004181598

This book examines catalysts for Buddhist formation in ancient South Asia and expansion throughout and beyond the northwestern Indian subcontinent to Central Asia by investigating symbiotic relationships between networks of religious mobility and trade.

Buddhism and the Dynamics of Transculturality

Buddhism and the Dynamics of Transculturality
Author: Birgit Kellner
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 270
Release: 2019-10-08
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 3110413086

For over 2500 years, Buddhism was implicated in processes of cultural interaction that in turn shaped Buddhist doctrines, practices and institutions. While the cultural plurality of Buddhism has often been remarked upon, the transcultural processes that constitute this plurality, and their long-term effects, have scarcely been studied as a topic in their own right. The contributions to this volume present detailed case studies ranging across different time periods, regions and disciplines, and they address methodological challenges as well as theoretical problems. In addition to casting a spotlight on topics as diverse as the role of trade contacts in the early spread of Buddhism, the hybrid nature of religious practices in Japan or Indo-Tibetan relations in Tibetan polemical literature, the individual papers jointly raise the question as to whether there might be something distinct about how Buddhism steers and influences forms of cultural exchange, and is in turn shaped by modalities of cultural interaction throughout Asian, as well as global, history. The volume is intended to demonstrate the need for investigating transcultural dynamics more closely in the study of Buddhism, and to suggest new avenues for Buddhist Studies.