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T R A N S P L A N T E D  B U D D H I S M 
I N  A N D  F R O M  S O U T H E A S T 
A S I A
Southeast Asia had emerged as the preferred stopping point for 
Buddhists traveling between India and China via maritime routes as 
early as the 3rd century A.D. The Buddhist sculptures and texts une-
arthed so far help trace the existence of Mahayana Buddhism across 
this region back to the 7th century, and even earlier. In the modern era, 
Theravada monks from Thailand, Myanmar, and other Southeast Asian 
countries were dispatched to various non-Buddhist countries as “mis-
sionaries” to serve the religious needs of the immigrant communities 
from their respective home countries. In the 19th century, Mahayana 
monks from China started emigrating to Southeast Asia. Supported by 
the local Chinese communities, they built many temples in their host 
countries, where these communities have subsequently grown in size 
and influence to date. 
Focusing on Southeast Asia, this special issue of Poligrafi documents 
and investigates these trans-regional Buddhist movements past and 
present. The original idea of  this special issue was for the articles to 
cover a range of Buddhist traditions emigrating into, out of, and wi-
thin Southeast Asia, and/or explore the original purpose of emigrati-
on, the established communities, the present vibrancy of the tradition, 
etc. When creating content sections, it became clear how diverse and 
important this topic is in the light of new epistemologies, academic 
questions and deconstructions, as well as in the search for new models 
for coexistence, from intergenerational to intercultural, and the ethical 
challenges associated with it.
Yaoping Liu and Anja Zalta