Buddhism in Poland Buddhism in Poland The roots of Buddhism in Poland can be found in the early 20th century in the nation's connections to the origin countries of the religion, like Vietnam, China, Japan, and Korea. After World War II, primarily expatriate Poles joined various Buddhist groups and organizations. Since the breakdown of the Eastern Bloc, which promoted an antireligious campaign, Buddhism has been able to develop further in the more tolerant atmosphere. Today all of the principal schools of Buddhism including Mahayana (Zen and Jodo Shinshu) and Tibetan Buddhism can be found in Poland. Movements like the Friends of the Western
Reality in Buddhism of interdependent origination. One of the most discussed themes in Buddhism is that of the emptiness ("sunyata") of form (Pali: "rūpa"), an important corollary of the transient and conditioned nature of phenomena. Reality is seen, ultimately, in Buddhism as a form of 'projection', resulting from the fruition ("vipaka") of karmic seeds ("sankharas"). The precise nature of this 'illusion' that is the phenomenal universe is debated among different schools. For example; Buddhist sutras devote considerable space to the concept of reality, with each of two major doctrines—the Doctrine of Dependent Origination ("pratitya-samutpada") and the Doctrine of Cause and Effect ("karma" and