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Buddhism and the Maritime Crossings

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Early Global Interconnectivity across the Indian Ocean World, Volume II

Part of the book series: Palgrave Series in Indian Ocean World Studies ((IOWS))

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Abstract

This article demonstrates how the spread of Buddhism through maritime routes was closely linked with commercial activities, and how these networks were different from overland routes. It also provides a survey on early India–China networks and introduces the activities of Buddhist monks and the importance of Śrīvijayan rulers and their contribution to the maritime spread of Buddhism. In the second part, the article discusses the role of Sri Lanka and the Bay of Bengal networks in the maritime transmission of Buddhism. It shows that Buddhism spread in various forms from one cultural zone of Asia to another. It also demonstrates that the transmission of Buddhist doctrines, images and texts was a complex process that involved itinerant monks, traders and travellers.

This essay was previously published in China and Beyond in the Mediaeval Period: Cultural Crossings and Inter-Regional Connections, ed. Dorothy C. Wong and Gustav Heldt (Amherst: Cambria Press, 2014), and is reproduced with permission from the publisher.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Ann Heirman and Stephan P. Bumbacher (2007) “Introduction: The Spread of Buddhism,” in Ann Heirmann and Stephan P. Bumbacher (eds.), The Spread of Buddhism (Leiden: E. J. Brill), 1.

  2. 2.

    As Lewis Lancaster points out in his chapter in China and Beyond in the Mediaeval Period, the use of contemporary nation states to discuss patterns of premodern Buddhist interactions is problematic. The same would be true for the names of provinces and states within these nation states that did not exist before the twentieth century. With shifting political borders, expanding and contracting empires, and the changing names of towns and cities, it is difficult to create a satisfactory terminology for geographical regions in studies that deal with several centuries of cross-regional interactions. In this essay, “India” is used for the region that now comprises of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan; “China” generally refers to the area within the present-day People’s Republic of China. When specific kingdoms and ancient polities are mentioned, the approximate contemporary region they encompassed is provided in parentheses.

  3. 3.

    For an excellent study of the transmission of Buddhism through the overland trade networks, see Jason Neelis (2011) Early Buddhist Transmission and Trade Networks: Mobility and Exchange Within and Beyond the Northern Borderlands of South Asia (Leiden: E. J. Brill). Maritime networks in South Asia and the spread of Buddhism from coastal India to Southeast Asia have been discussed by Himanshu Prabha Ray (1994) The Winds of Change: Buddhism and the Maritime Links of Early South Asia (Delhi: Oxford University Press). See also Lewis Lancaster’s Chapter “Crossing a Boundary: Where, When, How,” in Dorothy C. Wong; Gustav Heldt (ed.), China and Beyond in the Medieval Period: Cultural Crossings and Iter-Regional Connections, 27–38.

  4. 4.

    See Erik Zürcher (1990) “Han Buddhism and the Western Region,” in Wilt L. Idema and Erik Zürcher (eds.), Thought and Law in Qin and Han China: Studies Presented to Anthony Hulsewé on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday (Leiden: E. J. Brill), 158–182; Erik Zürcher (1999) “Buddhism Across Boundaries: The Foreign Input,” in John R. McRae and Jan Nattier (eds.), Buddhism Across Boundaries: Chinese Regions and the Western Regions (Taibei: Fo Guang Shan Foundation), 1–59.

  5. 5.

    I discuss the role of maritime Southeast Asia in the transmission of Buddhism from South Asia to China in a separate study. See Tansen Sen (2014) “Maritime Southeast Asia Between South Asia and China to the Sixteenth Century,” TRaNS: Trans-Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia 2.1, 31–59.

  6. 6.

    Although maritime networks were also instrumental in the Buddhist exchanges between China and Japan, they are not covered here. But see Dorothy C. Wong’s “An Agent of Cultural Transmission: Jianzhen’s Travels to Japan, 743–763” in China and Beyond in the Mediaeval Period, discussing Monk Jianzhen’s travels to Japan.

  7. 7.

    Tansen Sen (2011) “Maritime Interactions Between China and India: Coastal India and the Ascendancy of Chinese Maritime Power in the Indian Ocean,” Journal of Central Eurasian Studies 2, 41–82.

  8. 8.

