Like Christianity and Islam, Buddhism, in its spread across the globe, decisively crossed ethnic and state boundaries, becoming a religion of peoples with completely different traditions. The Buddhist world stretches from Lanka (Ceylon) to Tuva and Buryatia, from Japan to Kalmykia; the process of spreading Buddhism in Europe and America, which began at the end of the 19th century, continues...The citadel of Buddhism for more than a thousand years has been Tibet, to which Buddhism bestowed writing, a literary language and the foundations of civilization. This dictionary, created by a remarkable expert on Buddhist doctrine, Professor E. A. Torchinov, presents the teachings of Buddhism, the centuries-old history of this world religion and its current state.

Torchinov Evgeniy Alekseevich - Doctor of Philosophy, Professor, Head of the Department of Philosophy and Cultural Studies of the East, Faculty of Philosophy, St. Petersburg State University. One of the leading Buddhist and religious scholars Russia. Author of numerous works on the history of Buddhism, Taoism and Chinese culture, translator of classical Buddhist and Taoist literature.