ABSTRACT
Historians have long been aware that the arrival of European and American gunboats and businessmen off the shores of China, Japan, and Korea in the nineteenth century changed East Asia dramatically and permanently. The history of Buddhism in East Asia provides a paradigmatic example of the traditional relationship between the state and religious communities. Buddhism was the first organized religion with international ties to penetrate East Asia, reaching China in the first century from India via Central Asia. Japan soon learned that to win the respect of the West, and to win the revision of those unequal treaties, it had to allow religious freedom. The religious affairs bureaus of Japan's neighbors have shown a similar inclination to grant indigenous religions less respect than local representatives of transnational religious movements. The fragile states of emerging East Asia have needed both national unity and international goodwill to enhance their actual and perceived security.
