Translators of early Chinese Buddhist texts came to
China from western Central Asia and Northwest India
via the silk routes. ANSHIGAO, Lokaksema, and other
Parthian, Sogdian, and Indian translators arrived in
Luoyang beginning in the middle of the second cen-
tury C.E. Buddhist monasteries emerged near irrigated
oases at Khotan, Kucha, Turfan, and Dunhuang on the
northern and southern branches of the silk routes dur-
ing the third to fifth centuries C.E. Certain scholarly
monks, including DHARMARAKSA(ca. 233–310 C.E.)
from Dunhuang and KUMARAJIVA(350–409/413 C.E.)
from Kucha, came directly from Buddhist centers in
the Tarim basin. Many anonymous monks who trav-
eled between India and China along the silk routes
were responsible for the transmission of Buddhism
outside the monastic community. Chinese pilgrims to
India returned with manuscripts, relics, and stories
about sacred places in the Buddhist heartland. FAXIAN
(ca. 337–418 C.E.) and XUANZANG(ca. 600–664 C.E.)
were the most famous Chinese pilgrims; their accounts
contain valuable details about social political, and re-
ligious conditions in Central Asia and India.
STUPAS (reliquaries), cave paintings, and manu-
scripts discovered by Aurel Stein and other explorers
in the early twentieth century illustrate the role of the
Silk Road as a path for the expansion of Buddhism.
Stupas at Buddhist sites on the southern route in the
Tarim basin adopted architectural features from
Northwest India. A Gandhar manuscript of the
Dharmapada(Pali, DHAMMAPADA) from Khotan and
approximately one thousand Kharosth documents
from Niya, Endere, and Loulan show that the Gan-
dharlanguage continued to be used along the south-
ern silk route until the fourth century C.E. Numerous
Buddhist paintings in caves along the northern silk
route display close stylistic affinities with the art of
Gandhara, western Central Asia, and Iran, while oth-
ers incorporate Chinese and Turkish elements. The
distribution of Buddhist Sanskrit manuscripts from
the second to sixth centuries C.E. indicates that Bud-
dhist centers along the northern silk route were gen-
erally affiliated with MAINSTREAMBUDDHIST SCHOOLS
(particularly the Sarvastivada), but the MAHAYANAtra-
dition was prevalent in southern silk route centers such
as Khotan. After the sixth century, Buddhist literature
was written in Central Asian vernacular languages, in-
cluding Khotanese Saka, Tocharian, Sogdian, Uighur,
Tibetan, and Mongolian. Buddhist artistic and literary
traditions continued to flourish in Central Asia along
with Zoroastrian, Manichaean, and Nestorian Christ-
ian traditions in the middle to late first millennium C.E.
Despite this historical legacy, with the exception of
the surviving Buddhist traditions in Tibet and Mongo-
lia, Buddhism disappeared from the Silk Road regions
of Central Asia as these areas gradually Islamicized in
the second millennium C.E.See also:Cave Sanctuaries; Central Asia; Central Asia,
Buddhist Art in; China; Gandharl, Buddhist Literature
in; India, Northwest; Languages; PilgrimageSILKROAD
T ARIM BASIN
T akla Makan DesertSouthernRouteIntermediateRout
eTo Gansuo Gansuandand
LoyangKashgarKhotanEndereLoulan DunhuangTurfanNiyaMiranMongoliaTIANSHANALTUN SHANKUN
LUN SH
ANKA
RA
KO
RA
MMO
UN
TA
INSTo Kashmirashmir To LadakhTibet0 50 100 mi.100 mi.
0 50 100 kmKucha(^)
(^)
(^)
(^)
(^)
(^)
TI
AN
SH
AN
TARIM BASIN
Takla Makan Desert
AL
TU
N S
HA
N
KUN
LUN SH
AN
KA
RA
KO
RA
M
MO
UN
TA
INS
Southe
rnR
oute
IntermediateRout
e
To Gansuand
Luoyang
To Sogdiana
To Kashmir To Ladakh
NorthernRoute
Kashgar
Khotan
Endere
Loulan Dunhuang
Turfan
Niya
Miran
Kucha
Tibet
Mongolia
N
0 50 100 mi.
0 50 100 km
Silk Road
Route
City
The Silk Road: trade routes through eastern Central Asia. XNR Productions, Inc. Reproduced by permission of the Gale Group.