Buddhist Studies

by Richard Gombrich and Cristina Scherrer-Schaub

The impressive growth of Buddhist Studies in recent years is the result of several factors.  Important collections of manuscripts have been found, and monuments unearthed, in nearly all parts of Asia where Buddhism existed; political and social events bringing East and West together have increased interest in both scholarly research and Buddhist religious practices.  The spread of Buddhism outside its birthplace, Madhyadesa, first in India and soon throughout Asia, prompted its followers constantly to invent new discursive strategies and to adjust the rules to local customs and administrations.  The essays presented here illustrate how and why Buddhist literature adapted to a new and specific context, particularly in North-west India.  They also discuss hermeneutical and exegetical practices of Indian Buddhism, the complex interrelation between the brahmanical and the Buddhist milieu, as well as the role of the social and political context in determining the rules of the monastic code(vinaya).