ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the, 'Converting Environments', and addresses the issues related to 'Conversion and the State'. It deals with aspects of 'Conversion and Identity', since all of these are intrinsically interwoven in the context of historical culture. The Chinese terms and the narratives of conversion could also be interpreted in the sense that conversion to Buddhism was rather achieved by educational means than by the doctrinal, rhetorical and physical force that is often ascribed to the process in the Western context. In China, however, Buddhism could only have a restricted impact on a material culture that prided itself with cultural and civilizational achievements going back into a remote and mythical antiquity. One of the obvious environmental impacts of Buddhism was on language. Buddhism brought writing, culture, architectural and art traditions from India to the art traditions along the Silk Road, or Sinitic culture to Japan.
