ABSTRACT
Buddhism also seems to have thrived at Balkh. The religion most likely spread to the city, and to the other trading posts of the Amu Darya Valley, via the Silk Road from China. Little is known about Buddhist life at Balkh, and the scant information we have comes from the travel reports of the seventh-century Buddhist monk Xuan Zang, which are not necessarily reliable. Although he castigates the monks of Balkh for their apathy and the city's inhabitants for their lack of religious devotion, Xuan Zang describes a sizeable Bud dhist community there, including approximately 100 con vents, 3,000 worshipers, and a number of stupas. One of the stupas measured over 200 feet, and one convent, the Nau Bahar (New Convent), had a notably expensive statue of Buddha.
