One of the world’s leading scholars of Buddhism presents the story of its dramatic journey
across the globe from 2 500 years ago to the present day Over the course of twenty-five
centuries Buddhism spread from its place of origin in northern India to become a global
tradition of remarkable breadth depth and richness. In this ambitious book Donald S. Lopez
Jr. draws on the latest scholarship to construct a detailed and innovative history of
Buddhism—not just as a chronology through the centuries or as geographic movement across a map
but as a dense matrix of interconnections. Beginning with the life and teachings of the
Buddha Lopez shows how a set of evolving ideas and practices traveled north and east to China
Korea Japan Mongolia and Tibet south and southeast to Sri Lanka Burma Thailand Cambodia
Laos Vietnam and Indonesia and finally westward to Europe and the Americas. He provides
insights on questions that Buddhism has asked and answered in different times and different
places—about apocalypse art identity immortality law nation persecution philosophy
science sex war and writing. Vast in its erudition and expansive in its vision this is
the most complete single‑volume history of Buddhism in its full historical and geographical
range.
