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17 - The spread of Buddhism

from Part IV - Expanding religious systems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2015

Benjamin Z. Kedar
Affiliation:
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
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Summary

This chapter focuses on the two turning points in the history of the spread of Buddhism. It demonstrates the reasons and methods of the initial spread of the doctrine within South Asia and from South Asia to Han and post-Han China. The chapter also explores that the pre-fifth century networks continued to have significant impact on the later transmissions of Buddhist doctrines across Asia. The fifth and sixth centuries witnessed developments across most of Asia that resulted in the spread of Buddhism to places that either had no prior encounter with the doctrine or were marginally in contact with it. Tantric Buddhism introduced new styles of religious paraphernalia into the networks of exchange. By the eleventh century, three distinct worlds of Buddhism emerged across Asia: the India-Tibet world, the East Asian world, and the Sri Lanka-Southeast Asia world.

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