Buddhism in Switzerland

The Buddhism in Switzerland already had a hundred years of history behind it, as in 1978, the Swiss Buddhist Union (SBU) was established. This umbrella organization of currently around 100 monasteries, centers and groups from various Buddhist schools was founded by the Czech Buddhist Mirko Frýba (later: Bhikkhu Kusalananda), who lived in exile in Switzerland , and was headed for a number of years. The SBU is also one of the first members of the European Buddhist Union (EBU) founded in 1975 .

According to the Federal Census, in 2000 the Buddhists in Switzerland were among the top group among European Buddhists with 21,000 people and a share of 0.33% of the total population, well ahead of Germany and Austria , apart from Kalmykia with a share of over 50%. According to the 2014 survey on language, religion and culture , the Buddhist proportion of the population was even 0.5%. Around 70% of the Buddhists living in Switzerland are of foreign origin. Of the approximately 120 Buddhist centers, houses and groups, Tibetan Buddhist traditions are most strongly represented and make up half of all groups.

prehistory

The contact with Buddhism , which was originally restricted to small intellectual circles and is closely related to Arthur Schopenhauer's name, probably came into exile with Richard Wagner in Zurich .

First half of the 20th century

The German pioneer Nyanatiloka, who was ordained a Buddhist monk in Burma , probably gave the first real impetus for the beginning of a discussion about genuine Buddhism . His stay in Lugano around 1910 can be seen as the starting point for the development of Buddhism in Switzerland, even if the originally cherished plan to found a monastery for European monks in Switzerland was abandoned and Nyanatiloka's patron RA Bergier for this purpose Iceland Hermitage near Galle in South Cylon built for him. The further development is closely linked with C. G. Jung and Max Ladner from South Tyrol.

Post-war period: 1948–1978

Buddhism received considerable impetus, particularly in French-speaking Switzerland, from Henry Noel Marryat Hardy (1884–1968), who lived in Lausanne in the 1930s and after the Second World War until his death. The former president of the Buddhist British Maha Bodhi Society gave many lectures on Buddhism, which created a group of interested people around him. Since Hardy had learned the classical Tibetan language , he was able to interpret original texts by the authors of Buddhism in Tibet for his listeners . After the Arya Maitreya Mandala began operating in Europe in 1952, Hardy was accepted into this order on February 27, 1953 by Hans-Ulrich Rieker . Hardy built a Swiss branch of this order founded by Lama Anagarika Govinda , which was successful on the basis of the interest group already formed through his teaching activities. With the support of Amelia Bardett, Hardy led the Swiss branch until his death.

From 1948 Max Ladner published the magazine "Die Einsicht", the influence of which extended to circles interested in Buddhism throughout the German-speaking area. In the 1950s, Artemis Verlag in Zurich reissued the collection of Buddhist speeches translated by Karl Eugen Neumann , which made it possible to study more in-depth basic principles. A special development resulted from the admission of around 1000 Tibetan refugees in the early 1960s and, as a result, from the establishment of the Monastic Tibet Institute in Rikon near Winterthur. The founding of a monastery in the canton of Zurich was only possible by disguising it as an «institute» - the de facto monastery (after all, monks live there) actually represents a clear breach of the law: since 1874, the establishment of new monasteries has been prohibited in Switzerland ( Federal Jesuit and monastery ban; a reaction to the infallibility dogma). The ban was not lifted again until 1973 (the most populous cantons of Zurich, Bern and Vaud were all against the lifting of the ban) - well after the establishment of the Tibet Institute.

Kurt Onken and the Christiani couple were among the pillars of the development of Buddhism in the 1960s. They also made the German monk Nyanaponika and his fundamental works on Theravada Buddhism known in the German-speaking world. In the 1970s Onken founded the "House of Reflection" in Dicken, which became a place for meditative retreat, but also for lectures by the increasingly numerous Buddhists. Geshe Rabten Rinpoche founded the Buddhist monastery institute Rabten Choeling for higher studies in Mont Pèlerin in 1977 , which made it possible for European monks to receive a solid education. The foundation of the SBU (Swiss Buddhist Union) in 1978 marked the transition into a new, self-confident phase of development.

Quarter of a century of monasteries

Shaolin Chan Temple Switzerland / Lucerne

Wat Srinagarindravararam

Further monasteries, study and meditation centers sprang up in town and country, with an increasing number of Buddhist tendencies and ethnic forms appearing: The "Haus Tao" in Wolfhalden, based on the Vietnamese Zen Buddhism Thich Nhat Hanhs , founded in 1986 by Marcel Geisser and Beatrice Knechtle, the Dhammapala monastery based on Thai-English Theravada Buddhism in Kandersteg and the Thai monastery Wat Srinagarindravararam in Gretzenbach, founded in 1996 . In 1999 the foundation Felsentor der Zen direction was opened on Rigi / Lucerne. The Beatenberg meditation center opened a year later. The Shaolin Chan Temple Switzerland , which was also founded in 2000, should also be mentioned, which primarily practices Chan (Zen) and at the same time regularly invites well-known capacities from other Buddhist schools for lectures and seminars. Numerous other centers of Japanese Zen and branches of Jodo Shinshu can only hint at the diversity of the new Buddhism in Switzerland.

Web links

Commons : Buddhism in Switzerland  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Swiss Buddhist Union
• Alois Payer's pages on Neo-Buddhism
• Texts on questions of Western Buddhism and a comprehensive online lexicon ( Memento from June 7, 2002 in the Internet Archive )
• Buddhism in northwestern Switzerland
• Homepage Shaolin Chan Temple Switzerland

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfsstatic/dam/assets/350455/master Religious and spiritual practices and forms of belief in Switzerland First results of the survey on language, religion and culture 2014; Page 6.
2. ^ "Buddhism in Switzerland - History and Current Situation" ( Memento from February 24, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), Religious Studies Seminar of the University of Lucerne , 2008
3. ^ Buddhism in England , 15/16 (1940), p. 2
4. ↑ The circle. Information sheet of the Arya Maitreya Mandala order ( Memento of the original from May 27, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . 1954 and 1969; Jack Austin (ed.): The Western Buddhist (Cambridge 1969) 
5. ^ Albert Gasser: Small Church History: Essays. Theological Publishing House Zurich, 2008, pp. 69–72.
6. ^ Dominik Pfyffer: Distinguished visitor - Tulku Lobsang. In: Shaolin Chan Temple. May 5, 2018, accessed on June 23, 2020 (German).