A team of scholarly authorities on religion has assembled this introduction to the religious traditions of South Asian and East Asian origin, under the editorship of Willard G. Oxtoby. Also included in this volume is a chapter on the Aboriginal traditions of Asia and the Pacific. Each chapter features the historical development of a religious tradition to the modern day and identifies issues on which adherents of the tradition have differed among themselves. Key dates, maps, extracts from primary texts, glossaries, and suggestions for further reading are provided in each chapter. Designed for both the student and the general reader, no prior background in any religious tradition is required, but the reader already acquainted with a particular tradition should gain a new sophistication even when covering familiar territory.