"Though the modern-day rise of a distinctly Western Buddhism is arguably the most significant spiritual development of our ""time,"" it did not happen overnight. From the early exchanges between classical Greece and India to Buddhism's influence on Leibniz and ""Schopenhauer,"" from the Transcendentalists to the Beats to the current fascination with the Dalai ""Lama,"" Sutin illustrates in riveting detail how Buddhism has made its way over more than two millennia to become a part of the cultural landscape of the West."