John Walters, a British journalist converted to Buddhism, writes in his The Essence of Buddhism: “This, in the West, is a period of gigantic material and economic progress….. It is often boasted that everything in America has, with her amazing material progress, changed for the better. But what of man ? Everything may appear happier; yet man himself is no happier. Today, as statistics prove, a bigger proportion of people than ever before worry themselves into insanity. Psychiatry has become a big business because of the fears of men and women that they are going mad.” “An increasing number of men and women, bewildered by the material and ideological chaos of today, are finding that the teaching of the Buddha brings them back to sense and clarity, to serenity and peace.”
Trevor Ling, Senior Lecturer at the University of Leeds, writes: “In other quarters there is a suspicion that religion in the West has betrayed man at the most important point in life, and consequently a tendency to find meaning in Eastern Religion.”
“There is plenty of evidence that in Western Europe people desire to find a coherent and meaningful system of values…. It may be that the words and the way of the Buddha have much to contribute at this moment of history to the religious life of the West.”
According to Dr. Donald K. Swearer, “Among American college students at this time there is an active and increasing interest in Asian religions. While acknowledging the esoteric appeal of Buddhism and other Asian religions, this interest is not simply part of the youthful rebellion against the religious establishment. Rather, much student involvement in these areas reflects a genuine quest for a meaningful set of values and a viable life-style. Nor is the growing interest in Buddhism simply the preserve of the young. John Cobb, an outstanding contemporary theologian, has observed that Buddhism offers one of the most compelling religious alternatives today, and Christian ministers utilizing Buddhist insights and practices are becoming less and less rare. Indeed, a United Church minister friend of mine recently wrote requesting information on Zen Buddhism to be used in a senior high church school class.”
“Buddhism is becoming increasingly popular in the United States. Its popularity rests not only on the appeal it has among college students or the role it has played in influencing “hip” culture. It offers a serious religious option for many Westerners, and it may well prove to have a significant impact on Judaeo-Christian thought and practice. Alan Watts exemplifies those whose thinking has been decisively influenced by Buddhism, and even as devout a Catholic mystic as Thomas Merton was deeply involved in Buddhism before his untimely death in Asia while visiting Buddhist centers.”
“Yet, among all the varieties of Buddhism one can find in America today and all the forms of Buddhist practice, no aspect of Buddhism has a stronger appeal than meditation, especially among younger people.”
“Buddhist meditation is attractive for many reasons, to be sure. For some it offers a retreat from the chaos and complexity of today’s world. For others it may serve as a means of introspective self-understanding; and, for still others it is the means for attempting seriously to grasp the truth of Buddhism.”
In the words of another American writer: “Today Buddhism and Buddhist art have spread round the world, from Japan east to America, from India west to Europe.”
“With the advance of science and psychology many of the older faiths have suffered. Their beliefs went against the new knowledge and the new knowledge won. But in this conflict the teaching of Buddha required no adjustments. Its wisdom has encompassed everything that modern thought can devise. Over 2,500 years ago the Buddhists had already solved many of the problems that modern psychology is still discovering.”
“It is perhaps significant that while mighty empires built upon greed and oppression have never lasted for more than a few centuries, the selfless life of the Buddhist community has carried it safely through 2,500 years … Knowledge of Buddhism is being sought with increasing interest in the West, for it offers a personal philosophy to counteract the fragmented condition of Western society where many individuals no longer feel part of, or responsible for, the community in which they live. Expressions of this distress are seen in the demonstrations of students, flower people, hippies, and others who wish to drop out of, or change a society which they feel no longer supplies their needs.”
As it was written by a German scholar, Ernst Benz: “Many of these European students of Buddhism became converts to the new faith. They were also active in the creation and guidance of Buddhist organizations-matters in which the Asiatic Buddhists are less inclined to engage.”

