1. Sphere

The sphere of Buddhism embraces a great part of Asia but has suffered serious reductions through the centuries. In India itself it died out after 1200, and it was suppressed or destroyed in China (after 1947), in Tibet (after 1950), and in Viet Nam, Cambodia (where there have been signs recently of a revival), and Laos (from the middle of the 1970s). Theravada Buddhism still flourishes in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Thailand, and other forms exist in Nepal, Japan (Zen), Korea, and in some area…