    Peter Bellwood (2004) “The Origins and Dispersals of Agricultural Communities in Southeast Asia,” in Ian Glover and Peter Bellwood (eds.), Southeast Asia: From Prehistory to History (London: RoutledgeCurzon), 21–40.

  9. 9.

    Paul M. Munoz (2006) Early Kingdoms of the Indonesian Archipelago and the Malay Peninsula (Singapore: Editions Didier Millet), 29–44.

  10. 10.

    Paul Munoz (2006) Early Kingdoms, 45.

  11. 11.

    Ian C. Glover and Bellina Bérénice (2011) “Ban Don Ta Phet and Khao Sam Kaeo: The Earliest Indian Contacts Re-Assessed,” in Pierre-Yves Manguin, A. Mani and Geoff Wade (eds.), Early Interactions Between South and Southeast Asia: Reflections on Cross-Cultural Exchange (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies), 40–41.

  12. 12.

    Paul Munoz (2006) Early Kingdoms, 59. See also Oliver W. Wolters [1915–2000] (1967) Early Indonesian Commerce: A Study of the Origina os Śrīvijaya (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press), 37–45; Pierre-Yves Manguin (2004) “The Archaeology of Early Maritime Polities of Southeast Asia,” in Peter Bellwood and Ian Glover (eds.), South East Asia from Prehistory to History (London: RoutledgeCurzon), 282–313; Kenneth R. Hall (1982) “The ‘Indianization’ of Funan: An Economic History of Southeast Asia’s First State,” Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 13.1, 81–106; Himanshu Prabha Ray (1989) “Early Maritime Contacts Between South and Southeast Asia,” Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 20.1, 42–54; and Michael Vickery (2003–2004) “Funan Reviewed: Deconstructing the Ancients,” Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient, 90–91 and 101–143.

  13. 13.

    On Funan and its exchanges with South Asia and China, see Michael Vickery (2003–2004) “Funan Reviewed.”

  14. 14.

    S. Suresh (2004) Symbols of Trade: Roman and Pseudo-Roman Objects Found in India (New Delhi: Manohar). See also Himanshu Prabha Ray (1989) “Early Maritime Contacts.”

  15. 15.

    Sima Qian 司馬遷 [c. 145–86 BCE] (1996) Shiji 史記 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, c. 91 BCE, reprint of 1959), 129: 3268; Ying-shih Yü (1967) Trade and Expansion in Han China: A Study in the Structure of Sino-Barbarian Economic Relations (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press), Chapter 7; Heather A. Peters (1999) “Towns and Trade: Cultural Diversity and Chu Daily Life”, in Constance A. Cook and John S. Major (eds.), Defining Chu: Image and Reality in Ancient China (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press), 99–117; Liu Shufen 劉淑芬 (1992) Liuchao de chengshi yu shehui 六朝的城市與社會 (Taibei: Taiwan xuesheng shuju), 318–320. On the findings at Hepu, see Wu Zhuanjun 吳傳鈞, ed. (2006) Haishang sichouzhilu yanjiu: Zhongguo Beihai Hepu haishang sichou zhi lu shifagang lilun yantaohui lunwen ji 海上絲綢之路研究:中國北海合浦海上絲綢之路始發港理論研討會論文集 (Beijing: Kexue chubanshe).

  16. 16.

    Sima Qian (1996) Shiji 129, 3268; Ban Gu 班固 [32–92] (1996) Hanshu 漢書 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, reprint of 1962), 28b: 1670. For a detailed study of China’s maritime trade during this and later periods, see Wang Gungwu (1958) “The Nanhai Trade: A Study of the Early History of Chinese Trade in the South China Sea,” Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 31.2, 1–135.

  17. 17.

    See Zhao Shande 趙善德 (2003) “Handai haishang sichou zhi lu de xingqi he xingcheng” 漢代海上絲綢之路的興起和形成, in Huang Qichen 黃啟臣 (ed.), Guangdong haishang sichou zhi lu shi 廣東海上絲綢之路史 (Guangzhou: Guangdong jingji chubanshe), 21–68.

  18. 18.

    Liu Shufen (1992) Liuchao de chengshi yu shehui, 319.

  19. 19.

