From the Ground Up: Buddhism and East Asian Religions

We are pleased to announce the open access release of Localization, Globalization and Glocalization: Paradigm Shifts in the Study of Transmission and Transformation of Buddhism in Asia and Beyond edited by Jinhua Chen and Ru Zhan, published by MDPI.

Book details:

Jinhua Chen and Ru Zhan, eds. Localization, Globalization and Glocalization: Paradigm Shifts in the Study of Transmission and Transformation of Buddhism in Asia and Beyond. MDPI, February 2026. 357 pages. (This book is a reprint of the Special Issue Localization, Globalization and Glocalization: Paradigm Shifts in the Study of Transmission and Transformation of Buddhism in Asia and Beyond that was published in Religions). ISBN 978-3-7258-6278-8 (Hbk); ISBN 978-3-7258-6279-5 (PDF); https://doi.org/10.3390/books978-3-7258-6279-5

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About the Special Issue:

Contact between the East and West started as early as antiquity. Alexander the Great, for instance, brought the Greek culture to India, where Greek aesthetics would heavily influence Buddhist—especially Gandhāran Buddhist—art. Similarly, Roman coins circulated the Chinese capital Xi’an as early as the Han Dynasty (202 BC–220 AD), while Christianity already spread to China by the time of the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Within Asia, intense cultural exchanges took place constantly, including the spread of Buddhism to China in the first century CE. Accompanying cultural exchanges are also conflicts. Encounters between Eastern and Western civilizations were especially combustible due to their vast political, economical, linguistic, and cultural differences. However, conflict is far from the normal mode of intercivilizational interaction. To the contrary, the advancement of human civilization is deeply indebted to the exchange and merging of cultures.

At this critical juncture of our own time when globalization faces an unprecedented crisis, history can serve as a mirror, helping us to understand the nature of intercivilizational conflict and cooperation. In particular, the history of the spread of Buddhism from India to China, its subsequent appropriation by Chinese culture, and the transmission of the Sinicized form of Buddhism to the rest of East Asia in particular reveals the mechanism of cross-cultural interactions.

From the perspective of global history, when the teachings of Buddhism first arrived in the heartland of China around the first century CE, East Asia had just started what would become an ongoing exchange with Central and South Asia. Influence from the Han Empire had already spread to Central Asia, and as a result, at least two civilizations communicated with one another through various channels, allowing for diverse cultural interactions and fusion. Buddhism, in this context, was one of many players to participate in this rich cultural dynamic.

About the Special Issue Guest Editors:

Jinhua Chen is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a professor of East Asian intellectual history (particularly religions) at the University of British Columbia, where he also served as the Canada Research Chair in East Asian Buddhism (2001–2011). He has extensively published on East Asian state–church relationships, monastic (hagio-) biographical literature, Buddhist sacred sites, relic veneration, Buddhism and technological innovation in medieval China, and Buddhist translations.

Ru Zhan is a professor at Peking University’s School of Foreign Languages. Additionally, he is a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, the vice president of the Buddhist Association of China, and the vice president of the Peking University Orientalism Research Institute. His areas of research include Buddhist and Buddhist literature, the Indian Ministry of Buddhism, Dunhuang Buddhism, and Buddhist systems.

Localization, Globalization and Glocalization

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