Resources for the use of social network analysis in the study of Chinese Buddhist history

Here are some resources for the use of historical social network analysis in the study of Chinese Buddhism. The source data stem from various projects, especially the Gaoseng zhuan projects at Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts (DILA) (formerly Dharma Drum Buddhist College). These collect relational (and other) data from 高僧傳-type biographies, but also have digitized secondary sources such as Hasebe Yūkei's tables of Ming-Qing monastic lineages (Hasebe Yūkei 長谷部幽蹊. 2008. “Min Shin bukkyō kenkyū shiryō 明清佛教研究資料 (僧傳之部) 1-3.” Tokyo: Manpakuji).

The evolving datasets offered here are prepared in formats that allow immediate use in open source SNA tools (such as Gephi) and are the basis for an ongoing series of presentations, workshops and papers. If you find any errors in the data, or would like to create or contribute data on social networks related to the study of Buddhist history, please get in touch.

Marcus Bingenheimer

July 2016 - now



Datasets (for immediate use in Gephi):

For those interested in the structure of the Gaoseng zhuan data, and more information on how to use the data:


History of Chinese Buddhism as Social Network ver2019-11:

history of Chinese Buddhism as social network


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