Central Asian Buddhist Transmission Network

Timeline

1. c. 1–150Gandhara · GandharaUnder the Kushan Empire, the Gandhara region was dotted with monasteries; sanghas spread from the upper Indus into Bactria, while Hellenistic sculptural styles and Buddhist translation activities developed in parallel.
2. c. 150–300Kucha · KuchaIn the 2nd–3rd centuries, oasis city-states of the Tarim Basin built cave temples and monasteries; Kucha, Khotan, and other places became translation centers, with Central Asian sanghas and Chinese envoys traveling the Silk Road to spread the Dharma.
3. c. 300–400Samarkand · UzbekistanIn the 4th century, Sogdian commercial networks became deeply integrated with Buddhist sanghas; city-states such as Samarkand became relay stations for the movement of scriptures, statuary, and monks, extending Mahayana Buddhism into North Asia.
4. c. 400–500Liangzhou · Hexi CorridorIn the 5th century, Central Asian sanghas entered the Central Plains via the Hexi Corridor; Liangzhou, Pingcheng, and other places became Buddhist centers of the Northern Dynasties, and the Central Asian transmission network linked up with the Chinese monastic system.