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This chapter presents an overview of the book, which is an attempt to describe the main aspects of the particular type of Buddhism which developed in Southern and Central China in the fourth and early fifth century AD. It must be remarked at the very outset that early Chinese Buddhism is a system sui generis, the result of an independent development which can only be studied and understood in connection with the cultural environment in which this development took place and against the background of the Chinese world-view prevailing at the period in question. It is this social aspect that will claim most of our attention in this study, but whenever possible we shall try to correlate this-up to now rather neglected-side of Chinese Buddhism with contemporary developments in the field of doctrine.
Keywords: Chinese Buddhism; Early Medieval China