This book is a collection of papers that, for the most part, were 
            originally delivered as part of a symposium of the same name held in 
            1985 at the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University 
            of London. According to the editor's "Preface," this volume is the 
            first volume in a projected series entitled Buddhica Britannica 
            intended to embrace studies on various aspects of Buddhist 
            traditions throughout Asia. Appropriate then for the inauguration of 
            this series, the subject of this first volume is the "Buddhist 
            Heritage" in India and in the larger Asian and Western worlds, here 
            amply celebrated by a highly diverse assemblage of articles 
            considering both scriptural and wider-ranging cultural expressions. 
            The initial contribution, David L. Snellgrove's "Multiple Features 
            of the Buddhist Heritage," also serves as a kind of introduction, 
            first discussing some of the significant characteristics shared by 
            various branches of the Buddhist tradition throughout Asia, and then 
            examining some changes in Buddhist practice and, in particular, the 
            influence of tantric developments. In addition to setting forth 
            certain generalizations, Snellgrove wishes to correct others, 
            particularly those concerning Theravada versus Mahayana, where 
            typically the former is seen as less ritualistic and the latter as 
            devaluing monastic life. 
            In "Aspects of Theravada Buddhism in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia," 
            Heinz Bechert sketches some of the pivotal events and factors in the 
            development of Buddhist religious life in Theravadin cultures. These 
            include the institutional changes brought about by the progressive 
            interaction of the original sangha with state authority, the 
            interplay of "great" and "little" traditions, and the impact of the 
            colonial period. In conclusion, Bechert refers to the problem of the 
            emergence of Buddhist sects, which he sees as one of the most 
            important and least understood factors in the development of 
            Buddhism. To clarify this issue, Bechert appeals to a distinction 
            between sects and schools, i.e., respectively disciplinary and 
            doctrinal differences, which he has discussed at length in other 
            works. 
            K. R. Norman, in "The Pali Language and Scriptures," systematically 
            and with ample documentation from primary and secondary sources 
            surveys the most important issues in the history of the Pali canon 
            including among others: the councils, the bhanaka system, oral and 
            written phases, linguistic developments, relationships with other 
            traditions, later phases of the indigenous traditions, and Western 
            scholarship. This paper develops topics covered in the author's Pali 
            Literature (1983), to which it provides an important continuation 
            and complement. 
            Building on the lifelong research of Christian Hooykaas, Anthony 
            Christie, in "Buddhism in Southeast Asia: an Anecdotal Survey," 
            discusses the relationship between Saiva and Buddhist ritualists in 
            modern Bali. To his treatment, Christie contributes additional 
            Southeast Asian material, consideration of the issue of 
            vegetarianism and of the practice of constructing sand cetiyas. 
            In a long essay, "The Unique Features of Newar Buddhism," John K. 
            Locke describes and explores the background and history of the 
            salient characteristics of Newar Buddhism. Locke locates these 
            unique features not simply in Newar Buddhism's being tantric or 
            being "mixed up with Hinduism," but in its being "embedded in a 
            dominant Hindu society confined within a very small geographical 
            area." The expression of these unique features in the "lifestyle of 
            the sangha and the viharas in which they live" is examined in terms 
            of ritual, architecture, social history, and historical antecedents. 
            
            E. Zurcher, in "The Impact of Buddhism on Chinese Culture in an 
            Historical Perspective," concisely delineates the main strands of 
            the history of Buddhism in China: the silk road and the geography of 
            transmission, the main periods, the social stratification, state 
            relations, and cultural vicissitudes in different periods. 
            In "Buddhist Monuments in China: Some Recent Finds of Sarira 
            Deposits," Roderick Whitfield catalogues some of the numerous finds 
            of sarira deposits recorded in Chinese archaeological journals from 
            1957 to 1988, arranged conveniently here by dynasty. 