    Recent exceptions to this trend are Tilman Frasch (1998) “A Buddhist Network in the Bay of Bengal: Relations Between Bodhgaya and Sri Lanka, c. 300–1300,” in Claude Guillot; Denys Lombard and Roderich Ptak (eds.), From the Mediterranean to the China Sea: Miscellaneous Notes [South China and Maritime Asia, 7] (Wiesbaden: Otto Harassowitz), 69–92; Charles Willemen (2008) “Buddhism’s Maritime Route to China: The Early Phase (Before 589 A.D.),” Journal of Buddhist Studies 4, 1–23; Angela F. Howard (2008) “Pluralism of Styles in Sixth-Century China: A Reaffirmation of Indian Models,” Ars Orientalis 35, 67–95; and Max Deeg (2010) “Maritime Routes in the Indian Ocean in Early Times According to Chinese Buddhist Texts,” in Ralph Kauz (ed.), Aspects of the Maritime Silk Road: From the Persian Gulf to the East China Sea [East Asian Maritime History, 10] (Wiesbaden: Otto Harassowitz), 153–158.

  20. 20.

    A recent summary of this debate can be found in Rong Xinjiang (2004) “Land Route or Sea Route? Commentary on the Study of the Paths of Transmission and Area in which Buddhism Was Disseminated during the Han Period,” Sino-Platonic Papers 144, 1–32.

  21. 21.

    See Erik Zürcher (1990) “Han Buddhism” and Erik Zürcher (1999) “Buddhism Across Boundaries,” 48. Evidence for Buddhism in the Pyu cities in Myanmar, despite some recent analysis, remains debatable. Pamela Gutman and Bob Hudson have recently speculated that a stele from Śrīksetra, central Myanmar, showing Buddhist influences dates from the first century CE. See Pamela Gutman and Bob Hudson (2011) “A First Century Stele from Śrīkṣetra,” Paper Presented at the Conference on the Buddhist Dynamics in Premodern Southeast Asia, 10–11 March, No Publisher, Singapore.

  22. 22.

    See Marylin M. Rhie (1999) Early Buddhist Art of China and Central Asia, Volume 1: Later Han, Three Kingdoms, and Western Chin in China and Bactria to Shan-shan in Central Asia (Leiden: E. J. Brill) 27–47.

  23. 23.

    James Heitzman [1950–2008] (1984) “Early Buddhism, Trade and Empire,” in K. A. R. Kennedy and G. L. Possehl (eds.), Studies in the Archaeology and Palaeoanthropology of South Asia (New Delhi: Oxford University Press), 121–137.

  24. 24.

    The list of seven jewels (or seven precious objects) differs slightly from text to text. Usually, they include gold, silver, lapis lazuli, crystal, coral, pearl and agate. Other items that are sometimes included in the list are amber, carnelian and diamond. Buddhist texts, such as Mahāvastu and the Lotus Sutra, describe the seven jewels as objects that a patron can offer as donations or adornments to the Buddha and his reliquaries in order to obtain supreme merit. In another, and perhaps earlier, context, the seven jewels in Buddhism denoted the things a righteous king possessed as symbols of his authority, status and wealth: wheel, elephant, horse, gem, queen, householder and a minister. See Xinru Liu (1988) Ancient India and Ancient China: Trade and Religious Exchanges, A.D. 1–600 (Delhi: Oxford University Press), Chapter 4. Jason Neelis, however, argues Liu’s argument about Buddhist values and ideas creating and sustaining demand for commodities associated with the saptaratna concept is “highly debatable, since commodities such as gold with intrinsic economic values can be adopted for religious purposes even in traditions (like Buddhism and Christianity) that explicitly reject worldly riches.” See Jason Neelis (2011) Early Buddhist Transmission, 23.

  25. 25.

    Oliver Wolters has cautioned that Yepoti (Yavadvīpa?) did not necessarily refer to the island known today as Java. See Oliver Wolters (1967) Early Indonesian Commerce, 35. Max Deeg suggests that Yepoti may have been located on Sumatra. See Max Deeg (2005) Das Gaoseng-Faxian-zhuan als religionsgeschichtliche Quelle: Der älteste Bericht eines chinesischen buddhistischen Pilgermönchs über seine Reise nach Indien mit Übersetzung des Textes (Wiesbaden: Otto Harassowitz), 179–185.

  26. 26.