Among Asian Buddhists, Ceylonese monks such as the Venerable Narada Mahathera, the Venerable Walpola Rahula and the Venerable Piyadassi Thera have been well known for their devoted effort to disseminate the original basic doctrine of the Buddha in international public and academic circles through both literary and missionary activities. Dr. G.P. Malalasekera, K.N. Jayatilleke, Dr. Jayasuriya and some other leading lay Buddhists of Sri Lanka have contributed greatly to international Buddhist scholarship, the availability of firsthand knowledge of Buddhism to Western readers and the lively interpretation of the Buddha-Dhamma intelligible and meaningful to modern mind. A number of devoted Ceylonese Buddhists join as honorary workers in conducting the Buddhist Publication Society3 at Kandy. It is said that during the last twelve years this non-profit organization has printed over a million booklets on all aspects of the Buddha’s teachings and distributed large numbers of them to addresses in seventy-one countries. Burmese Buddhism has been attracting Western people for a long time through its specialization in Abhidhamma studies and meditation. Burmese contributors in this field can be represented by the Mahathera Ledi Sayadaw, whose numerous writings show a deep penetration of the respective subjects derived from his meditative experience. The Burmese tradition of Abhidhamma studies is still continued and made accessible to the West by outstanding Burmese scholars, such as Mahasi Sayadaw, U Titthila and U Narada. In Thailand, the Bhikkhu Buddhadasa has been stimulating a growing interest in Buddhism among modern intellectuals and college students, and becoming more and more an interesting and attractive figure to the West through his original interpretation of the Buddha-Dharma. His oral teaching has been published under voluminous titles and an increasing number of these titles are being translated into English. One volume,1 “Toward the Truth,” published in the United States, was translated by an American scholar as an attempt to contribute to an understanding of contemporary Theravada Buddhism. THE POPULARITY OF ZEN So far, however, the most famous of all contemporary Asian Buddhists who are well known in the West has probably been Dr. D.T. Suzuki, Zen’s chief exponent in English. It is mainly through his writings that Zen has gained a newborn popularity in the West. This is a rapidly growing popularity which has been clearly described in these sentences: “Rarely in modern times has an alien way of life attracted a foreign people as suddenly and as strongly as Zen has attracted Westerners in the past few years. Scarcely a decade ago the word was all but unknown. Today, the word, though certainly not its meaning, is common knowledge.”2 “Any psychologist, even twenty years ago, would have been greatly surprised – or shocked- to find his colleagues interested in a mystical religious system such as Zen Buddhism ………The reason for this change lies in factors ……….. to be found in the development of psychoanalytic theory, in the changes that have occurred in the intellectual and spiritual climate of the Western world, and in the work of Dr. Suzuki, who, by his books, his lectures, and his personality, has made the Western world acquainted with Zen Buddhism.”1 The popularity of Zen naturally adds to the growing public interest in Buddhism and Buddhist studies in general. In fact, even among scholars, Buddhism has, since the beginning of the present century, attracted the attention not only of philologists, Indologists and Orientalists but also of learned men of modern sciences. Some of the leading philosophers, scientists, historians, psychologists, psychiatrists and psychoanalysts of modern age such as H.G. Wells, Albert Einstein, Aldous Huxley, Bertrand Russell, C.G. Jung and Erich Fromm made appreciative references to Buddhism in their writings and speeches or even accepted the superiority of Buddhism over modern science in their field of specialization.2

Presently, according to the notification the Temple has made to the city government, Wat Thai of Los Angeles usually holds twelve festivals and celebrations every year, viz.,
1) New Year Festival on the first day of January;
2) Magha Puja Day on the full moon day of the third lunar month (usually in the middle of February) in commemoration of the Great Assembly of Disciples;
3) Wan Waikhru or Teacher-Respecting Day on any Thursday in March;
4) Songkran or Water Festival on April 13;
5) Visakha Puja Day on the full moon day of the sixth lunar month (usually in the middle or towards the end of May) in commemoration of the Birth, the Enlightenment and the Passing away of the Buddha;
6) Lawthien or Candle-Casting Ceremony on any day of June some weeks before the beginning of the Vassa residence;
7) Asalฺha Puja Day on the full moon day of the eighth lunar month (usually in the middle or towards the end of July) in Commemoration of the Buddha’s First Sermon; H.M. the Queen’s Birthday on August 12;
9) Sarada Ceremony on the new moon day of the tenth lunar month (usually in September) to transfer merit to the departed;
10) Ok Pansa or the end of Vassa residence (period of retreat during the rains or the Buddhist Lent) on the full moon day of the eleventh month (usually in the middle or towards the end of October);
11) Tot Kathin or the Post-Lenten Robe-Offering Ceremony on any day during one month following Ok Pansa to present robes to the monks who have completed the Vassa residence;
12) H.M. the King’s Birthday on December 5.
Not counting the Thai people and the Americans of the Thai origin who are naturally of the greatest number, refugees from Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, especially the Laotians, are the most numerous
of all the participants in the religious activities of Wat Thai.
To propagate the teachings of the Buddha, Buddhist beliefs and practices, and Thai culture and to publicize its activities, the Temple publishes “Duang Pratip”, a monthly magazine which is bilingual, though its articles in English are fewer than those in Thai. To realize Buddhist educational objectives, it runs Buddhist Sunday School classes for children who learn Thai language, Thai culture and Buddhist morality and offers regular meditation training to Thais, Americans and people of other nationalities who are interested. A vocational school for adults has also been opened to teach sewing, Thai cooking and the art of preparing decorative food by fruit and vegetable carving. It is notable that, as a service to the local community, the temple grounds are made use of, in the same way as in Thailand, as the location where polling booths are set up for political elections.
