The importance of the Buddhist movement for much of the Asian continent cannot be underestimated. This volume contains articles from the Encyclopedia of Religion charting the religion's history on that continent from its foundation to the present.

This approach, perhaps unavoidably, has a few weaknesses. Cross-regional trends in Buddhism and the influence of one region on another tend to be lost in the work's generally geographic organization. Most frustratingly, parentheses frequently refer the reader to other articles in the Encyclopedia which are not included in the volume. One could go look them up in a library which has the Encyclopedia of Religion, of course, but what it really means is that this is essentially a book for those interested in serious learning and who don't mind not being spoon-fed.