            The Fang-shan Chinese stone carvings of the Buddhist canon form the 
            topic of Lewis R. Lancaster's "The Rock Cut Canon in China: Findings 
            at Fang-shan." Lancaster examines the history, archaeological 
            details, and significance of the stone carvings begun in the seventh 
            century by a monk named Ching-wan of the Chih-ch'uan monastery and 
            continued in Fang-shan district during the next seven centuries to 
            include ultimately a major portion of the Buddhist canon on 14,260 
            stone slabs. Containing in some cases versions of texts even earlier 
            than those found at Tun-huang, and largely representing a version of 
            the canon contemporaneous with the oldest sources for our current 
            editions, the Fang-shan canon, Lancaster believes, is an invaluable 
            source that must be used in any future critical studies of the 
            Chinese canon. 
            Youngsook Pak, in "Excavations of Buddhist Temple Sites in Korea 
            since 1960," surveys, with plates, excavation reports on five 
            important temple complexes built in Korea between the fifth and 
            tenth centuries. In addition, along with diagrams of groundplans, he 
            discusses the layout of the monasteries uncovered at these sites 
            with a view towards placing them in the history of sacred 
            architecture in East Asia during this period. 
            In "Word and Wordlessness: The Spirit of Korean Buddhism," Hee-Sung 
            Keel first presents a short overview of the basic social groups and 
            major personalities of Korean Buddhism. Next, the author examines 
            the key relationship in Korean Buddhism between Kyo (older 
            established doctrinal schools) and Son (Ch'an or Zen), as 
            exemplified in the writings of Hyujong, a central figure of the Yi 
            dynasty, on the relationship between verbal doctrine and ineffable 
            truth. 
            In "Contemporary Lay Buddhist Movements in Japan: A Comparison 
            Between Reiyukai and Soka Gakkai," Kubo Tsugunari offers a 
            conspectus, enriched by the knowledge and unique insights of an 
            insider, on this pair of lay Buddhist religious groups. Both 
            Reiyukai and Soka Gakkai, under the impetus of a common heritage of 
            Buddhist thought and, in particular, the Lotus Sutra, have 
            originated, expanded, and eventually flourished in modern era Japan. 
            Kubo first sets out the personalities and history of each movement, 
            succinctly situating each in its larger social context, then 
            describes practice and belief, and, in conclusion, summarizes their 
            most important similarities and divergencies. 
            A. Piatigorsky first presents some general observations about the 
            nature of religious syncretism, connected here to the specific 
            interaction between Buddhism and shamanism, in "Buddhism in Tuva: 
            Preliminary Observations on Religious Syncretism." Following this 
            treatment of Buddhism and shamanism, the author adds a short 
            chronology of Buddhism in Tuva and concludes with personal 
            ethnographic observations of the religious situation in Ivolga. 
            In "The Buddhist Notion of an 'Immanent Absolute' (tathagatagarbha) 
            as a Problem in Hermeneutics," D. Seyfort Ruegg traces the attempts 
            of the later Buddhist tradition to reconcile the notion of a 
            spiritual germ, matrix or Buddhanature (gotra, tathagatagarbha) with 
            the fundamental teaching of non-self or (anatman). One prominent 
            mode of reconciliation was hermeneutical: drawing upon ideas shared 
            with Indian poetics, Buddhist interpreters elaborated a hierarchy of 
            statements, in which unacceptable overt declarations could be 
            rendered acceptable by declaring them to be intentional surface 
            presentations of deeper meanings accessible only through the 
            requisite exegesis. For a more detailed treatment of this problem 
            and its solutions, both hermeneutical and doctrinal, we are referred 
            by the author to the first chapter of his Buddha-nature, Mind and 
            the Problem of Gradualism in a Comparative Perspective (School of 
            Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 1989). 
            In "Contemporary European Scholarship on Buddhism," a fitting final 
            contribution to this wide-ranging volume, Russell Webb surveys the 
            most prominent European researchers on Buddhism by area of 
            specialization, with background information and bibliographical 
            record of their publications and activities. 
            All scholars of Buddhism will undoubtedly find something of interest 
            to be read with profit in this diverse collection of papers. The 
            editor and the Institute of Buddhist Studies, Tring, are to be 
            thanked for bringing about the publication of this, and we hope 
            future volumes of the Buddhica Britannica series.