Encyclopedia of Buddhism

Buddhism is one of the three major world religions, along with Christianity and Islam, and has a history that is several centuries longer than either of its counterparts. Starting in India some twenty-five hundred years ago, Buddhist monks and nuns almost immediately from the inception of the dispensation began to “to wander forth for the welfare and weal of the many, out of compassion for the world,” commencing one of the greatest missionary movements in world religious history. Over the next millennium, Buddhism spread from India throughout the Asian continent, from the shores of the Caspian Sea in the west, to the Inner Asian steppes in the north, the Japanese isles in the east, and the Indonesian archipelago in the south. In the modern
era, Buddhism has even begun to build a significant presence in the Americas and Europe among both immigrant and local populations, transforming it into a religion with truly global reach. Buddhist terms such as karma, nirva
na, sam sa
ra, and ko
an have entered common parlance and Buddhist ideas have begun to seep deeply into both Western thought and popular culture.
The Encyclopedia of Buddhism is one of the first major reference tools to appear in any Western language that seeks to document the range and depth of the Buddhist tradition in its many manifestations. In addition to feature entries on the history and impact of Buddhism in different cultural regions and national traditions, the work also covers major doctrines, texts, people, and schools of the religion, as well as practical aspects of Buddhist meditation, liturgy, and lay training. Although the target audience is the nonspecialist reader, even serious students of the tradition should find much of benefit in the more than four hundred entries.
Even with over 500,000 words at our disposal, the editorial board realized early on that we had nowhere nearly enough space to do justice to the full panoply of Buddhist thought, practice, and culture within each major Asian tradition.

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