The Spread of Buddhism

Acknowledging the ambiguity of the term Buddhism, contributors identified only by name describe how the religion made its way from India, where Buddha lived during the sixth century BCE, to other parts of the world. The topics include Buddhism in Gandhara, Greece as the final frontier of its westward spread, tantric threads between India and China, the history of Buddhism among the Mongols, and the spread of Chan (Zen) Buddhism. The 2007 clothbound edition was published as volume 16 in the series Handbook of Oriental Studies, Section 8, Uralic and Central Asian Studies. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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 Tubingen and Zurich. He is author of The fragments of the 'Daoxue zhuan' (2000) and articles on Chinese Buddhism, Daoism, and religious studies.