Buddhism and Islam on the Silk Road

by Johan Elverskog

Winner of the 2011 Award for Excellence in the Historical Study of Religion from the American Academy of Religion In the contemporary world the meeting of Buddhism and Islam is most often imagined as one of violent confrontation. Indeed, the Taliban's destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas in 2001 seemed not only to reenact the infamous Muslim destruction of Nalanda monastery in the thirteenth century but also to reaffirm the stereotypes of Buddhism as a peaceful, rational philosophy and Islam as an inherently violent and irrational religion. But if Buddhist-Muslim history was simply repeated instances of Muslim militants attacking representations of the Buddha, how had the Bamiyan Buddha statues survived thirteen hundred years of Muslim rule? Buddhism and Islam on the Silk Road demonstrates that the history of Buddhist-Muslim interaction is much richer and more complex than many assume. This groundbreaking book covers Inner Asia from the eighth century through the Mongol empire and to the end of the Qing dynasty in the late nineteenth century. By exploring the meetings between Buddhists and Muslims along the Silk Road from Iran to China over more than a millennium, Johan Elverskog reveals that this long encounter was actually one of profound cross-cultural exchange in which two religious traditions were not only enriched but transformed in many ways.

Genres: History, Islam, Religion, Buddhism, Nonfiction, China, India

352 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2010

Reviews

[Eressea]

今年讀完的第三本伊斯蘭藏書
同時也是閱讀器裡最後一本硬梆梆的學術書
現在閱讀器裡的文字書剩小書癡和魔女宅急便
總算看到任務達成的曙光了!!

回到本書來，這本書從一月看到五月
感覺只看懂不到一半...
一開始還覺得英文比上一本Pure and True簡單
看到中間就不行了
直到最後一章講到馬來遲和馬明心才又覺得看得懂
主要原因除了英文爛之外
另一點是很多佛教術語，蒙古人名，古代地名
拼音化的中國典籍，中國人名地名
丟給狗大神也查不到
嚴重影響理解內容Orz

在有限的理解裡，覺得最有知識衝擊的內容是：
穆罕默德肖像考
伊兒汗國佛教考
論蒙古西藏敵視穆斯林
其他比較看得懂的卻比較疑惑的地方是
作者在解讀中文史料時，似乎有些太想當然爾或是年代錯誤
像是圓仁日記裡提到
李德裕在揚洲強迫捐獻，用來修建佛塔
其中有波斯國人也捐錢(還比日本使團多很多XDD)
作者認為可能是佛教徒與穆斯林的互動證據
總覺得這推論可信度就薄弱了點
或是弄錯紅樓夢成書年代
(是我小題大作嗎，總覺得這種事不應該發生在學術書裡啊)

這書題目太打中我了，但能力不足看不懂
好希望有中譯本啊
至少蒙古和佛教神學那邊一定比用英文看懂更多啊

[Jessica Zu]

awesome! the cultural borrowings albeit conflicts are prominent in all kinds of cultural encounters, NOT clash of civilizations!

[Patricia]

Buddhist-Muslim history is usually summed up in two historic events, one ancient and one modern: the destruction of Nalanda in 1202 and the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddha by the Taliban in 2001. But in Elverskog's words "shining a light on the history of Buddhist-Muslim interaction" is a far more nuanced and interesting story than most realize. Five chapters and 63 pages of extensive endnotes trace this history from its beginnings (700-1000 CE) linking the two religions through the Mongol empire (1100-1400 CE), to the 20th century. Economic goals and trade play a key role, but so do art, literature and philosophy. The regional focus is that area between Afghanistan and Mongolia known as the Silk Road, but where appropriate Elverskog dips into other territory.

Readers need an existing familiarity with the basic tenets of both Islam and Buddhism, but with such a foundation the riches of this book keep it a page-turner. Elverskog makes his intent known from the beginning: "What happened when Buddhists and Muslims actually came into contact with one another?" It is the discoveries of how each was transformed by such contact, especially during their early years, that is this book's reward. "The most well-known example ... is the borrowing of the Buddhist monastery as a model in the development of the Islamic madrasa, which itself became the basis of the university in the Christian West." There are countless more examples, such as the shape of Buddhist stupas influencing Islamic metalwork, medical knowledge, divination squares and "blockprinted Arabic amulets that seem to have a Buddhist origin".

And although the subject is more academic than popular, Elverskog's colorful choice of language ("Kurtzean images" ... "Buddhist death squads") keeps the pace active and the information rewarding. I've read many dozens of books on the Silk Road yet this volume contains information and ideas seldom found elsewhere--for example, the material sourced from the 13th century Compendium of Chronicles: Rashid ad-Din's Illustrated History of the World, which amongst many interesting facts confirms that there were Chinese Buddhists in il-khanid Iran.A COMPENDIUM OF CHRONICLES: Rashid al-Din's Illustrated History of the World (The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, VOL XXVII)

I would have said that this wasn't a book for the general reader, or perhaps even someone who didn't have an academic disposition or position, but that was proven wrong this past autumn when, outside of Kashgar, our Uighur guide spotted this book and asked to borrow it. Rather than forcibly ripping it out of his hands at the end of the trip, we finally left it with him and bought two new copies.

[Hanif Salim]

Reading this book further opens one's interest in exploring the history of Central Asia and the great civilisations that comes with it. The book puts forth historical, socio-cultural, political and the arts of Buddhist-Islamic relations according to topics that is relevant and important in the cross-cultural discourse.

There is so much information and knowledge one gets reading this. I learn a lot of new stuff regarding the history of Buddhism and Islam in central Asia. And the discussion is not one-sided with relevant references.

[Gianluca Fiore]

Loses some momentum in the last chapter but overall it's an intriguing analysis of about one millennium of Buddhist-Islamic relations.

[Tsai Wei-chieh]

從那爛陀寺被穆斯林所毀談起，Elverskog教授娓娓道出佛教與伊斯蘭教一千餘年來的種種糾葛。他並且著眼於西遼和蒙古帝國在佛教與伊斯蘭教接觸與交流所扮演的重要角色。其中討論到關於紙張傳入伊朗的過程以及佛教繪畫對於伊斯蘭教什葉派繪製穆罕默德傳道像的影響，相當精彩。

[Na]

Elverskog has a great writing style; he keeps it interesting by using different phrases ("the pork and salami belt" stands out) and it's just colloquial enough to make it easy to read. The subject matter gets incredibly deep and very specific, however - I'm reading it for a class on the silk road during which we have discussed both Buddhism and Islam in different contexts and have a general understand of Eurasian history, and it is still way too detailed for me. Anyone just generally interested in the subjects should definitely pick a different book; I would only recommend this to those who either are researching the topics in-depth or are already incredibly knowledgeable about both religions and Mongolian and Indian history.

Elverskog also strays from his topics often in order to flesh out all of the aforementioned details, histories, and writers - the chapter 'Halal', for example, only actually discusses anything directly related to the reception of and the politics surrounding halal for maybe 20% of its 33 pages.

tl;dr only read it for historical or religious research purposes.

[Bryn Hammond]

On centuries of coexistence and exchange. He's a little bit loud on the different 'reputations' these two religions have in the West today, but I guess it's called for. Much on the pax Mongolica.