Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Volume II: Lives. (Handbook of Oriental Studies.) xlvi, 1307 pp. Leiden: Brill, 2019. €410. ISBN 978 90 04 29937 5 .

Jonathan A. Silk (editor-in-chief); Richard Bowring, Vincent Eltschinger and Michael Radich (eds): Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Volume II: Lives. (Handbook of Oriental Studies.) xlvi, 1307 pp. Leiden: Brill, 2019. €410. ISBN 978 90 04 29937 5.

Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism (BEB) is an ambitious undertaking, aiming to describe the full range of classical Buddhism in a topical fashion. The volume under review is the second of a planned six volumes, with a special focus on Buddhist lives, both historical and ahistorical. The structure of this volume is quite simple. Section 1 consists of the lives of just two figures: Śākyamuni Buddha, who quite naturally receives a large entry with a very rich bibliography; and less obviously, Barlaam and Josaphat, two mythical saints whose legends were based on the life of the Buddha, known to Greco-Roman and Islamic sources among others. This is an unexpected pairing of entries, though one could argue that the latter do not fit elsewhere and are derivative of the Buddha himself. Section 2 is divided geographically: South and Southeast Asia, East Asia (generically), China, Korea, Japan, and the Tibetan Cultural Sphere. Coverage among these areas is somewhat uneven, with the lives of Tibetan saints and masters particularly sparse.

When we turn to the entries within each geographical section, there are some surprises, with regard to both unexpected gems and shocking omissions. The South Asian biographies seem the most comprehensive. There are entries for many of the major figures, intellectuals, and exegetes, from Āryaśūra, Asaṅga, Bhāviveka, and Buddhaghosa at the beginning of the alphabet to Śāriputra, Sthiramati, and Vasubandhu towards the end. But there are other welcome contributions off the beaten path. For...