The two most important books on the development of Indian Buddhism are Étienne Lamotte, History of Indian Buddhism: From the Origins to the Saka Era (1988; originally published in French, 1958); and Paul Mus, Barabuḍur: Sketch of a History of Buddhism Based on Archaeological Criticism of the Texts (1998; originally published in French, 2 vol., 1935), which contains Alexander MacDonald’s translation of the India-focused preface to the massive French original. Further information is available in Reginald A. Ray, Buddhist Saints in India: A Study in Buddhist Values and Orientations (1994); and Gregory Schopen, Bones, Stones, and Buddhist Monks: Collected Papers on the Archaeology, Epigraphy, and Texts of Monastic Buddhism in India (1997), a trove of the author’s essays.
At a more philosophical level, David Seyfort Ruegg, Buddha-Nature, Mind, and the Problem of Gradualism in a Comparative Perspective: On the Transmission and Reception of Buddhism in India and Tibet (1989, reissued 1992), is still very valuable. Also noteworthy are Lambert Schmithausen, Buddhism and Nature (1991); Malcolm David Eckel, To See the Buddha: A Philosopher’s Quest for the Meaning of Emptiness (1992); and Paul J. Griffiths, On Being Buddha: The Classical Doctrine of Buddhahood (1994). Groundbreaking studies of Buddhist art include Geri H. Malandra, Unfolding a Maṇḍala: The Buddhist Cave Temples at Ellora (1993); and Jacob N. Kinnard, Imaging Wisdom: Seeing and Knowing in the Art of Indian Buddhism (1999). The best overall treatment of the Mahar Buddhist community founded by B.R. Ambedkar is Eleanor Zelliot, From Untouchable to Dalit, 2nd rev. ed. (1996). Two important Indian Buddhist texts that have been translated into English are John S. Strong, The Legend of King Aśoka (1983, reprinted 1989); and Luis O. Gómez, Land of Bliss: The Paradise of the Buddha of Measureless Light (1996). Buddhism in South Asia and Southeast Asia
Books dealing with the Buddhist traditions of South Asia and Southeast Asia include four excellent studies: Steven Collins, Nirvana and Other Buddhist Felicities: Utopias of the Pali Imaginaire (1998); John S. Strong, The Legend and Cult of Upagupta: Sanskrit Buddhism in North India and Southeast Asia (1992); Russell F. Sizemore and Donald K. Swearer (eds.), Ethics, Wealth, and Salvation: A Study in Buddhist Social Ethics (1990); and Juliane Schober (ed.), Sacred Biography in the Buddhist Traditions of South and Southeast Asia (1997).
Important books on Sri Lanka include John Holt, Buddha in the Crown: Avalokiteśvara in the Buddhist Traditions of Sri Lanka (1991); Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah, Buddhism Betrayed?: Religion, Politics, and Violence in Sri Lanka (1992); George D. Bond, The Buddhist Revival in Sri Lanka: Religious Tradition, Reinterpretation, and Response (1988); and Tessa J. Bartholomeusz, Women Under the Bō Tree: Buddhist Nuns in Sri Lanka (1994). Dharmasena Thera (Thera Dharmasena), Jewels of the Doctrine: Stories of the Saddharma Ratnāvaliya, trans. by Ranjini Obeyesekere (1991; originally published in Sinhalese, 1971), is a significant Sri Lankan text.
The best introduction to Buddhism in mainland Southeast Asia is Donald K. Swearer, The Buddhist World of Southeast Asia, rev. and expanded ed. (1995). Studies of Buddhism in Myanmar (Burma) include Gustaaf Houtman, Mental Culture in Burmese Crisis Politics: Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy (1999). For Thailand the most notable works are Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah, World Conqueror and World Renouncer: A Study of Buddhism and Polity in Thailand Against a Historical Background (1976), and The Buddhist Saints of the Forest and the Cult of the Amulets: A Study in Charisma, Hagiography, Sectarianism, and Millennial Buddhism (1984). Translations of Buddhist texts from Southeast Asia are mostly in Thai and include Frank E. Reynolds and Mani B. Reynolds, Three Worlds According to King Ruang: A Thai Buddhist Cosmology (1981); Donald K. Swearer, Me and Mine: Selected Essays of Bhikkhu Buddhadasa (1989); and Phra Prayudh Payutto, Buddhadhamma, trans. by Grant A. Olson (1995). Buddhism in China and Vietnam
Kenneth K.S. Chʿên, Buddhism in China: A Historical Survey (1964, reissued 1972), which is rather dated but still useful, covers the entire Chinese Buddhist tradition.
Various issues involved in the development of Chinese Buddhism are addressed by Peter N. Gregory, Tsung-mi and the Sinification of Buddhism (1991); Charles D. Orzech, Politics and Transcendent Wisdom: The Scripture for Humane Kings in the Creation of Chinese Buddhism (1998); Victor H. Mair, Painting and Performance: Chinese Picture Recitation and Its Indian Genesis (1988, reissued 1996); Stephen F. Teiser, The Scripture on the Ten Kings and the Making of Purgatory in Medieval Chinese Buddhism (1994), and The Ghost Festival in Medieval China (1988, reprinted 1996); and Daniel L. Overmyer, Folk Buddhist Religion: Dissenting Sects in Late Traditional China (1976).
In the late 20th century, the study of Chan Buddhism in China advanced dramatically. The most important works on the topic include John R. McRae, The Northern School and the Formation of Early Chʿan Buddhism (1986); and Bernard Faure, The Rhetoric of Immediacy: A Cultural Critique of Chan/Zen Buddhism (1991, reissued 1996), and Chan Insights and Oversights: An Epistemological Critique of the Chan Tradition (1993, reissued 1996).
Mainland Chinese Buddhism since the mid-20th-century is well covered in the trilogy by Holmes Welch, The Practice of Chinese Buddhism, 1900–1950 (1967), The Buddhist Revival in China (1968), and Buddhism Under Mao (1972). Among the best English translations of Chinese Buddhist texts are Burton Watson, The Lotus Sutra (1993), and The Vimalakirti Sutra (1997). Buddhism in Korea and Japan
Modern scholarship on Korean Buddhism is very limited. Among major works, however, are Robert E. Buswell, Jr., The Formation of Chʿan Ideology in China and Korea: The Vajrasamādhi-Sūtra, a Buddhist Apochryphon (1989), which combines translations of texts and commentary, and Zen Monastic Experience: Buddhist Practice in Contemporary Korea (1992).
A major work on medieval Japanese Buddhism is William R. LaFleur, The Karma of Words: Buddhism and the Literary Arts in Medieval Japan (1983, reissued 1986). Jacqueline I. Stone, Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism (1999), offers important insights into the subject. Susan C. Tyler, The Cult of Kasuga Seen Through Its Art (1992), offers an approach through visual materials.
As in other areas of East Asia, the most-studied Buddhist tradition is Chan/Zen. Important books on Zen are William M. Bodiford, Sōtō Zen in Medieval Japan (1993); Carl Bielefeldt, Dōgen’s Manuals of Zen Meditation (1988); and Martin Collcutt, Five Mountains: The Rinzai Zen Monastic Institution in Medieval Japan (1981).