When Buddhism was in full flower during the Sui and T'ang dynasties (581 to 907), the aristocracy and the literati were important forces in its propagation. So from a historical perspective, the interest of intellectuals in Buddhism today is easy to understand.
佛教曾經大盛於隋、唐，而後產生中國佛教的各大宗派，王公貴族以及知識分子的提倡，在當時都是一股很大的推動力量，由歷史背景來看，今天知識分子學佛的現象，其實是很容易瞭解的。