This room gathers historical accounts of Chinese Buddhist tradition and practice: Lewis Hodous's early twentieth-century account of Chinese Buddhist communities, Joseph Edkins's nineteenth-century survey of Chinese Buddhism, and Faxian's own fifth-century pilgrimage record in James Legge's translation.

Historical surveys preserve the terminology, selection, and assumptions of their periods. Read them beside Chinese Buddhist sources, current scholarship, and the testimony of living communities rather than as complete portraits of the tradition.