Ann Heirman Ph.D. (1998), Ghent University, is Professor of Buddhist Studies and Classical Chinese. She has published extensively on Chinese Buddhist monasticism and the development of disciplinary rules, including Rules for Nuns according to the Dharmaguptakavinaya (Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 2002).Carmen Meinert Ph.D. (2001), Ruhr-Universität Bochum, is Professor of Central Asian Religions. Her research interest focuses on the transfer of Buddhism in Central Asia, Tibet and China. Her latest publication is Transfer of Buddhism Across Central Asian Networks (7th to 13th Centuries) (Brill 2016).Christoph Anderl Ph.D. (2004), Ghent University, is Professor of Buddhist Studies and Chinese Linguistics, with an emphasis on the vernacular language of Medieval China and Chan Buddhist material among the Dunhuang manuscripts.

"The greatest strength of this volume is its scope. Although the examples of Buddhism adopting and incorporating local beliefs and customs upon encountering new cultures will not necessarily be new to scholars of Buddhism, this volume undeniably succeeds in elucidating how these local customs and beliefs were changed and shaped by Buddhism. It would be a valuable read to anyone with an interest in East Asian Buddhism and also those who study cross-cultural religious exchange and networks." - Joseph Chadwin, University of Vienna, in: Religious Studies Review 47/1 (2021), 121"The collected works in Buddhist Encounters and Identities Across East Asia are well written and researched. Each makes its case compellingly, with vivid documentation of and insight into Asian Buddhist sources that demonstrate influence from foreign traditions and preoccupation with religious and cultural boundaries in a pan-Asian Buddhist world. [..] Overall, [the volume] compellingly illustrates how local Buddhist beliefs, practices, and (material) cultures developed through networks of translocal exchange." - Stuart H. Young, Bucknell University, in: Reading Religion (2019)

• AcknowledgementsList of Illustrations VIIIList of AbbreviationsNotes on ContributorsIntroduction: Networks and Identities in the Buddhist WorldTansen SenPart 1: Translocal Networks1 Bagan Murals and the Sino-Tibetan WorldClaudine Bautze-Picron2 Noise along the Network: A Set of Chinese Ming Embroidered Thangkas in the Indian HimalayasRob Linrothe3 Nation Founder and Universal Saviour: Guanyin and Buddhist Networks in the Nanzhao and Dali KingdomsMegan Bryson4 A Study on the Combination of the Deities Fudō and Aizen in Medieval Shingon Esoteric BuddhismSteven Trenson5 The Transmission of the Buddhadharma from India to China: An Examination of Kumārajīva’s Transliteration of the Dhāraṇīs of the SaddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtraBryan Levman6 The Journey of Zhao Xian and the Exile of Royal Descendants in the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368)Kaiqi HuaPart 2: Negotiating and Constructing Identities7 Wailing for Identity: Topical and Poetic Expressions of Cultural Belonging in Chinese Buddhist LiteratureMax Deeg8 How the Dharma Ended up in the “Eastern Country”: Korean Monks in the Chinese Buddhist Imaginaire during the Tang and Early SongSem Vermeersch9 Buddhist Pilgrimage and Spiritual Identity: Korean Sŏn Monks Journeying to Tang China in Search of the DharmaHenrik H. Sørensen10 The Rebirth Legend of Prince Shōtoku: Buddhist Networks in Ninth Century China and JapanPei-Ying Lin11 Because They Entrusted to Them a Part of Their Buddhist Selves—Imagined Communities, Layered Identities, and NetworkingBart Dessein12 Bodily Care Identity in Buddhist Monastic Life of Ancient India and China: An Advancing PurityThresholdAnn HeirmanBibliographyIndex