Buddhism in East Asia does not pretend to be the outcome of "fundamental research". Its main purpose is to collate, arrange and evaluate facts which specialists in the field have brought to light-and in such a way as to hold the general reader. There is little of critical apparatus and scholarly dissertation to confound him. In lively fashion, and with well-chosen illustrations to support his interest, the book takes him through a fascinating journey in time and space, through Ceylon, Burma, Siam, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Chinese Turkestan, Japan and Tibet; it appraises the role and place of Buddhism in the different stages of their evolution in a broad and colourful sweep. |
