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

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.