    See Li Rongxi (2002) “The Journey of the Eminent Monk Faxian,” in no editor, Lives of Great Monks and Nuns, translated by Li Rongxi (Berkeley: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research), 211.

  27. 27.

    On the Buddhism-Brahmanism rivalry in Southeast Asia, see John N. Miksic (2010) “The Buddhist-Hindu Divide in Premodern Southeast Asia,” Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre Working Paper Series 1, http://nsc.iseas.edu.sg/documents/working_papers/nscwps001.pdf (accessed July 25, 2011). Their rivalry in South Asia is discussed in detail, in Giovanni Verardi (2011) Hardships and Downfall of Buddhism in India (Delhi: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies and Manohar).

  28. 28.

    On early Buddhism and Buddhist monks in Guangzhou and Jiaozhou, see Luo Xianglin 羅香林 [1905–1978] (1930) Tangdai Guangzhou Guangxiaosi yu Zhong Yin jiaotong zhi guanxi 唐代廣州光孝寺與中印交通之關係 (Hong Kong: Zhongguo xueshe); Huang Guoxin 黃國信 (2003) “Wei Jin Nanbei chao haishang sichou zhi lu de chubu fazhan” 魏晉南北朝海上絲綢之路的初步發展, in Huang Qichen (ed.), Guangdong haishang sichou zhi lu shi 廣東海上絲綢之路史 (Guangzhou: Guangdong jingji chubanshe), 69–108.

  29. 29.

    See, for example, Charles Willemen (2008) “Buddhism’s Maritime Route,” 6–8.

  30. 30.

    For a detailed study of the role of Southeast Asia in cross-regional maritime interactions, especially in the Buddhist exchanges, see Michel Jacq-Hergoualc’h (2002) The Malay Peninsula: Crossroads of the Maritime Silk Road, 100 BC–1300 AD (Leiden: E. J. Brill).

  31. 31.

    For details about these monks who reached China by the maritime routes, see He Fangyao 何方耀 (2008) Jin Tang shiqi Nanhai qiufa gaoseng qunti yanjiu 晋唐时期南海求法高僧群体研究 (Beijing: Zongjiao wenhua chubanshe), 23–37. Guṇavarman’s travel to China and his translation work are discussed by Valentina Stache-Rosen (1973) “Gunavarman (367–431): A Comparative Analysis of the Biographies found in the Chinese Tripitaka,” Bulletin of Tibetology 10, 5–54; Tōru Funayama (2012) “Guṇavarman and Some of the Earliest Examples of Ordination Platforms (jietan) in China,” in James A. Benn, Chen Jinhua and James Robson (eds.), Images, Relics and Legends: Essays in Honor of Prof. Koichi Shinohara (Oakville: Mosaic Press), 21–45. On Paramārtha and his activities in China, see Tōru Funayama (2008) “The Work of Paramārtha: An Example of Sino-Indian Cross-Cultural Exchange,” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 31.1–2, 141–184. In one of the earliest sources on Bodhidharma, the monk is reported to be of Persian origin (Yang Xuanzhi 楊衒之 [?–555] (1924–1935) Luoyang qielan ji 洛陽伽藍記, in Takakusu Junjirō 高楠順次郎 [1866–1945] et al., eds. (1922–1932) Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新修大蔵経, 100 vols. (Tōkyō: Taishō issaikyō kankōkai), 2092: 1000b20) and there is no mention of his travelling to China by the sea route.

  32. 32.

    Huijiao 慧皎 [497–554] (1924–1935) Gaoseng zhuan 高僧傳, in Takakusu Junjirō (1922–1932) Taishō shinshū daizōkyō, 2059: 388a–c.

  33. 33.

    Dharmayaśas’s biography appears in the Huijiao (1924–1935) Gaoseng zhuan, T. 2059: 329b16–c27. His association with the Guanxiao Monastery is mentioned in Luo Xianglin (1930) Tangdai Guangzhou, 82; Huang Guoxin (2003) “Wei Jin Nanbei chao,” 79.

  34. 34.

    For the growth in population in Guangzhou from the Qin to the Southern Dynasties periods, see Hu Shouwei 胡守為 (1999) Lingnan gushi 嶺南古史 (Guangzhou: Guangdong renmin chubanshe), Chapter 12. Commercialization in the region is discussed by Liu Shufen 劉淑芬 (2001) “Jiankang and the Commercial Empire of the Southern Dynasties: Change and Continuity in Medieval Chinese Economic History,” in Scott Pearce; Audrey Spiro and Patricia Ebrey (eds.), Culture and Power in the Reconstitution of the Chinese Realm, 200–600 (Cambridge, MA: The Harvard University Asia Center), 35–52.

