Buddhism arrived in the West early in the nineteenth century, after the centuries of Western economic and political expansion. Asian religions like Buddhism were certainly known to travelers and missionaries long before then, but it was not until the early nineteenth century that Buddhism fully captured the western imagination.
The nineteenth century was one of social and philosophical upheaval, both for the west as well as for Asian cultures newly exposed to western ideas, education, and values. So inevitably, the versions of Buddhism that have come to the West, from that time forward, have been impacted by Western ideas, directly and indirectly, at the hands of both Western interpreters and Asian exponents. Read more
