Foreword / Heinz Bechert -- Introduction: the Buddhist way / Richard Gombrich -- The Buddha, his teachings and his sangha / Etienne Lamotte -- Buddhism in ancient India: The evolution of the sangha / Richard Gombrich -- Mahāyāna Buddhism / Etienne Lamotte -- The monastic contribution to Buddhist art and architecture / Lal Mani Joshi -- Expansion to the north: Afghanistan and central Asia / Oskar Von Hinüber -- Nepal: the survival of Indian Buddhism in a Himalayan kingdom / Siegfried Lienhard -- 'They will be lords upon the island': Buddhism in Sri Lanka / Michael B. Carrithers -- 'To be a Burmese is to be a Buddhist': Buddhism in Burma / Heinz Bechert -- The way of the monk and the way of the world: Buddhism in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia / Jane Bunnag -- 'Beyond the jade gate': Buddhism in China, Vietnam and Korea / Erik Zürcher -- This world and the other power: contrasting paths to deliverance in Japan / Robert K. Heinemann -- Tibet: the rise and fall of a monastic tradition / Per Kvaerne -- Buddhist revival in east and west / Heinz Bechert.