  35. 35.

    Tansen Sen (2011) “Maritime Interactions,” 44; Sengyou 僧祐 [443–518] (1924–1935) Chu sanzang ji ji 出三藏記集 [Collection of Records Concerning the Translation of the Tripiṭaka], in Takakusu Junjirō, Taishō shinshū daizōkyō, 2145: 40c25–41a28. See also Erik Zürcher (2002) “Tidings from the South: Chinese Court Buddhism and Overseas Relations in the Fifth Century AD,” in Antonino Forte and Federico Masini (eds.), A Life Journey to the East: Sinological Studies in Memory of Giuliano Bertuccioli, 1923–2001 [Essay Series, vol. 2] (Kyōto: Scuola Italiana di Studi sull’Asia Orientale), 21–43, here 31.

  36. 36.

    Tansen Sen (2011) “Maritime Interactions,” 44; Erik Zürcher (2002) “Tidings from the South,” 31–32.

  37. 37.

    On Guṇavarman’s voyage through Java, see Oliver Wolters (1967) Early Indonesian Commerce, 35–36, 152.

  38. 38.

    Faxian 法顯 [337/342–c. 422] (1924–1935) Gaoseng Faxian zhuan 高僧法顯傳, in Takakusu Junjirō, Taishō shinshū daizōkyō, 2085: 865c26–866a13. On the location of Yepoti, see note 25 above.

  39. 39.

    Faxian (1924–1935) Gaoseng Faxian zhuan, 2085: 866a7–13. The translation here is from James Legge [1815–1897] (1965) A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms: Being an Account by the Chinese Monk Fa-Hien of His Travels in India and Ceylon (A.D. 399–414) in Search of the Buddhist Books of Discipline (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., reprint of 1885), 112–113.

  40. 40.

    Charles Willemen (2008) “Buddhism’s Maritime Route,” 8. On Mandra[sena], see Wang Bangwei (2010) “Buddhist Connections Between China and Ancient Cambodia: Śramaṇa Mandra’s Visit to Jiankang,” in Hans Joas and Barbro Klein (eds.), The Benefit of Broad Horizons: Intellectual and Institutional Preconditions for a Global Social Science (Leiden: E. J. Brill), 281–291.

  41. 41.

    Gunavarman’s biography appears in Huijiao [497–554] (1924–1935) Gaoseng zhuan, T. 2059: 341b18.

  42. 42.

    Scholars have also identified the place with coastal Bengal. See Michel Jacq-Hergoualc’h (2002) The Malay Peninsula, 216.

  43. 43.

    Zürcher (1999) “Buddhism Across Boundaries,” 13–14.

  44. 44.

    Huijiao (1924–1935) Gaoseng zhuan, T. 2059: 325a.13.

  45. 45.

    Nguyen Duy Hinh has argued that Buddhism may have been practiced in Jiaozhi as early as the second century CE. See Nguyen Duy Hinh (1990) “Three Legends and Early Buddhism in Vietnam,” Vietnam Forum 13, 10–23.

  46. 46.

    See Michel Jacq-Hergoualc’h (2002) The Malay Peninsula, 400.

  47. 47.

    Paul Munoz (2006) Early Kingdoms, 123.

  48. 48.

    Lokesh Chandra (2011) “The Marine Silk Route and the Lighthouse of King Mulavarman,” Paper Presented at the Symposium on Ancient Silk Trade Routes: Cross Cultural Exchange and Legacy in Southeast Asia, 27–28 October, No Publisher, Singapore, 8–9. Since Yijing himself travelled to South Asia by the maritime route, he may have been more familiar with the traffic through the sea route than that by the overland road.

  49. 49.

    Hiram Woodward (2004) “Esoteric Buddhism in Southeast Asia in the Light of Recent Scholarship,” Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 35.2, 335.

  50. 50.