It is a great pleasure to the Thais that Her Majesty the Queen of Thailand has several times graced the Thai community of Southern California with her royal visits to Wat Thai of Los Angeles. With Her Majesty’s four donations to the Temple, amounting to $5,000, a fund has been established to help Wat Thai of Los Angeles in the realization of its beneficial objectives.
In the latest development, Wat Thai of Los Angeles in cooperation with the Faculty of Education of Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok has developed the Research Project for Developing Curriculum and Teaching in “Thai Language and Culture”. Under this project, a number of professors and lecturers from the Faculty of Education of Chulalongkorn University will come to stay for some months in Los Angeles to conduct the summer educational activities at Wat Thai, teaching Thai language and culture to a class of 30-40 young Thai students who live in the United States. The teaching, which is planned to be experimental in this first year of the Project, will last from July through September 2527/1984.

The Tendai sect, which was based on the Lotus Sutra (Saddharma Punฺdฺarika) and emphasized the capacity of alt beings to attain Buddhahood, was founded as a synthesis of the doctrines and practices of Tien-Tai, Zen, esoteric Buddhism and the Vinaya sect. Shingon was a form of Mantrayana, esoteric Buddhism which taught secret doctrines and mystic rituals. It taught both the spirit of the original esoteric teachings and the rituals of chanting Mantras. As these two sects were reactions against the degenerate practices of the city monks of Nara, their monastic centres were established in remote and secluded places on the mountains. Their philosophies and ceremonies were still too complex to be easily understood by the common people. Therefore, in the latter part of the Heian period the popular doctrine of salvation by faith through devotion to Amida Buddha began to develop. As regards the two sects themselves, the common people would accept only superstitions attached to them. Shingon even degenerated into the praying cult practised only for worldly benefits. At last the monastic centres of the two sects also became worldly and corrupt. There were even priest-warriors in leading. temples, who fought against each other.
The Three Sects of Kamakura
Much warfare added by social disorder and natural disasters brought to an end the imperial rule in B.E. 1699 (1156 C.E.) and also the Heian period in B.E. 1728 (1185 C.E.). This was followed by the rise of feudalism and the Kamakura period of shogunate which lasted till B.E. 1876 (1333 C.E.). The great distress which the people suffered during the period of disorder roused the need for the simplification of religious theories and practices to suit religious needs of the common people. This led to the arising of three major forms of Buddhism which still flourish in Modern Japan.
1. Pure Land Buddhism or Amidism believes in salvation by faith. It teaches the reliance upon the grace of Amitabha Buddha to be reborn in the Western Paradise of Jodo or Sukhavati. This rebirth can be achieved by faith in Amida’s power to save and by the calling of his name in faith, that is, the saying of the Nembutsu; ‘Nauru Amida Butsu’ – Homage to Amida Buddha, Its faith is symbolized by the Daibutsu or great image of Amida Buddha erected at Kamakura in B.E. 1795 (1252 C.E.). There are two sects of this form, which were closely related historically, viz.,
1.1 Jodo, founded by Honen who organized his followers around the recitation of the Nembutsu;
1.2 Shin or Jodo-Shin (True Pure Land), founded by Shinran, a disciple of Honen, as a reform of Jodo. Shinran emphasized the absolute reliance on the external power of Amida and the equality of all beings before the Buddha. Any practice that was a sign of trust in one’s own powers and lack of trust in Amida’s grace must be rejected. Therefore, the Shin sect gives up monastic discipline and all acts of self-effort such as doctrinal study, meditation and rituals, and also any concern for lucky and unlucky times, astrology and prayers. There is no division between the monkhood and the laity. Shinran and later leaders of the sect married and led ordinary lives among the people.
2. Zen is a meditative sect which emphasizes the existence of the original Buddhahood in every being and believes in the sudden enlightenment through mind-to-mind instruction without dependence on the words and letters of scriptures. Meditation practices (Zazen), moral discipline, actions in daily life and earnest work for mankind are required in order. to attain Satori or the Enlightenment. Of the two chief branches of Zen, Rinzai Zen, which prescribes stricter discipline and the use of paradoxes (Koan) in meditation, has had greater appeal for members of the military and ruling class such as the samurai, while Soto Zen, which emphasizes ethical precepts, Bodhisattva practices and silent sitting-and-waiting meditation, has had larger following among the common people.