The purpose of the conference was to investigate the evolution of the Bodhisattva doctrine in the country of its origin and within countries to which Mahayana Buddhism has spread. [...] In order to investigate what current research in Sanskrit, Tibetan, Chinese, and Japanese materials could contribute to the study of the Bodhisattva doctrine, the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Calgary planned a conference around the theme of the Bodhisattva. [...] On the basis of such materials as the images of princely beings found in Gandharan and Mathuran art, the inscriptions of the Taxila silver scroll and on images from Sarnath, the longer Sukhavatlvyuha, and the twenty-fourth chapter of the Saddhavmapundarlka, Basham suggests that the Bodhisattva doctrine was in full force in at least some Buddhist circles by the first century of the Christian era at [...] He also shows how the development of the heavenly Bodhisattva influenced changes in the view of the transfer of merits which was widespread as early as the beginning of the Christian era. [...] So strong was the influence of the Kiian-yin worship on the Chinese that the image of the helpful and compassionate being is depicted in popular operas performed in the present century.