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 Austria of Vienna, became the home for Zen, Kagyu and Theravada groups. From 1981 there is a branch of the Arya Maitreya Mandala in Austria, which was founded by Lama Anagarika Govinda. When official recognition was granted by the government in early 1983 a new era of Austrian Buddhism was ushered in. A widely visible ‘Peace Stupa’ was opened at the banks of the river Danube and a retreat and study centre, Letzehof, affiliated with the Geluk school of Tibetan Buddhism was opened in the western province of Vorarlberg. Vanja Palmers, a Zen monk of the Japanese Sōtō school, and Brother