Buddhism in Japan movement to eradicate Buddhism and bring Shinto to ascendancy arose throughout the country due to the strong connections of Buddhism to the Shōguns. During the Meiji period (1868–1912), after a coup in 1868, Japan abandoned its feudal system and opened up to Western modernism. Shinto became the state religion. Within the Buddhist establishment the Western world was seen as a threat as well as a challenge to stand up to. Buddhist institutions had a simple choice: adapt or perish. Rinzai and Soto Zen chose to adapt, trying to modernize Zen in accord with Western insights, while simultaneously maintaining a Japanese
Buddhism in Pakistan of the famous Gandhara School of Sculpture which was an expression of Graeco-Roman form in the local Buddhist tradition. However, the ruins of great Buddhist stupas, monasteries and statues are found all over Swat. Buddhism in Pakistan Buddhism in Pakistan took root some 2,300 years ago under the Mauryan king Ashoka, whom Nehru once called “greater than any king or emperor.” Buddhism has a long history in present-day history of Pakistan — over time being part of areas within Bactria, the Indo-Greek Kingdom, the Kushan Empire; Ancient India with the Maurya Empire of Ashoka, the Pala Empire; the Punjab region,