Transfer of Buddhism Across Central Asian Networks (7th to 13th Centuries)

Acknowledgements

The present volume builds on the research of almost three generations of fine

scholarship in various subfields related to the study of Buddhism in Central

Asia. My project idea, to study the transformation of Buddhism in Central Asia

as an integrated whole (rather than from the perspective of fragmented sub-

fields), is the result of many years of discussions with my colleagues from the

Buddhism in Motion group at the Center for Religious Studies (CERES) at Ruhr

University Bochum; I am very grateful to them for our always stimulating

exchanges. During a year of fellowship at the Käte Hamburger Kolleg Dynamics

in the History of Religions between Asia and Europe I was further able to organ-

ise the workshop “Between Empires—Transfer of Buddhisms between Hubs in

Eastern Central Asia (9th to 13th Centuries)” (http://khk.ceres.rub.de/en/

event/all/WS_between_empires_eng/). Some of the workshop participants

added chapters to the present volume. Furthermore, I am most grateful for

many intensive and fruitful recent discussions with Erika Forte, Kirill Solonin,

Henrik Sørensen, and Jens Wilkens in unfolding my research idea on the trans-

formation of Buddhism in Central Asia up to the research agenda as it is pre-

sented in the introduction.

When a book is about to approach the final stage of the publication process,

further work awaits, which would not have been possible without many help-

ing hands. Therefore, I am grateful to Gwendolin Arnold and Esther Hoolt for

their assistance during the final editing and layout process and the preparation

of the index; Iain Sinclair for proofreading the final manuscript and Jürgen

Schörflinger for preparing a map for my introduction on a rather short notice.

Last but not least, my sincere thanks to two anonymous reviewers who kindly

offered numerous suggestions to improve the volume as a whole.

Although this volume is not as complete as I had hoped it would be (I had

planned further chapters on Tangut and Tibetan agents in Central Asia as well

as a broader historical overview introducing the circumstances of religious

transfer processes), it is nonetheless a first step in a new direction and will

certainly mark the beginning of an envisioned long-term research agenda.

Carmen Meinert

Bochum, June 21st, 2015