Buddhism in the West

[6][7] This cultural interaction saw the emergence of Greco-Buddhism and Greco-Buddhist art, especially within the Gandharan civilization which covered a large part of modern-day northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan.

[11] The Pyrrhonists promote suspending judgment (epoché) about dogma (beliefs about non-evident matters) as the way to reach ataraxia, a soteriological objective similar to nirvana.

Later Pyrrhonism substantially parallels the teachings of Madhyamaka Buddhism, particularly the surviving works of Sextus Empiricus,[12] Thomas McEvilley[13] and Matthew Neale[14][15] suspect that Nāgārjuna was influenced by Greek Pyrrhonist texts imported into India.

Early 3rd–4th century Christian writers such as Hippolytus and Epiphanius write about a figure called Scythianus, who visited India around 50 CE from where he brought "the doctrine of the Two Principles".

[16] The influential early Christian church father Clement of Alexandria (died AD 215) mentioned Buddha (Βούττα):[17] Among the Indians are those philosophers also who follow the precepts of Boutta, whom they honour as a god on account of his extraordinary sanctity.

[18] In the 13th century, international travelers, such as Giovanni de Piano Carpini and William of Ruysbroeck, sent back reports of Buddhism to the West and noted some similarities with Nestorian Christian communities.

When European Christians made more direct contact with Buddhism in the early 16th century, Jesuit missionaries to Asia such as St. Francis Xavier and Ippolito Desideri sent back detailed accounts of Buddhist doctrine and practices.

According to Stephen Berkwitz, by the late 17th century, "the existence of a religion across Asia that worshiped images of the Buddha, known and referred to by many different names, was a well-known fact among European scholars.

[21] They also sought to explain how such a religion could exist which appeared to deviate from those originating from divine revelation and yet also contained numerous similarities (monastic orders, virgin birth of its founder, belief in heaven and hell, etc.).

[22] Some Theosophists actually converted to Buddhism, such as Helena Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott who according to Stephen Prothero were "the first European-Americans to publicly and formally become lay Buddhists" in 1880.

[24] While Olcott's Buddhism was influenced by liberal Protestantism as well as Theosophical ideas, Sinhalese Buddhists such as the famous Hikkaduve Sumangala supported his efforts and he became very popular in the island.

[20] The work of Emile Senart is also important, and includes a publication and study of the Sanskrit Mahavastu as well as his Essai sur la légende du Bouddha, which interpreted the Buddha as a solar deity figure.

These included the influential German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, who read about Buddhism and other Indian religions, and praised their way of life in his works as the highest ideal.

"[36] Robert Morrison believes that there is "a deep resonance between them" as "both emphasise the centrality of humans in a godless cosmos and neither looks to any external being or power for their respective solutions to the problem of existence".

[44] He would later come back to the United States for a speaking tour across the nation at the behest of Paul Carus, professor of philosophy, and officiated the first Vesak celebration in San Francisco (1897).

[64] Meanwhile, in France, Grace Constant Lounsbery founded a Paris-based group called Les amis du Bouddhisme in 1929 who published a journal, La pensée bouddhique.

[66] In the United States, Japanese Americans founded the Bukkyo Seinen Kai, a Young Men's Buddhist Association (YMBA) inspired by Christian institutions.

[67] As a result of similar patterns of Asian immigration, globalization and Western conversion, Buddhism also became an established minority religion in Latin America in the 20th century, with adherents mostly common from the educated middle classes.

[72] Those Westerners disaffected with the materialistic values of consumer culture and traditional Christianity (such as the beat generation and later the hippies), as well as those interested a more sober altered state of consciousness or psychedelic experience, were drawn to eastern religions like Buddhism during this period (this is known as the "Zen boom").

The steady influx of refugees from Tibet in the 1960s and from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia in the 1970s led to renewed interest in Buddhism, and the countercultural movements of the 1960s proved fertile ground for its Westward diffusion.

[79] In 1969, Jiyu Kennett, the first woman to study at Sōji-ji Temple since the 14th century, founded Shasta Abbey in California and was known for setting traditional Buddhist texts to Gregorian chant.

[88] This was fueled in part by the romantic view of Tibet and also because Western media agencies (especially Hollywood) and celebrities are largely sympathetic with the 'Tibetan Cause' and with the extremely charismatic and influential figure of the Dalai Lama.

[96] In response to the ever-increasing number of people interested in the "Tibet Message" Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, 16th Karmapa established a study, retreat and meditation center in France “Dhagpo Kagyu Ling”, founded in 1975, as the European seat of the Karma Kagyü school.

Demographically as a convert religion, Western Buddhism appeals more to whites and to the middle and upper-middle classes as well as to the politically left wing and to those who live in urban areas.

[114] According to Frank Usarski, Buddhism remains a statistically small part of South America's religious field, "with around 500,000 practitioners and approximately 600 groups" of which around 27% are Tibetan Buddhists, 25% are Soka Gakkai and 22% are Zen.

[117] The most prominent of the East Asian Mahayana traditions in the West is Zen Buddhism, which was boosted by post-war popularity among the counterculture and influential figures like Shunryu Suzuki.

They tend to keep ritual and ceremony to a minimum and focus on Buddhist meditation practice in lay life (and in retreats) instead of other activities such as making merit.

The City currently comprises approximately 700 acres of land and includes a comprehensive system of education, from Instilling Goodness and Developing Virtue Primary and Secondary School to Dharma Realm Buddhist University.

[150][151] It regularly hosts guest speakers from various traditions of Buddhism and is known for directing members to other Buddhist temples in the area after they start showing deeper interest in a particular form of the religion.

The stupa is run by the non-profit Asociación Cultural Karma Kagyu de Benalmádena, under the spiritual guidance of the 17th Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje.