The concept of foreigner toward Buddhism

Abstract

This research is aimed to study the opinions and the attitudes of foreigners towards Buddhism and the process of Buddhist propagation. Because nowadays, many foreigners are interested in Buddhist doctrine and practices. In this research, explained about the doctrine and principles of the fundamental practice of Buddhism by collecting data from a group of 15 foreigners who practice Dharma. Research tools are structured interview and observations

          The result showed that each person gained knowledge from many different places, for example traveling to different countries such as India, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand without any knowledge about the Buddhist countries before. Some people studied by themselves as they were interested in Buddhism; by reading Moreover, many of them participated in Dharma practice because they have family in Thailand. In addition, it was found that foreigners participated in Dharma practice did not attend to the ritual, but attend to the principles and doctrines of the Lord Buddha.