    On the activities of this monk, see Lin Li-kouang (1935) “Puṇyodaya (Na-t’i), un propagateur du tantrisme en Chine et au Cambodge a l’epoque de Hiuan-tsang,” Journal Asiatique 227, 83–100; Chen Jinhua (2010) Crossfire: Shingon-Tendai Strife as Seen in Two Twelfth-Century Polemics, with Special Reference to Their Background in China (Tōkyō: The International Institute for Buddhist Studies), 199–200.

  51. 51.

    A recent study on Vajrabodhi and the Tantric networks in the maritime regions of the Bay of Bengal and South China Sea is Jeffrey R. Sundberg and Rolf Giebel (2011) “The Life of the Tang Court Monk Vajrabodhi as Chronicled by Lü Xiang (呂向): South Indian and Śri Lankan Antecedents to the Arrival of Buddhist Vajrayāna in Eighth-Century Java and China,” Pacific World: Journal of the Institute of Buddhist Studies 13, 129–222.

  52. 52.

    For a recent study of Bianhong, see Hiram Woodward (2009) “Bianhong, Mastermind of Borobudur?,” Pacific World: Journal of the Institute of Buddhist Studies 11, 25–60. See also Chen Jinhua (2010) Crossfire, 120–121; Jeffrey Sundberg and Rolf Giebel (2011) “The Life of the Tang Court Monk Vajrabodhi,” 130–131.

  53. 53.

    Alka Chattopadyaya (1996) Atīśa and Tibet: Life and Works of Dipamkara Srijnana in Relation to the History and Religion of Tibet with Tibetan Sources (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass), 84–95; Peter Skilling (2007) “Geographies of Intertextuality: Buddhist Literature in Pre-modern Siam,” Aséanie 19, 94.

  54. 54.

    For this change in the Buddhist interactions between India and China, see Tansen Sen (2003) Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade: The Realignment of Sino-Indian Relations, 600–1400 (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press).

  55. 55.

    See R. A. L. H. Gunawardana (1979) Robe and Plough: Monasticism and Economic Interest in Early Medieval Sri Lanka (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press), Chapter 7; and also R. A. L. H. Gunawardana (2001) “Cosmopolitan Buddhism on the Move: South India and Sri Lanka in the Early Expansion of Theravada in Southeast Asia,” in Marijke J. Klokke and Karel R. van Kooij (eds.), Fruits of Inspiration: Studies in Honor of Professor J. G. de Casparis, Retired Professor of the Early History and Archeology of South and Southeast Asia (Groningen: Egbert Forsten), 135–155. For a study of the spread of Theravāda Buddhism in Southeast Asia, see Assavavirulhakarn Prapod (2010) The Ascendancy of Theravāda Buddhism in Southeast Asia (Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books).

  56. 56.

    Faxian (1924–1935) Gaoseng Faxian zhuan, T. 2085: 865a28–b9.

  57. 57.

    Anonym (n.d.) Cūḷavaṃsa: Being the More Recent Part of the Mahāvamsa, 2 vols., translated by Wilhelm Geiger (Colombo: The Ceylon Government Information Department), 83.36–52 and 88.70–76; W. W. Sirisena (1978) Śrī Laṅkā and South-East Asia: Political, Religious and Cultural Relations from A.D. c. 1000 to c. 1500 (Leiden: E. J. Brill), 425–428.

  58. 58.

    Tansen Sen (2008) “Buddhism and Sino-Indian Interactions During the Yuan Period,” Kristi 1, 32–37.

  59. 59.

    See Louise Levathes (1994) When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne, 1405–1433 (New York: Simon & Schuster), 111–114. The Sinhalese chronicle Cūḷavaṃsa and a later commentary to Xuanzang’s Da Tang Xiyu ji (T. 2087: 0939a3–a22) also seem to suggest that Zheng. He might have fought the battle with the Sri Lankan ruler in order to obtain the tooth relic of the Buddha. On the trilingual inscription, see Eva Nagel (2001) “The Chinese Inscription on the Trilingual Slabstone from Galle Reconsidered: A Case Study in Early Ming-China Diplomatics,” in Hans-Joachim Weisshaar, Helmut Roth, and W. Wijeyapala (eds.), Ancient Ruhuna: Sri Lankan-German Archaeological Project in the Southern Province (Mainz: Verlag Philipp von Zabern), vol. 1, 385–468; Somasiri Devendra (1990) “The Galle Tri-Lingual Slab Inscription,” in Senake Bandaranayake (ed.), Sri Lanka and the Silk Road of the Sea (Colombo: The Sri Lanka National Commission for UNESCO and the Central Cultural Fund), 217–219.

