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Along the Silk Road

In this lecture, Dr. Lancaster discusses the aspects of Buddhist belief and practice which allowed it to be "portable" and to travel the Silk Road, whereas Brahmin and Jain traditions were "fixed" in India. He also touches on the topography, the cultural milieu and other challenges facing travelers on the Silk Road whether they were merchants or monks.

The next scheduled offering:
Spring Session A
January 19 - March 15, 2009

Registration begins:
November 14 for continuing students
January 3 for new students
 		This lecture is an excerpt from the online course The Spread of Buddhism to Central Asia and China taught by Dr. Lewis Lancaster. It follows the survival and gradual spread of Buddhist culture, thought, belief, and practice out of the Gangetic Basin of India where the tradition was founded into the rest of Asia.

 
Along the Silk Road
A 7 minute video introduction to Portable Sanctity
Portable Sanctity
Portable Sanctity (continued)
Cultural Crossroads of Central Asia
Silk Road Topography
Silk Road Life in Central Asia
Silk Road Life in Central Asia (continued)
Links to More Information
Jains, includes a historical outline and links to many online resources for information about Jainism (from Colorado State U).
Jains Texts, from the Internet Sacred Text Archive
Page with information on ritual purification in Vaishnava (Hindu school, worshipping Vishnu)
A Brief Survey of Buddhist relics by John C. Huntington (pdf)
Pictures, diagrams, and overview of the Bamiyan Buddhist statues and caves. The Huntington Photographic Archive of Buddhist and Related Art (Ohio State University).
The Most Important Findings of Niya in Taklamakan by Wang Binghua
The Takla Makan Mummies: The Mummies of the Tarim Basin by Natasha Sheldon
"The Silk Road Project: Reuniting Turfan's Scattered Treasures" was a three-year project funded by the Henry Luce Foundation Inc. that brought together a team of twenty-five Chinese and American scholars working within the disciplines of archeology, history, art history, and religious studies. 
The Turfan Depression or Turpan is a fault-bounded trough located around and south of the city-oasis of Turfan, in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region in far western China.
Short paper introducing Kizil by Daniel C. Waugh

 
 

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In Memorial

In Spring of 2003 the UWest Religious Studies Department sponsored a special lecture series titled Religion and War in response to the build up and eventual invasion of Iraq by the U.S. led coalition.

Dr. Thich An-hue's presentation on Buddhism and War, in which he begins his talk with a short play, presents a person coming across a Shaolin trained monk who has mastered the martial arts.


View the lecture by clicking here!