Chapter Five. Capillary Routes Of The Upper Indus

Abstract

In this chapter, the focus shifts to overland networks for long-distance transmission through the desert oases of Central Asia, which functioned as a critical transit zone for the early movement of Buddhism to China. Southern and northern branches of the so-called silk routes in the Tarim Basin of modern Xinjiang in western China merit special consideration, since an enigmatic absence of Buddhist stūpas and monasteries in the early phases of long-distance transmission raises important questions about the history of Buddhism in Central Asia and China. Trans-Asian overland networks termed the Silk Route or Silk Road by Ferdinand von Richthofen in the late nineteenth century encompassed numerous primary arteries and secondary capillaries used for various commercial and cultural exchanges, including the transmission of Buddhism between Central Asia and East Asia. Keywords:Buddhism; Central Asian silk routes; China; long-distance transmission