A glance to the development of Buddhist Studies in the West

Abstract
Studies concerning buddhism came into existence through west’s attention in the teachings and ideas of the east and getting interested in studying and understanding cultures and sensible and popular beliefs to the people of the east. This is what is now known with the term orientalism. Now the question is what is the history and orientation of that part of orientalism devoted to the buddhist study? The present study with descriptive-explanative approach using library tools has examined the origin and different periods of this knowledge as an academic discipline in the world. Based on this research, the first encounters with buddhism date back to ancient times. The time which mostly greek race historians referred in their works to the land of india and prevalent cultures of it. These studies did not have an academic and scientific form till early nineteenth century. However, with the establishment of research foundations, and the emergence of prominent scholars and orientalists, the nature of these studies changed. Discovering of many and ancient texts from sanskrit and pāli buddhist literature and transferring them to europe and translating them have strengthened and formalized these studies and also made it more scientific in shape of an academic discipline.
 

Introduction

The history of Buddhism goes back to more than two thousand and five hundred years ago. The prevailing suspicion is that the Buddha was born during the reign of Bimbisara (558bc – 491bc), one of the kings of the Magda empire. When a prince was born in an aristocratic family belonging to the Kshatriya class (In Sanskrit: Kṣatra). In various sources, his descent and race are known from a tribe called Shakya (In Sanskrit: śākya). The nickname given to him, Shakyamuni (In Sanskrit: śākyamuni) means saint or sage of Shakya tribe. The ritual that he offered was based on the principle of compassion and altruism and all sentient beings and even non-sentient beings’ liberation, and especially on breaking the rules of the ruling discriminatory class system. Due to these characteristics, Buddhism was expanded outside of India and hundreds of thousands of people followed it. So that during the reign of Ashoka (304bc - 232bc), who is the most influential person after Buddha in the history of this religion, this religion became the official religion of India.
1.1. Research Methodology
The approach of this article is descriptive. The research with such an approach has investigated the Buddhist religion and its study in a science called "Buddhist studies". Also, this science and its different periods have been described over time. The library method and referring to reliable western sources and extracting from them is a tool that this research has used to explain and collect information about its topic. The attitude of this research is a historical-analytical view. In terms of time, although the background of the discussion includes ancient Greece, but it has been more considered in the last three centuries when this field took an academic form. In this research, the western world means Europe in the modern era.

Discussion

Among the religions of India, Buddhism has a high rank. This rank has been achieved as a result of supporting all classes of society and including those who were considered inferior and even impure in the previous system. Also, its considerable expansion and development, outside borders of Buddha's motherland, in countries such as Sri Lanka, Tibet, China and Japan, as well as its spread in large parts of Asia and now in Europe and America, made it a great religion and caused this religion to have many followers. For this reason, this religion is still one of the living religions of the world.
In general, about ‘Buddhist Studies’, it can be said that the familiarity of Westerners with Buddhist Studies took place in two stages. In the first stage, tourists, businessmen and non-academic guilds got acquainted with Buddhism, and in the second stage, educated and academic people. The second phase started with the Orientalism movement and was a part of it, and eventually the collection of these studies became an independent academic discipline. In result of that the sacred texts of this religion translated into the languages ​​and dialects common in the new regions, and were available to different interpreters with different tastes and cultural backgrounds. Each of these commentators described and interpreted those texts in their own way. The result of such events was the emergence of very important and extensive works alongside to the main texts of the Buddhist religion as a subsidiary and their appendix. Also, the combination of Buddhist teachings with the native teachings of the lands that accepted this religion led to the emergence of new ideas and schools. Therefore, in the Buddhism, on the one hand, we are confronting the teachings that formed the core of this religion, and on the other hand, we are facing the ideas and thoughts that are common in the areas where this religion has gained influence.

Conclusion

With the passage of time and the emergence of a wide range of orientalists and rising of various theories, the field of Buddhist studies turned into one of the most important areas of discussion and thought in the field of human sciences. This branch of studies refers to a field of human sciences that extensively examines the region of Buddha on the basis of scientific methods (Science Based). Now, considering the work done, Buddhist research and studies can be summarized in four axes:

Studies of the Sanskrit tradition among the collection of Sanskrit Buddhist texts from Nepal and their distribution in different libraries in India and Europe by B. H. Hodgson (1821 to 1841)
Studies of Tibetan texts and at the same time the publication of the English-Tibetan dictionary by Cosuma de Cruz (1834).
Studies of Pali texts through the publication of English-Nepali dictionary by R. C. Childers (1875) and the establishment of the Pali Texts Society (1881).
Studies of Chinese texts since the publication of the book A Catalog of the Chinese Translation of the Buddhist Tripitaka (1883) by Nanjō Bun'yū (1849-1927).

Nowadays, new approaches such as Anthropological and Linguistic attitudes, or approaches in which Buddhism is desired in a specific area have been added to these studies.
In a nutshell Buddhism is a universal phenomenon that is not limited to a specific region. The religion founded by the historical Buddha had the ability to mix with other cultures and ideas. This has caused the religion of Buddhism to become a world religion with great scope and breadth. In few cases, Buddhist ideas have been in opposition to and incompatibility with local ideas of different regions. Therefore, the dignity of studies related to Buddhism is not the only study of this religion in the motherland and in its original form. This type of studies is as extensive as this religion itself, and like it, it is a global phenomenon.
Studies related to Buddhism today as an interdisciplinary research field has brought together other disciplines such as history, archeology, linguistics, philosophy, art, etc. The secret is that all these disciplines have examples and manifestations in Buddhism, each of which deserves separate attention and care. Taking into account the interdisciplinary aspect of Buddhist studies helps to better understanding this religion and studies and researches in this field.

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