Symbols of the Buddha and precursors of Buddhist monuments appeared in China in the Western Han dynasty (206 BCE–9 CE). During the Eastern Han (23–220 CE), Buddhist images and places to worship them had made their way to the Chinese capital and many provincial regions. By the fourth century CE multicultural monastic communities practiced Buddhism in China's westernmost regions, including oasis towns in what are today Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region and Gansu province. By the next century, temple compounds had sprung up in cities, towns, and secluded, mountainous areas in every part of China, and Buddhism and its architecture had reached the Korean peninsula. By the end of the sixth century, the religion flourished in all three East Asian countries—China, Korea, and Japan.

In general, the movement of Buddhism and the temple compound was eastward, initially from India to...