In order to gain insight into Poland's contributions to the world of Buddhist studies it is recommended to start reading this book with Marek Mejor's A Note on Buddhist Studies in Poland. Mejor puts the onset of Sanskrit and Indological studies in Poland with Andrzej Gawronski (1885--1927) whose work is still being continued in present day Poland, like the Rocznik Orientalistyczny, a journal of Oriental studies still published, or his handbook on Sanskrit still in use in the indological curriculum at Warsaw University. More than ten scholars and their works are introduced in detail on the following pages; most of them were born at the turn of the century; many of them left our world at young age. Given this background, we can understand why the foreword mentions that
The main of purpose of the seminar was, however, to revive our Buddhist studies which after a period of flourishing activity (S. Schayer, C. Regamey, A. Kunst, J. Jaworski) came into decline.