  60. 60.

    W. W. Sirisena (1978) Śrī Laṅkā and South-East Asia, 40.

  61. 61.

    Zanning 贊寧 [919–1001] (1924–1935) Song Gaoseng zhuan 宋高僧傳, in Takakusu Junjirō, Taishō shinshū daizōkyō, 2061: 711c2–5. On the possible reasons Xuanzong might have issued this order, see Chou Yi-liang (1945) “Tantrism in China,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Society 8.3–4, 320.

  62. 62.

    Jeffrey R. Sundberg (2004) “The Wilderness Monks of the Abhayagirivihāra and the Origins of Sino-Javanese Esoteric Buddhism,” Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 160.1, 107.

  63. 63.

    Yuanzhao 圓照 [727–809] (1924–1935) Zhenyuan xinding shijiao mulu 貞元新定釋教目錄, in Takakusu Junjirō, Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 2157: 875a18–876b9. See also Chou Yi-liang (1945) “Tantrism in China.”

  64. 64.

    Zanning (1924–1935) Song Gaoseng zhuan, T. 2061: 712b26–c13. On the Five Divisions, see Chou Yi-liang (1945) “Tantrism in China,” 290–292; Jeffrey Sundberg (2004) “The Wilderness Monks,” 104–105.

  65. 65.

    R. A. L. H. Gunawardana (1979) Robe and Plough, 31.

  66. 66.

    See Tāranātha [1575–1634] (1997) Tāranātha’s History of Buddhism in India, translated by Lama Chimpa and Alaka Chattopadhyaya (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited), 18 n. 139. The translators of this work also point out that Ratnākaraśānti-pa (fl. early eleventh century), who came from Vikramaśīla in Bihar and acted as a teacher (ācārya) of the Pāla king Dharmapāla, was invited to Sri Lanka by a ruler there named “Ghavin” and stayed in that country for three years. See Tāranātha (1997) Tāranātha’s History of Buddhism, 295 n. 12. On Jayabhadra, see also Tilman Frasch (1998) “A Buddhist Network,” 74.

  67. 67.

    R. A. L. H. Gunawardana (1979) Robe and Plough, 31.

  68. 68.

    Johannes G. de Casparis [1916–2002] (1961) “New Evidence on Cultural Relations Between Java and Ceylon in Ancient Times,” Artibus Asiae 24.3–4, 245.

  69. 69.

    Johannes de Casparis (1961) “New Evidence,” 245.

  70. 70.

    Véronique Degroot (2006) “The Archaeological Remains of Ratu Boko: From Sri Lankan Buddhism to Hinduism,” Indonesia and the Malay World 34.98, 63.

  71. 71.

    John N. Miksic (1993–1994) “Double Meditation Platforms at Anuradhapura and the Pendopo of Ratu Boko,” Saraswati Esai-Esai Arkeologi, Kalpataru Majalah Arkeologi 10, 23–31.

  72. 72.

    On these connections between Abhayagiri and Ratu Boko, see also Jeffrey Sundberg (2004) “The Wilderness Monks”; Jeffrey R. Sundberg (2003) “A Buddhist Mantra Recovered from the Ratu Baka Plateau: A Preliminary Study of Its Implications for Sailendra-Era Java,” Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 159.1, 163–188.

  73. 73.

    Véronique Degroot (2006) “The Archaeological Remains of Ratu Boko,” 62.

  74. 74.

    Tilman Frasch (1998) “A Buddhist Network,” 84–89; R. A. L. H. Gunawardana (1979) Robe and Plough, 271–277.

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  1. NYU Shanghai, Shanghai, PR China

    Tansen Sen

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  1. University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria

    Angela Schottenhammer

  2. Research Director of the Indian Ocean World Centre (IOWC), McGill University, Montreal, Canada

    Angela Schottenhammer

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Sen, T. (2019). Buddhism and the Maritime Crossings. In: Schottenhammer, A. (eds) Early Global Interconnectivity across the Indian Ocean World, Volume II. Palgrave Series in Indian Ocean World Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97801-7_2

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