Interactions of Buddhism in the Modern World Buddhism has faced many challenges in today's modern world. During the modernization of the world we live in today, Buddhism has faced competition from the introduction of monotheism and added pressure from Christianity due to its dominate global religious structure. In many ways Buddhism has followed the path Christianity took as it emerged from the dark ages. For example, there are ancient Christian iconography sitting alongside modern based structures of both architecture and practices. The progress of Christianity has been so slow that it almost seemed very natural in the modern Western perspective. Today Buddhism seems quite foreign just as Christianity did at one time. Buddhism is facing qualifications necessary for cultural authenticity in a way that over comes its Eastern appearance. Western Buddhist teachers are moving into leadership roles and it seems as if progress is being made. A major difference in Buddhism between the West and East is that the East contemporary society has very ancient imagery, architecture, and practices that go back centuries. Buddhism as it sets in the West has a clean slate as it reflects on Western cultural values as well as the Western concepts of artful display and the way spiritual belief is shown (Shi, 2012). Modern day Buddhism has evolved as any religion has, different countries, traditions, and values alter the ancient beliefs and create modern day practices. As an example in ancient times Buddhism nuns were to accept their ordination from Tibetan teachers where is now in the Western world nuns can accept their ordination in Taiwan or Hong Kong (Blumenthal, 2010).
Buddhism has under gone a very unique transmission that has not been seen in the past. As Buddhism was adapted in China, Korea, Sri Lanka, Tibet, Thailand, and many other areas in the East it was a one way street with very little or no back influence from those cultures on Indian Buddhism. The transmission of Buddhism to the West occurs in the context of globalization and in the context of significant Asian diasporas in the West. As a result Buddhism encounters modernity through the medium of the transmission to the West is the reflection of Western ideas and Western Buddhism back into Asia. The transmission of Buddhism from one culture to another was also typically a single lineage or a single tradition from one place to another at a time. When one looks at the transmission of Buddhism to the West, we view simultaneous transmissions of Theravada Traditions, of Tian Tai traditions, of Zen Traditions, of multiple Tibetan lineages all coming in at once, often to the same places. Western Buddhism may have a profound effect on the shape of Asian Buddhism due to the multiple simultaneous transmissions and the evolution of doctrine by the integration of ideas deriving from multiple lineages, coming to us in multiple languages (Garfield). Some adaptations seen today in the modern world are certain forms of pure land Buddhism using hymns and adopting the Christian tradition of Sunday school. There has also been Christian monasteries that have adopted Zen meditation. Finally, one may look at Buddhism adapting in the West by witnessing married laypersons taking leadership roles that traditionally was performed by monks in Zen and Tibetan Buddhism. A pattern of minor or in some cases major change has normally taken place as one religion or belief is adopted by a new culture.

Bibliography
Blumenthal, J. (2010). THE EVER-CHANGING FORMS OF BUDDHISM. In J. Blumenthal, THE EVER-CHANGING FORMS OF BUDDHISM (pp. 39,41-42). FPMT, Inc.
Garfield, J. L. (n.d.). Buddhism and Modernity. Retrieved from http://www.smith.edu/philosophy/documents/Buddhismand Modernity.pdf
Heine, S. 1.-P. (2003). Buddhism in the Modern World. New York : Oxford University Press, c2003. .
Shi, D. X.-K. (2012, March 24). Engaged Dharma. Retrieved from Engaged Dharma: http://engageddharma.com