theses I refer the reader to
the chapter dealing specially with this country. From an early epoch
Upper Burma had connection with China and Bengal by land and Lower
Burma with Orissa and Conjevaram by sea. We know too that Pali
Buddhism existed there in the sixth century, that it gained greatly in
power in the reign of Anawrata (_c._ 1060) and that in subsequent
centuries there was a close ecclesiastical connection with Ceylon.

Siam as a kingdom is relatively modern but like Burma it has been
subject to several influences. The Siamese probably brought some form
of Buddhism with them when they descended from the north to their
present territories. From the Cambojans, their neighbours and at one
time their suzerains, they must have acquired some Hinduism and
Mahayanism, but they ended by adopting Hinayanism. The source was
probably Pegu but learned men from Ligor were also welcomed and the
ecclesiastical pre-eminence of Ceylon was accepted.

We thus see how Indian influence conquered Further India and the Malay
Archipelago and we must now trace its flow across Central Asia to
China and Japan, as well as the separate and later stream which
irrigated Tibet and Mongolia.

Tradition as mentioned ascribes to Asoka some connection with Khotan
and it is probable that by the beginning of our era the lands of the
Oxus and Tarim had become Buddhist and acquired a mixed civilization
in which the Indian factor was large. As usual it is difficult to give
precise dates, but Buddhism probably reached China by land a little
before rather than after our era and the prevalence of Gandharan art
in the cities of the Tarim basin makes it likely that their
efflorescence was not far removed in time from the Gandharan epoch of
India. The discovery near Khotan of official documents written in
Prakrit makes colonization as well as religious missions probable.
Further, although the movements of Central Asian tribes commonly took
the form of invading India, yet the current of culture was, on the
whole, in the opposite direction. The Kushans and others brought with
them a certain amount of Zoroastrian theology and Hellenistic art, but
the compound resulting from the mixture of these elements with
Buddhism was re-exported to the north and to China.

I shall discuss below the grounds for believing that Buddhism was
known in China before A.D. 62, the date when the Emperor Ming Ti is
said to have despatched a mission to enquire about it. For some ti