The new "Oriental fever" has deepened interest, and many universities (most famously Hawaii, Berkeley, Wisconsin, Harvard, and Yale) have scholars studying Buddhism from perspectives of comparative religion, philosophy, sociology, anthropology.
近代西方社會的「東方熱」，也加深美國人對佛學研究的熱中。比較宗教學和哲學的研究中，都會有關於它的討論，許多學者也由語言學、人類學、社會學等等角度去研究佛教。