Buddhism in Switzerland

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

History

Interest in Buddhism in Switzerland emerged at the beginning of the 20th century, sparked by allusions to the religion by

Immigration from Asian countries, mostly from Cambodia, Thailand, Tibet and Vietnam resulted in the multiplication of Buddhist centers in Switzerland.^[1] Tibetan Geshe Rabten 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, among them the Tibet Institute Rikon located in Zell-Rikon im Tösstal in the Töss Valley in the canton of Zürich.^[2]

In 2003 the Theravada temple Wat Srinagarindravararam in Gretzenbach was dedicated by Princess Galyani Vadhana, the daughter of the Princess Mother Srinagarindra, after whom the temple was named.

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

• 2000 census results (Swiss federal statistics office)

Further reading

• Baumann, Martin (2000). "Buddhism in Switzerland", Journal of Global Buddhism 1, 154-159.
• Weigelt, Frank-André (2009). "Dokumentation: Buddhismus in der Schweiz. Eine Kurzdarstellung", Schweizerische Kirchenzeitung 45, 774-778

See also

• Nyanatiloka Mahathera
• Wat Srinagarindravararam
• Santacittarama
  , Italy
• Buddhism in Germany
• Buddhism in France
• Buddhism in Italy
• Buddhism in Iceland
• Religion in Switzerland
• Tibetan Swiss

External links

• Schweizerische Buddhistische Union
• Alois Payer
• Martin Baumann
• Buddhactivity Dharma Centres database