Localization, Globalization and Glocalization: Paradigm Shifts in the Study of Transmission and Transformation of Buddhism in Asia and Beyond

Dear Colleagues,

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. For these reasons, we propose the following (non-exclusive) themes for this Special Issue:

1. Conflicts and Conciliations: Patterns of Intercultural/Intercivilisational Interactions as Seen from Buddhism’s Crossborder and Transcultural Transformation;
2. Indigenization and Globalization of Buddhism as Part of World History;
3. Sinification and Globalization of Buddhism and Reconstruction of Sacred Spaces in Asia;
4. Case Studies Showing Glocalization as a More Dynamic Approach for the Study of Transcultural Transmission of Buddhism;
5. Buddhism’s Transborder Transmission and the Formation and Transformation of Pan-Asian Textual Communities;
6. Buddhism’s Transborder Transmission and Commercial Networks in Asia;
7. Buddhism’s Transborder Transmission and Geopolitical Reshaping in Asia.

Prof. Dr. Jinhua Chen
Prof. Dr. Ru Zhan
Guest Editors

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• localization
• globalization
• glocalization
• world history
• Buddhism’s transborder transmission
• sinification of Buddhism