Silk Road
Silk Road (C. Silu 絲路; J. Shiruku rōdo シルクロード; K. Pidan kil 緋緞). Refers to the ancient caravan routes through Central Asia that connected China, India, Syria, and the Roman Empire; also called the Silk Route.[1] The term "Silk Road" was coined by the German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen in 1877, but the translations (or transliterations) of the English term are now commonly used in Asian languages as well.[1] The "Silk Road" does not refer to a single road, but rather to a network of trade routes through Central Asia that connected East Asia and the West.[1] The commodities traded along these routes included silk, spices, livestock, perfumes, precious metals and so on.[1]
These trade routes also served as a conduit for cultural and religious exchanges between the people of different regions along these routes.[1] Thus, it was along these routes that the Buddhist teachings were transmitted from their homeland in India into Central Asia, and then to China and the rest of East Asia.
The Silk Road routes from India flowed through the region of Gandhara into Central Asia. There were two main routes through Central Asia: a northern route through Kashgar and Turfan and a southern route through Khotan. (See Figure 1.) Both routes merged in Dunhuang, and progressed from there to the Chinese cities of Chang'an and Luoyang.[1] From the cities of Chang'an and Luoyang (which often traded places as the capital cities of successive Chinese dynasties), trading routes spread to the rest of East Asia.[1] (See Figure 2.)
The Princeton Dictionary states:
- By the first century CE, there existed a network of Buddhist religious centers stretching from northwestern India, to the Tarim basin, and into China. Buddhism entered East Asia along the Silk Road as well. According to Chinese sources, interaction between Indian and Chinese culture began as early as the first century BCE, when an emperor of the Han dynasty—by some accounts Emperor Wu (156–87 BCE), by others Emperor Ming (Mingdi) (r. 58–76 CE)—is said to have sent an emissary to the west along the Silk Road in response to the expansion of the Kushan empire to gather evidence of the new religion of Buddhism. In the second century CE, monks from India and the oasis kingdoms along the Silk Road began translating Indian and Central Asian Buddhist texts into Chinese. One of the earliest of these translators was An Shigao, who translated dozens of Indian works into Chinese.[1]
From the 4th century onward, East Asian pilgrims used the Silk Road to travel to India and back to their homes in East Asia. These pilgrims included Faxian (395–414), Xuanzang (629–644), and Yijing (635–713) from China, and Hyech'o (c. 704-780) from Korea.[1][2] The travel diaries of these pilgrims provides valuable information about the development of Buddhism in Asia.[1]
The transmission of Buddhism along the Silk Road began to decline in the 7th century with the rise of Islam in Central Asia.
- See also
- Maritime Silk Road, regarding sea routes from India to Southeast Asia
Notes
Sources
Buswell, Robert E.; Lopez, Donald S. (2014), The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, Princeton University
Further reading
Web publications:
Silk Road transmission of Buddhism, Wikipedia
Print publications:
- Hill, John E. (2009) Through the Jade Gate to Rome: A Study of the Silk Routes during the Later Han Dynasty, 1st to 2nd Centuries CE. BookSurge, Charleston, South Carolina.
- Saunders, Kenneth J. (1923). "Buddhism in China: A Historical Sketch", The Journal of Religion, Vol. 3.2, pp. 157–169; Vol. 3.3, pp. 256–275.
- Zürcher, Erik (2007). The Buddhist Conquest of China, 3rd ed. Leiden. E. J. Brill. 1st ed. 1959, 2nd ed. 1972.
- Zürcher, E. (1990). "Han Buddhism and the Western Region", in Thought and Law in Qin and Han China: Studies Dedicated to Anthony Hulsewe on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday, ed by W.L. Idema and E. Zurcher, Brill, pp. 158–182.