EUROPE

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the presence of Buddhism in Europe is characterized by a diversity of traditions, schools, orders, and lineages. Since the 1970s interest in Buddhism among Europeans has grown steadily, accompanied by the arrival of Buddhist refugees and immigrants from Asian countries. Of Europe's estimated one million Buddhists, about two-thirds are of Asian ancestry. Nevertheless, Buddhism's public face in Europe and its representation in the media are dominated by convert Buddhists, leaving migrant Buddhists for the most part unseen and unrecognized.

The beginning of Buddhism in Europe can be dated to the mid-nineteenth century, though fragmentary information about Buddhist customs and concepts had trickled into Europe since the seventeenth century. From the 1850s onward, Europe witnessed a boom of translations of Buddhist works, as well as studies and portraits of Buddhism. European philosophers and scholars such as Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860), Thomas W. Rhys Davids (1843–1922), and Hermann Oldenberg (1854–1920) helped spread Buddhist concepts through their treatises and translations. These scholars clearly favored the teachings of the P?li canon, which they assumed to be pure and original. The first converted European Buddhists appeared during the 1880s in response to these studies; most converts were educated middle-class men. In accordance with the dominance of P?li Buddhist ideas, a few young men from England and Germany became Therav?da monks in Burma (Myanmar) and Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Most prominent among these were Bennett McGregor (1872–1923), who was ordained as Ananda Metteyya in 1902, and Anton W. F. Gueth (1878–1957), who was ordained as Nyanatiloka in 1904.

Ethical and intellectual interest in the teachings of Therav?da Buddhism gained organizational momentum in Europe with the founding of new Buddhist societies. The first of these was the Society for the Buddhist Mission in Germany, formed by the Indologist Karl Seidenstücker (1876–1936) in Leipzig in 1903. Through lectures, pamphlets, and books, the first professed Buddhists tried to win members from the educated middle and upper strata of society. During the 1920s further Buddhist societies and parishes evolved, many with the support of the Ceylonese reformer Ana-g?rika Dharmap?la (1864–1933). Leading Buddhists included Georg Grimm (1868–1945) and Paul Dahlke

(1865–1928) in Germany, and Christmas Humphreys (1901–1983) in England. The schools of Grimm and Dahlke continued their work within small private circles during the Nazi period, when Buddhists were regarded with suspicion as pacifists and eccentrics. With the exception of those who had abandoned Judaism and become Buddhists, however, no official or open persecution of Buddhism took place.

After World War II, small numbers of Buddhists reconstructed former Therav?da-oriented groups or founded new ones. Beginning in the 1950s, Japanese Buddhist traditions, such as Zen, J?do Shinsh?, and S?ka Gakkai, were brought to Europe. Zen became especially popular during the 1960s and 1970s; many local groups were established and Zen teachers began touring Europe. The Zen boom was followed by a sharp rise of interest in Tibetan Buddhism. Beginning in the mid-1970s, high ranking Tibetan teachers conducted preaching tours in Europe. Within two decades, converts to Tibetan Buddhism outnumbered converts to all other Buddhist traditions in many countries.

This rapid increase in the numbers of European Buddhists, accompanied by an expansion of already existing institutions, led to a considerable rise in the number of Buddhist groups and centers. In Britain, for example, the number of Buddhist organizations increased from seventy-four to some four hundred between 1979 and 2000. In Germany, interest in Buddhism resulted in an increase in the number of Buddhist institutions from around forty in 1975 to more than five hundred meditation circles, groups, centers, and societies by 1999. Comparable growth rates occurred in other European countries, such as Italy, Austria, Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, and Denmark. Eastern European countries also witnessed a growing interest in Buddhism following the political changes of 1989. Numerous Buddhist groups, Tibetan and Zen in particular, were founded in Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and western Russia. Visits by European and North American Buddhist teachers, as well as a longing for spiritual alternatives to the established Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches, brought about a steady growth of Buddhism in Eastern Europe.

In addition to Western convert Buddhists, considerable numbers of Asian Buddhists have immigrated to Europe since the 1960s (see Table 1). In France, especially in Paris, large communities of refugees from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia have emerged. In Great

TABLE 1

Britain, the Netherlands, and other Western European 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 immigrants preserve their ethnic identity and build a home away from home.

Still, relative to their absolute numbers, Asian Buddhists in Europe have established few Buddhist institutions. The rapid rise in the number of Buddhist centers and societies is largely due to the work of convert Buddhists, who, in addition to following established forms of Therav?da, Mah?y?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, established by the British Sangharakshita in 1967. In many countries, however, Zen and Tibetan Buddhism remain foremost, superseding the early dominance of Therav?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 Netherlands, and Italy, such national societies have become well respected representatives of Buddhism. The European 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 traditions in Germany adopted what they called a "Buddhist Confession" in 1985, although they failed to win state recognition.

The dynamic growth during the 1970s and 1980s included a professionalization of European Buddhism in terms of leadership, book and journal marketing, and the staging of public conventions. In addition, an increasing 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 important development that has not yet caught on among immigrant Buddhist communities. Though Buddhism is likely to remain a minority tradition in Europe during the twenty-first century, secure foundations have been laid, ensuring that Buddhism will become an accepted part of Europe's landscape of religions.

See also:Buddhist Studies; United States; Zen, Popular Conceptions of

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Martin Baumann