Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism Online

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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

Chan Literature

(23,892 words)

Author(s): T. Griffith Foulk
Defining the CategoryIt is reasonable to reserve the designation “Chan literature” for literary genres that were unique to, or at least invented by and characteristic of, the Chan (禪) school of Buddhism in China. That definition is scarcely controversial, and precedents for it can be found in Chinese historical records dating from as far back as the 9th century. However, there is no consensus among modern scholars as to what kind of movement the Chan school was when it first took shape in China, o…
Source: Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism Online

Chengguan

(3,811 words)

Author(s): Hamar, Imre
Chengguan (澄觀; 738–839) is regarded as the fourth patriarch of the Huayan school (Huayan zong [華嚴宗]) of Chinese Buddhism, which was established as a result of a unique Chinese understanding and interpretation of the Buddhist teachings based on a voluminous Mahāyāna sūtra, the Buddhāvataṃsaka. He is described as an exegete ( yijie [義解]), as his main works are his commentaries on the Da fangguang Fo huayan jing (大方廣 佛華嚴經, T. 279; below, Huayan jing), the Chinese translation of the very same Buddhāvataṃsaka. He wrote his commentary at Wutaishan (五台山), also called Clear and Cool…
Source: Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism Online

China I: Buddhism in the First to the Sixth Century

(20,486 words)

Author(s): Moretti, Costantino | Bowring, Richard
A Legendary Flying Start – Second and Third Centuries in the North – Second and Third Centuries in the South – An Increase in Translation Activity – Fourth and Fifth Centuries in the North – Fourth and Fifth Centuries in the South – Huiyuan and Kumārajīva – The Northern Wei Dynasty – Fifth and Sixth Centuries in the South – Buddhism as a Force for Integration? A Legendary Flying Start The precise date when Buddhism was first introduced into China is unknown, but the main traditions that tell of its arrival always include two elements: an emperor’s dream and a text…
Source: Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism Online
Date: 2023-10-01

China II: Buddhism in the Sui, Tang (and Zhou) Dynasties

(26,156 words)

Author(s): Benn, James A.
Introduction – Chronological Overview – Sources – Buddhism and the State – Translation – The Buddhist Canon – Support for Doctrinal Innovation – Buddhism and Society – Culture and Technology Introduction The Buddhism of the Sui (隋; 581–618) and Tang (唐; 618–907) was essentially a religion of empire. It was supremely confident and universalistic in doctrine, inclusive of diverse voices, and expansive in outlook. The doctrinal innovation and intellectual inventiveness that we associate with this period was no accident, but rath…
Source: Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism Online
Date: 2023-10-01

China III: Buddhism in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

(17,340 words)

Author(s): Brose, Benjamin
Introduction – The Five Dynasties – Dunhuang – The Ten Kingdoms – Min – Southern Han – Chu – Wu and Southern Tang – Wuyue – Former and Later Shu – Nanping – Nanzhao and Dali – Reunification Introduction The period of political division that spanned the fall of the Tang (唐) dynasty in 907 and the founding of the Song (宋) dynasty in 960 is conventionally designated as the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (五代十國). The standard dates for this era, however, obscure its actual length. While the Song dynasty was inaugurated just fifty-three y…
Source: Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism Online
Date: 2023-10-01

China IV: Buddhism in the Song Dynasty

(21,934 words)

Author(s): Protass, Jason | Benn, James A.
Introduction – Patronage of Early Song Emperors – Three Legal Instruments and Their Significance – The Rise of Chan – Development of the Tiantai, Huayan, and Vinaya Traditions – Vernacular Buddhist Traditions – Print Technology and Culture Introduction The Northern Song (Bei Song [北宋] 960–1127) and Southern Song (Nan Song [南宋] 1127–1279) dynasties marked a watershed in Chinese religious history. The Chan (禪) school established its canon of religious literature, new practices, and institutional formations that came to dominate mainst…
Source: Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism Online
Date: 2023-10-01

China V: Buddhism in the Yuan Dynasty

(15,201 words)

Author(s): Jinping, Wang | Heller, Natasha
Khubilai Khan and Tibetan Buddhism – Buddhism in the North – Buddhism in the South – Final Reflections Khubilai Khan and Tibetan Buddhism Under the leadership of Chinggis Khan (r. 1206–1227) and his sons and grandsons, the Mongols created a far-reaching empire in the early thirteenth century with a unique political theology, which assumed that all religions the Mongols recognized prayed to the same deity ( tenggeri, Eternal Heaven), who had blessed Chinggis Khan with victories in war, and continued to respond to prayer by granting favors for the empire. During…
Source: Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism Online
Date: 2023-10-01

China VI: Buddhism in the Ming and Early Qing Dynasties

(18,540 words)

