Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism Online

Get access Subject: Asian Studies

Brill’s Encyclopedia of Buddhism, published both in print and online, is the first comprehensive academic reference work devoted to the plurality of Buddhist traditions across Asia, offering readers a balanced and detailed treatment of this complex phenomenon in seven thematically arranged volumes: Literature and Languages (I, publ. 2015), Lives (II, publ. 2019), Thought (III, forthcoming 2024), History: South Asia, IV-1 (forthcoming 2023), History: Central and East Asia, IV-2 (2023) Life and Practice, V (forthcoming 2026), index and remaining issues VI (forthcoming 2027).


Each volume contains substantial original essays by many of the world’s foremost scholars, essays which not only cover basic information and well-known issues but which also venture into areas as yet untouched by modern scholarship. An essential tool for anyone interested in Buddhism, the online resource will provide easy access to the encyclopedia’s ever-growing corpus of information.
The online edition of History: Central and East Asia, IV-2, has been published online in November 2023 with further volumes following after their original publication in print.


Brill’s Encyclopedia of Buddhism is under the general editorial control of Jonathan Silk (Leiden University, editor-in-chief). Each volume has a dedicated board of specialist editors and in later volumes also a volume editor; in the series so far this includes Richard Bowring (University of Cambridge), Vincent Eltschinger (École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris), Oskar von Hinuber (Albert-Ludwigs University of Freiburg) and Michael Radich (Heidelberg University).



More information: Brill.com

Falin

(2,686 words)

Author(s): Jülch, Thomas
The scholar-monk Falin (法琳; 572–640) was by far the most prolific and productive author of Buddhist apologetic writing in Chinese history, his apologetic activity being motivated by the political conditions in the early Tang dynasty, which posed a serious threat to the survival of Buddhism in China. The first Tang emperor, Gaozu (高祖; r. 618–626), had risen to power basing himself ideologically on support from the Daoist clergy (Weinstein, 1987, 6–7). The Daoist clergy used its new influence at c…
Source: Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism Online

Faxian

(3,282 words)

Author(s): Deeg, Max
Faxian (法顯) was a Chinese monk from the Period of the Southern and Northern Dynasties (Nanbei chao [南北朝]; 220–589) who went to India in 399 in “search of the dharma” ( qiufa [求法]). After his return to China in 414, he wrote a record about the “Buddhist kingdoms” ( foguo [佛國]) through which he had traveled, or of which he had heard stories. It is for this record that Faxian is mostly known, but he also brought back important Buddhist texts, and participated or assisted in the translation of some of them. Primary Sources The two main sources for Faxian’s life are his hagio-biography in Hui…
Source: Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism Online

Fazun

(3,957 words)

Author(s): Bianchi, Ester
Fazun (法尊; 1902–1980), a fundamental figure in the spread of Tibetan teachings in China, was above all a modern Chinese Buddhist pilgrim who, inspired by the great pilgrim monks of the past, traveled West in “search of the dharma” ( qiufa [求法]), and studied for about a decade in Kham and in Central Tibet (1925–1934 and 1935–1936). Like his prominent predecessors and models Faxian (法顯; c. 337–422), Xuanzang (玄奘; 602–664), and Yijing (義淨; 635–713), he devoted himself to translating the Buddhist scriptures he gathered in his travels. He …
Source: Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism Online