中國大陸的佛教研究，在世界上也有自己的特色。2008年的中國大陸佛教研究首先表現在對佛教研究方法論的討論，這表現在中國大陸佛教研究的進步與反思。特別是在全球化與國際化的背景下，大國中國的佛教研究也要伴隨著大國的地位而走向世界佛教研究論壇。如果中國佛教研究要走向世界，取得話語權，就必須與國際接軌，因此方法論成為學術研究的瓶頸，只有突破這個瓶頸之後，中國的佛學研究才能走向世界。其次，傳統的思想史和人物的研究仍然得到了發揚。再者，與當代法制社會的特點，佛教與民族問題等，結合古代佛教資源，作出新的現實研究。最後，在方志與密宗及考古方面取得一些新的成果，展現了中國大陸佛教研究的美好未來。

Buddhist Studies in mainland China have its own characteristics. In 2008, Chinese Buddhism research first focused on methodology and brought visible progress and reflections. Under the impact of globalization, Buddhist studies in China must move forward in a worldwide perspective. To integrate the research scheme into the globalized world, Chinese Buddhism must solve the immediate problem which is the research methodology. Only when Chinese Buddhist researchers break through this bottle-neck and modify their methods, Chinese Buddhist studies have the opportunity to be in line with world’s Buddhist research. Secondly, the research in Buddhist ideology and historical personages also found a growing number of publications in 2008. Some papers dealt with the relationship between Buddhism and legal aspects in modern societies. Others discussed the question of minority. These studies integrate ancient Buddhist resources to come out realistic findings. Finally, during this period Chinese Buddhist research also received some success in other domains such as local chronicles, Tantric studies and archaeology.