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內容簡介

　　The Buddhist Maritime Silk Road recounts the magnificent history of the world of Maritime Buddhism from a diverse range of aspects—the various Buddhist traditions, pilgrims and monks, causes and conditions, norms and rituals, cross-cultural relations between East and West, as well as the intricacies of navigation technology, and migrations of the Austronesian peoples—all remarkable and crucial elements of the transmission of Buddhism brought to new heights of importance.

　　In this book, Dr. Lewis R. Lancaster innovatively shifts the focus to documenting the dynamic networks and systems of interchange in Eurasia, instead of the common approach of historical, event-structured analysis. The fascinating history of the spread of Buddhism begins in the early years of the Common Era, when animal caravans began treading across the inland routes between India and China, evolving as sea routes flourished over centuries. It emerges that Buddhism flowed and thrived along with the beating pulse of the trading networks. The northern overland and southern maritime trading routes converged, conjuring forth an iconic cycle described by Lancaster as “The Great Circle of Buddhism.”

　　The book consists of five chapters:

　　• Introduction

　　• Origin and Spread of Buddhism

　　• The Great Circle of Buddhism and Its Rim

　　• Buddhism along the Sea Routes

　　• Conclusion

作者介紹

作者簡介

Lewis R. Lancaster

　　Dr. Lewis R. Lancaster is Emeritus Professor of the Department of East Asian Languages at the University of California, Berkeley, USA. He is also the founder and Director of the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative (ECAI). He has published and edited numerous books on Buddhism, including Prajnaparamita and Related Systems, The Korean Buddhist Canon, Buddhist Scriptures, Early Ch’an in China and Tibet, and Assimilation of Buddhism in Korea. He is a leading figure in the digitization endeavors of Buddhist texts, a contemporary practice in the Buddhist scholarly world today. He is also now guiding the Atlas of Maritime Buddhism project.

序

Foreword

　　This book summarizes a transformative account of the development and spread of Buddhism. It represents both the fruit of a lifetime of dedicated scholarship and also an enthusiasm for collaboration.

　　A quarter of a century ago Professor Lancaster invited a diverse group of scholars to meet at his home to discuss how learning in the humanities and social sciences could be aided by greater attention to time and place. The outcome was the formation of the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative (ECAI), a rather informal collaboration for which the University of California, Berkeley, School of Information provides an administrative base. The designation “Initiative” is significant since ECAI is not a project, a center, or a program, but it has always been a vehicle to encourage and to promote the work of others by means of community building, workshops, the promotion of best practices, the development of new techniques, and demonstration by example. This book exemplifies and illustrates the ECAI approach.

　　This text was created to accompany the advanced exhibits created to reveal a new understanding of the spread of Buddhism. It is also noteworthy in two other ways. First, in the best tradition of scholarship, it constitutes a challenge to received opinions and assumptions and, second, it makes use to a remarkable extent of an unusually diverse range of evidence, including DNA, wood preserved in mud, and metallurgical analysis, in addition to the usual textual and archaeological evidence, not to mention the highly advanced photography and projections for the exhibit it was written to accompany.

Michael K. Buckland

Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley

Co-Director, Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative

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