The credit for first systematizing the increasing amount of information on Buddhist texts and concepts goes to the Paris philologist Eug¨¨ne Burnouf (1801¨C1852). His L'introduction ¨¤ l'histoire du buddhisme indien (1844) presented a scientific survey of Buddhist history and doctrines. Burnouf imposed a rational order on ideas hitherto perceived as unrelated, in this way creating the prototype of the European concept of Buddhism. In the 1850s, Europe witnessed a boom of studies and translations, paving the way for an enhanced knowledge of and interest in the teachings. At this time Asian religion was essentially treated as a textual object located in books, Oriental libraries, and institutes of the West.

The writings of the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1788¨C1860) inspired wide interest in Buddhist philosophy and ethics among intellectuals, academics, and artists. In the United States, the nineteenth-century transcendentalists Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Walt Whitman praised Indian philosophy and introduced translations, produced in Europe, to members of the American middle- and upper classes. Circles of aesthetic conversation and textual sources were the mediators that initiated the spread of and provided for the public presence of Buddhist ideas in Europe and the United States. The appeal of Indian spirituality was strengthened by the intervention of the Theosophical Society, founded by Helena P. Blavatsky (1831¨C1891) and Henry Steel Olcott (1832¨C1907) in 1875 in New York. In addition, Sir Edwin Arnold (1832¨C1904) published his famous poem The Light of Asia in 1879, followed by Olcott's Buddhist Catechism in 1881. Both works praised the Buddha and his teaching. Echoing this overt glorification of the Asian religion, a few Europeans became the first self-converted followers of the teaching in the early 1880s.

Though more Westerners took up Buddhist teachings as their new orientation in life, another twenty years passed before the first Buddhist organizations outside of Asia were formed. The Indologist Karl Seidenst¨¹cker (1876¨C1936) established the Society for the Buddhist Mission in Germany in 1903 in Leipzig. Likewise, the first British monk, Ananda Metteyya (Allen Bennett McGregor, 1872¨C1923), formed the Buddhist Society of Great Britain and Ireland in 1907 in London. By means of lectures, pamphlets, and books, the first professed Western Buddhists tried to win recruits from the educated middle- and upper social strata of society. These and related activities were polemically commented on by Christian clergy, who criticized the "nihilism" of Buddhism and the "foreignness" of the Asian religion to European society. This debate was strengthened when a few committed men, including Anton G¨¹th (1878¨C1957), ordained as Ny¨¡natiloka, became monks in the Therav¨¡da tradition in the early twentieth century and temporarily remained in Europe.

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About Xian

. A sub-provincial . This article concerns places that serve as centers of government and politics. For alternative meanings see capital (disambiguation) . Encyclopedia of Modern Asia© on Xi¡¯an . Wade-Giles ( . A province, . The Chinese phrase Four Great Ancient Capitals of China (Traditional Chinese: ÖЇøËÄ´ó¹Å¶¼; Simplified Chinese: ÖйúËÄ´ó¹Å¶¼; pinyin: Zh¨­nggu¨® S¨¬ D¨¤ G¨³d¨±) traditionally refers to Beijing, Nanjing, Luoyang, and Xi¡¯an. . Zhou Dynasty . Early career . Western and Eastern Zhou . Xi??an West Peak (Xi Feng) . Qin Dynasty . Oppression During Zheng¡¯s Rule . Qin Shi Huang . Xianyang

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