Contents

Preface

Abbreviations

Introduction

Late Han Vernacular Elements in the Earliest Buddhist Translations

Life of the Buddha

Buddhism in a Pre-Modern Bureaucratic Empire: The Chinese Experience

Buddhist Influence on Early Daoism: A Survey of Scriptural Evidence

Eschatology and Messianism in Early Chinese Buddhism

“Prince Moonlight” Messianism and Eschatology in Early Medieval Chinese Buddhism

Perspectives in the Study of Chinese Buddhism

Mahā-Cīna: The Buddhist Reinterpretation of the History of China

Buddhism and Education in Tang Times

The Impact of Buddhism on Chinese Culture in an Historical Perspective

Han Buddhism and the Western Region

The Spread of Buddhism and Christianity in Imperial China: Spontaneous Diffusion Versus Guided Propagation

Nuns and Convents in Old Chinese Buddhism

A New Look at the Earliest Chinese Buddhist Texts

New Preface to the Buddhist Conquest of China

Obscure Texts on Favourite Topics. Dao’an’s Anonymous Scriptures

Buddhist Art in Medieval China: The Ecclesiastical View

Vernacular Elements in Early Buddhist Texts: An Attempt to Define the Optimal Source Materials

Buddhism Across Boundaries: The Foreign Input

Xu Guangqi and Buddhism

Tidings from the South Chinese Court Buddhism and Overseas Relations in the Fifth Century CE

Buddhist Chanhui and Christian Confession in Seventeenth-Century China

Reviews

R. Robinson, Early Mādhyamika in India and China (1967)

Mélanges de sinologie offerts à Monsieur Paul Demiéville II (1974)

Timothy Brook, Praying for Power: Buddhism and the Formation of Gentry Society in Late-Ming China (1993)

Kuo Li-ying, Confession et contrition dans le bouddhisme chinois du Ve au Xe siècle (1994)

Antonino Forte, The Hostage An Shigao and his Offspring: An Iranian Family in China (1995)

Index of Names and Places

Index of Text Titles

Index of Buddhist Technical Terms

Index of Linguistic Phenomena