Vajrayana, Mahayana, and Theravada are the most practiced forms of Buddhism today but there were a lot of changes within the Mahayaha practice when the expansion of Buddhism crossed the Silk Road.

In the Silk Road context, a good example of this process are the Sufis, devotees committed to spiritual life and unity among traditions, whose teachings of Islam exist in all the vernaculars and ...

Known as the transmitter of Chan, or Zen Buddhism, the Chinese monk, Bodhidharma, was said to have a volatile temperament. Portrait of Bodhidharma. Fourteenth century, ink on silk. Courtesy the ...

Monks wandering the Silk Road brought Buddhism from India to China, while merchants brought spices, gems, textiles, books, horses, and other valuables from one part of the continent to the other.

During the following 20 years, Xuan Zang has profoundly contributed to the transmission of Buddhism by translating more than 75 Buddhism Classic scripts Previous 1 2 Print E-mail ...

Richard C. Foltz is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Religion at the University of Florida. He is the author of several books and articles including Religions of the Silk Road, Mughal India ...

The Mahāyāna branch of Buddhism likely emerged around the first centuries A.D. and was most readily carried through the Silk Road and maritime trade routes.

Editor’s Note: Sumnima Udas is CNN’s presenter of ‘The Silk Road: Past, Present, Future’, an epic journey from east to west along the ancient trade route, exploring how traditional culture ...