38 Law and Morality Abroad (to ca. ad 1550)
in Central Asia, along the trade routes that had grown up since the fi rst cen-
tury bc, linking China with Rome (albeit tenuously). It subsequently spread
primarily eastward along these trade routes (with some presence in the
West too). By the fourth century ad, aft er the end of the Han Dynasty, it had
become a major presence in China. In the seventh century ad, it was brought
to Japan under the patronage of the royal family, where it remains to the
present day as an integral feature of national life.
For all of its impressive achievements, however, including at least an in-
termittent appeal to governing classes, Buddhism cannot be said to have
made a major contribution to the development of international law. Th e
probable reason is that it was too otherworldly in its orientation. At least in
its early phases, it had a strongly individualistic focus, and its central theme
was the promise that those embracing it could attain release from the cares
and oppressions of everyday life. Th ere was no doctrinal reason that the
eightfold way (as the Buddhist path to salvation was known) could not be
trodden by rulers. But Buddhism, in contrast to Christianity, did not be-
come the offi cial faith of any major power for any extended period of time. It
was looked upon by Chinese offi cials with some wariness and was some-
times met with persecution (most notably during the Tang dynasty period
in the eighth century ad). For all of its presence in Japan, the Japa nese na-
tional identity remains more closely bound up with its native Shinto faith
than with Buddhism. Most strikingly, Buddhism largely vanished from In-
dia itself.
Some would say, of course, that its relative lack of connection with gov-
ernment is a great strength of Buddhism rather than a weakness. From the
religious standpoint, that may very well be true. But it has prevented Bud-
dhism from having any major infl uence on the development of international
law. As a consequence of its inward- looking, contemplative ethos, and of its
focus on the metaphysics of salvation of the individual soul, instead of on
the details of everyday governance of peoples or relations between states,
Buddhism largely moved itself to the margins of the history of international
law.