Introduction

The present volume contains new research by some of the leading scholars in the field, who describe the histories, practices, and distinctive doctrines of the various regions in which Buddhism has set down roots, analyze the innovations of some of its most influential figures, and why they are revered as paradigms, and discuss important topics that are intended to provide broad coverage of distinctive developments within Buddhist countries and schools, as well as issues with which adherents have wrestled during the more than 2,500 years since the time of its founder, Siddhartha Gautama, the Sakyamuni Buddha.