Encyclopedia of Buddhism

Britain, the Netherlands, and other Western Euro-
pean nations, refugees, immigrants, and business-
people from Asian countries have found work or
asylum. In the process of settling down, religious and
cultural institutions were established to help immi-
grants preserve their ethnic identity and build a home
away from home.

Still, relative to their absolute numbers, Asian Bud-
dhists in Europe have established few Buddhist insti-
tutions. The rapid rise in the number of Buddhist
centers and societies is largely due to the work of con-
vert Buddhists, who, in addition to following estab-
lished forms of Therava
da, MAHA
YA
NA, and Tibetan
Buddhism, also founded new Buddhist orders. These
include the Arya Maitreya Mandala order, founded by
the German lama Govinda (1898–1985) in 1933, and
the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order, estab-
lished by the British Sangharakshita in 1967. In many
countries, however, Zen and Tibetan Buddhism re-
main foremost, superseding the early dominance of
Therava
da.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Buddhism in Europe
became firmly established in organizational form. In
addition to the numerous local Buddhist groups and
centers, in many countries national umbrella societies
were created to enhance intra-Buddhist dialogue and
activity. In Austria, Switzerland, Germany, the Nether-
lands, and Italy, such national societies have become
well respected representatives of Buddhism. The Eu-
ropean Buddhist Union was founded in 1975, but this
organization has had little impact. Austria officially
recognized Buddhism as a religion entitled to special
rights, such as school teaching and broadcast time, in

1983. Representatives of the various Buddhist tradi-

tions in Germany adopted what they called a “Bud-

dhist Confession” in 1985, although they failed to win

state recognition.

The dynamic growth during the 1970s and 1980s in-

cluded a professionalization of European Buddhism in

terms of leadership, book and journal marketing, and

the staging of public conventions. In addition, an in-

creasing number of female and male convert Buddhists

took on professional roles by becoming priests, nuns,

monks, or full-time lay teachers. A second generation

of European Buddhist teachers is maturing, an impor-

tant development that has not yet caught on among

immigrant Buddhist communities. Though Buddhism

is likely to remain a minority tradition in Europe dur-

ing the twenty-first century, secure foundations have

been laid, ensuring that Buddhism will become an ac-

cepted part of Europe’s landscape of religions.

See also:Buddhist Studies; United States; Zen, Popu-

lar Conceptions of

Bibliography

Almond, Philip C. The British Discovery of Buddhism.Cam-

bridge, UK: University Press, 1988.

Batchelor, Stephen. The Awakening of the West: The Encounter

of Buddhism and Western Culture.Berkeley, CA: Parallax,

1994.

Baumann, Martin. “Global Buddhism. Developmental Periods,

Regional Histories, and a New Analytical Perspective.” Jour-

nal of Global Buddhism2 (2001): 1–43.

Baumann, Martin. Buddhism in Europe: An Annotated Bibli-

ography, 3rd revision, March 2001. Available from

http://www.globalbuddhism.org/bib-bud.html.

Baumann, Martin. “Buddhism in Europe: Past, Present,

Prospects.” In Westward Dharma: Buddhism beyond Asia,ed.

Charles S. Prebish and Martin Baumann. Berkeley: Univer-

sity of California Press, 2002.

Hecker, Hellmuth. Lebensbilder deutscher Buddhisten. Ein bio-

bibliographisches Handbuch,2nd edition, 2 vols. Konstanz,

Germany: University of Konstanz, 1996, 1997.

Obadia, Lionel. Bouddhisme et Occident: La diffusion du boud-

dhisme tibétain en France.Paris: L’Harmattan, 1999.

Rawlinson, Andrew. The Book of Enlightened Masters: Western

Teachers in Eastern Traditions.Chicago and La Salle, IL:

Open Court, 1997.

Waterhouse, Helen. Buddhism in Bath: Adaptation and Author-

ity.Leeds, UK: Community Religions Project, Leeds Uni-

versity, 1997.

MARTINBAUMANN

EUROPE

SOURCE:Baumann (2002).

France 350,000 300,000 0.6%

Britain 180,000 130,000 0.3%

Germany 170,000 120,000 0.2%

Italy 75,000 25,000 0.1%

Netherlands 33,000 20,000 0.2%

Switzerland 25,000 20,000 0.3%

Austria 17,000 5,000 0.2%

Denmark 10,000 7,000 0.1%

Hungary 7,000 1,000 0.1%

Poland 5,000 500 0.02%

Russia 1,000,000 vast majority 0.7%

Estimated Buddhists in selected European countries in

the late 1990s

Country

Buddhists

total

Buddhists

from Asia

Percentage of

population

TABLE 1