Buddhism in the West | Wikipedia audio article
Channel: wikipedia tts
Date: 2018-11-25

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Buddhism in the West

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SUMMARY
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Buddhism in the West (or more narrowly Western Buddhism) broadly encompasses the knowledge and practice of Buddhism outside of Asia in the Western world. Occasional intersections between Western civilization and the Buddhist world have been occurring for thousands of years. The first Westerners to become Buddhists were Hellenistic Greeks who settled in Bactria and India during the Hellenistic period. They became influential figures in the Buddhist religion during the reigns of Indo-Greek kings, whose patronage of Buddhism led to the emergence of Greco-Buddhism and Greco-Buddhist art. There was little contact between Western culture and Buddhist cultures during most of the Middle ages but the early modern rise of global trade and mercantilism, improved navigation technology and the European colonization of Asian Buddhist countries led to increased knowledge of Buddhism among Westerners. This increased contact led to various responses from Buddhists and Westerners throughout the modern era. These include religious proselytism, religious polemics and debates (such as the Sri Lankan Panadura debate), Buddhist modernism, Western convert Buddhists and the rise of Buddhist studies in Western academia. During the 20th century there was a growth in Western Buddhism due to various factors such as immigration and increased interest among Westerners. The various schools of Buddhism are now established in all major Western countries making up a small minority in the United states (1% as of 2017) and Europe (.2% in 2010).