The Spread of Buddhism

In no region of the world Buddhism can be seen as a unified doctrinal system. It rather consists of a multitude of different ideas, practices and behaviours. Geographical, social, political, economic, philosophical, religious, and also linguistic factors all played their role in its development and spread, but this role was different from region to region. Based on up-to-date research, this book aims at unraveling the complex factors that shaped the presence of particular forms of Buddhism in the regions to the north and the east of India. The result is a fascinating view on the mechanisms that allowed or hampered the presence of (certain aspects of) Buddhism in regions such as Central Asia, China, Tibet, Mongolia, or Korea.

Originally published in hardcover.

Ann Heirman, Ph.D. (1998) in Oriental Languages and Cultures, is Professor of Chinese Language and Culture at Ghent University, Belgium. She has published extensively on Chinese Buddhist monasticism including Rules for Nuns according to the Dharmaguptakavinaya (2002).
Stephan Peter Bumbacher, Dr. phil. (1996) teaches sinology and religious studies at the universities of Tübingen and Zürich. He is author of The fragments of the ’Daoxue zhuan’ (2000) and articles on Chinese Buddhism, Daoism, and religious studies.