The growing interest in Buddhism and the progress of Buddhist studies in the West have greatly influenced the Buddhist revival in Asian Buddhist countries. As stated above, when Asia entered the modern period, Buddhism had stagnated in a state of habits and become a popular religion burdened with ceremonials and superstition. Then, in the face of Western civilization, it lost ground. But, with the rise in the interest among Western people, Asian Buddhists turned to revalue their traditional heritage. Asian interest in Buddhism, especially its intellectual aspect and meditation, then came to develop, following Western steps in many ways. What the following Western scholars say in this connection is worth appreciative consideration. As Dr. Ernst Benz says in his book "Buddhism and Communism, Which Holds the Future of Asia?": In all Buddhist countries the revival has been greatly sparked by the work of European scholars and educators who have come to Buddhism with the enthusiasm of discoverers, and have made it their own.

In "The Buddhist Religion" Mr. Richard H. Robinson writes: Some decades ago, meditation was commonly neglected by Buddhists who were trying to be modern, because until recently Westerners have scorned it, alleging that quietism and subjectivism are morbid and sap the will to act ......and now that psychiatry has sparked a cult of self-awareness in the West, meditation is coming back into fashion in every part of Buddhist Asia that Marxism does not hold in thrall to 19th century European attitudes.

Dr. Donald K. Swearer confirms this in his "Buddhism in Transition": Yet, if one could prognosticate the future, it might well be predicted that a significant dimension of a Buddhist renaissance will take shape not in Asia but in the West. There are evidences to this effect already. Most students of Japanese Buddhism, for instance, contend that the interest in Zen Buddhism in America stimulated by the English writings of D.T. Suzuki has been partially responsible for a renewed in-terest in Zen in Japan.

And, as far as politics is concerned, the following words of obser-vation on Asian Buddhist situations deserve much attention. "Buddhism, inherently Asian, has provided a mirror in which the Asian can perceive his uniqueness and worth; in Buddhism he retains a tradition of individual integrity and humanist values that owes nothing to the West."

"Yet in both Japan and Vietnam, as earlier in Ceylon and Burma, the political response and organization of Buddhism has come as a result of the search for national identity. The search continues throughout Asia, and the face of Buddha will change with the challenge of modernization. Throughout history, images of the Buddha have reflected the real faces of the people who created them. The new face of the Buddha continues to change as it reflects the new face of Asia."

"Yet Buddhism has shown its ability to adapt and develop. (Buddhist monks) are a powerful pressure group."

"If Buddhism does not adapt, it will become a cultural fossil. If it adapts too much, it becomes adulterated and loses its essence and integrity."

Thus have been described the Buddhist conditions and situations in the West today, some Western estimations of Buddhism, and the relation between Western Buddhism and Buddhist Asia. These conditions, situations and estimations can, however, be best described by Western scholars themselves or, in some cases, by international scholars. Hence the following quotations.