Introduction: Buddhist Relic Veneration, Buddhist Sites and Translocations, and the Transformation of the Hangzhou/Jiangnan Region into an Indian Buddhist Homeland

Abstract

Abstract The spread of Buddhism in Asia may be viewed as a protracted and complex process in which numerous sacred sites were created and re-created in different cultural settings. Buddhist sites and other translocations from India played a vital role in the reimagining of Hangzhou as the center of a Buddhist region, a new Buddhist homeland that replicated and rivaled similar regions in India itself. Two theoretical models, “borderland complex” and “translocation,” explain how the Hangzhou region (Jiangnan) became a new Buddhist homeland in East Asia. As a hub for the wider dissemination of Buddhism, Hangzhou was greatly aided by a vibrant maritime trade throughout the region, most notable at the seaport at Mingzhou (Ningbo), through which frequent contacts were maintained with Japan and Korea.