Buddhism in Switzerland

According to the 2000 census of Switzerland, 21,305 Swiss residents (0.29% of the total population) self-identified as Buddhists. About a third of them were born in Thailand.

History

In 1978 the Swiss Buddhist Union "(Schweizerische Buddhistische Union / Union Suisse des Bouddhistes / Unione Buddhista Svizzera)" was founded by the Czech Buddhist "Mirko Fryba (Bhikkhu Kusalananda)".

The German Buddhist Nyanatiloka was an important early Buddhist in Switzerland and who planned to found a Buddhist monastery there. The writings of Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung have many allusions to Buddhism. Max Ladner founded a Buddhist group in Zurich in 1942. In 1948, Ladner published the Buddhist journal "Die Einsicht". Geshe Rabten Rinpoche founded in 1977 in Mont-Pèlerin a Buddhist monastery and study centre for European monks, nuns and lay people as well. Switzerland also has Tibetan-Buddhist and Zen monasteries.

In earlier censuses, Buddhism figured together with other non-Abrahamic traditions (mainly Hinduism) as "other churches and communities". These accounted for 0.12% in 1970, 0.19% in 1980, 0.42% in 1990 and 0.78% in 2000 (0.38% Hinduism, 0.29% Buddhism, 0.11% other).

References

* [http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/dienstleistungen/publikationen_statistik/publikationskatalog.Document.50514.pdf 2000 census results] (Swiss federal statistics office)

ee also

*Religion in Switzerland
*Hinduism in Switzerland

External links

* [http://www.sbu.net Schweizerische Buddhistische Union]
* [http://www.payer.de/neobuddhismus/neobud0601.htm Alois Payer]
* [http://www.sbu.net/sbuarchiv-d1.htm Martin Baumann]
* [http://buddhactivity.org/action.htm?-Response=buddhacountry.htm&ccountry=Switzerland Buddhactivity Dharma Centres database]