Author(s): Bowring, Richard | Dewei, Zhang
Early Ming – Mid-Ming – Late Ming – The Four Buddhist Masters of the Late Ming – Confucian-Buddhist Literati – Chan in Jiangnan – Buddhism in Ming Culture – A Lay Buddhist Movement – The Ming-Qing Transition – Tibetan Buddhism at the Qing Court – “Han” Buddhism in the Qing Early Ming (1368–1424) At the beginning of the Ming (明) dynasty the Yuan capital of Dadu (大都, then known as Beiping [北平]) was at first avoided in favor of Nanjing (南京). Indeed, it was not until 1420 that the Yongle emperor decided to move his capital north, renaming it Beijing (…
Source: Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism Online
Date: 2023-10-01

China VII: Buddhism in the Late Qing Dynasty

(10,537 words)

Author(s): Scott, Gregory Adam
A Historiography of Decline – The Late-Imperial Context – 1796–1850 – Peng Shaosheng – Jixing Chewu – Gong Zizhen – 1850–1864 – Wei Yuan – Guanxin Xianhui – What Remains; What was Replaced? A Historiography of Decline We probably know less about Buddhism in China in the Late Qing (1796–1864) than we do about Buddhism during many other periods of Chinese history. There are two likely reasons for this. First, during the early twentieth century when the first comprehensive histories of the period were being written, most observers ass…
Source: Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism Online
Date: 2023-10-01

Chinese Buddhist Apocrypha

(6,210 words)

Author(s): Funayama, Tōru
The term “Chinese Buddhist apocrypha” refers to those scriptures, or the genre of such scriptures, that while appearing in form to be purely the Chinese translation of a scripture (or sūtra) originating in India were in fact composed in China. These texts follow the style of authentic translations of Indian Buddhist scriptures, usually beginning with the formula “Thus have I heard” (Skt. evaṃ mayā śrutam; Chn. rushi wo wen [如是我聞] or wen rushi [聞如是] as an earlier form). Scholars thus generally use the term Chinese Buddhist apocrypha to mean “ sūtras composed in China.” The use of the …
Source: Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism Online

Chinese Religion and Buddhism

(14,365 words)

Author(s): Barrett, T.H.
Chinese and Others: Buddhist, and Non-Buddhist – The Emergence of Daoism – The Formation of a New Confucian Tradition Chinese and Others: Buddhist, and Non-Buddhist The narrative that is provided here is designed to give a roughly chronological account of the interactions of Buddhists with others whom they regarded as their rivals throughout the history of the presence of Buddhism in the Chinese cultural area up until modern times. Inevitably the account is dominated by the sources available, which by and large consist …
Source: Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism Online
Date: 2023-10-01

Chinul

(4,493 words)

Author(s): Bernard Senécal
Just as it might be said that Wŏnhyo (元曉; 617–686) is the most representative Buddhist of the Unified Silla period (新羅; 668–935), Chinul (知訥; 1158–1210), also known as Moguja (牧牛子, the Oxherder) or State Preceptor Puril Pojo (佛日普照國師), is the outstanding Buddhist of the Koryŏ period (高麗; 918–1392). A scholiast ( kyoga [敎 家]) and a meditation master ( sŏnsa [禪師], sŏnga [禪家]) endowed with an exceptionally eclectic mind, he dedicated his energies to creating harmony between two bitterly conflicting sectarian positions, those who emphasized meditation ( sŏn [禪]) versus those who were d…
Source: Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism Online

Christianity and Buddhism in China

(4,778 words)

Author(s): Dudink, Ad
According to the Xi’an (西安) “Nestorian” stele of 781, discovered in 1623, the East Syrian Church, known in Chinese as the “Luminous Teaching” (Jingjiao [景教]), entered China for the first time in 635. This stele (Forte, 1996; Riboud, 2015, 43; Deeg, 2018), as well as manuscript documents found in Dunhuang (Riboud, 2015, 46–48; 2001, 4–7) and the Luoyang (洛陽) scriptural pillar of 815, discovered in 2006 (Riboud, 2015, 43–45), testify to a Christian presence in China during these years. Buddhism ac…
Source: Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism Online
Date: 2023-10-01

Christianity and Buddhism in Japan

(3,663 words)

Author(s): Krämer, Hans Martin
In contrast to the encounter between Japanese Buddhism and Christianity in the late nineteenth century, which resulted in Buddhist sects feeling under considerable pressure to reform themselves both on an institutional and doctrinal level (Thelle, 1987; Krämer, 2015), the earlier encounter in the mid-sixteenth century at the beginning of Jesuit missionary activity in East Asia was ultimately of little consequence to Buddhism. No major writings of Buddhist provenance were devoted to Christianity,…
Source: Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism Online
Date: 2023-10-01