The genesis of this volume lies in several workshops and conferences that
took place over the past decade. The first, “Locating Law in Buddhist
Societies,” was held in June 2004 by the Baldy Center for Law and Social
Policy of the University at Buffalo Law School. Organized by Rebecca
French and David Engel, the workshop brought together scholars from a
range of disciplines whose work focused on different areas of Asia. The
attendees included Jos´e Cabez´on, Leslie Gunawardena, Andrew Huxley,
BrianMcKnight,Mark A.Nathan, Frank Reynolds, andWinifred Sullivan.
In addition to the participants, we would like to extend our gratitude to
Lynn Mather, Director of the Baldy Center at the time, who generously
supported the workshop, and to the staff who helped make it a success.
At the conclusion of the workshop, plans were made to follow up with
a more formal conference organized around some of the themes identified
in the discussions that had taken place. The result was an international
conference in March 2006 at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Study
and Conference Center in Bellagio, Italy, organized by Rebecca Redwood
French where scholars from around the globe presented papers and engaged
in discussions on Buddhism and Law related to several topics: how to think
about Buddhist law, modern Buddhist nationalism and law, textualism,
theft, and religious institutions and the state. Among those who attended
were several scholars who had participated in the previous workshop and
many who were new to the project, including Timothy Brook, Jos´e
Cabez´on, Bernard Faure, Leslie Gunawardena, Andrew Huxley, James
Ketelaar, Petra Kieffer-P¨ulz, Justin McDaniel, Ryuji Okudaira, Frank
Reynolds, Peter Skilling,Winifred Sullivan, Vesna A.Wallace, and Richard
W. Whitecross. Some of the papers in this volume resulted from drafts
prepared for the Bellagio conference. We thank all those who participated
and the Rockefeller Foundation and the Baldy Center for funding the
conference.