From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Buddhism in the United Kingdom has a small but
growing number of adherents which, according to a Buddhist
organisation, is mainly the result of conversion. [1][2] In the
UK census for 2001, there were about 152,000 people who registered
their religion as Buddhism, and about 174,000 who cited religions
other than Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, Jainism and Sikhism.[3][4] This
latter figure is likely to include some people who follow the
traditional Chinese mixture of
religions including Buddhism.
At the 2001 Census, 144,453 people in England and Wales ticked
the Buddhist box. Of these, the main places of birth were UK
66,522, Far East 59,931 and South Asia 9,847,[5] and the
main ethnic groups were white 56,040, Chinese 34,304, Asian 13,919,
Mixed 4,647, Black 1,507 and Other 34,036.[6] In
Scotland, people were asked both their current religion and that
they were brought up in. 6,830 people gave Buddhism as their
current religion, and 4,704 said they were brought up in it, with
an overlap of 3,146.[7] In
Northern Ireland, the published report[8] which
listed religions and philosophies in order of size reported
'Buddhist' at 533. For details of Buddhism in the individual
countries of the United Kingdom, see:
The earliest Buddhist influences were with the Theravada traditions of Burma, Thailand, and Sri Lanka was primarily scholarly, and a
tradition of study grew up that eventually resulted in the
foundation of the Pali Text Society, which undertook
the huge task of translating the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhist texts into English. The
start of interest in Buddhism as a path of practice was pioneered
by the Theosophists, Madame Blavatsky
and Colonel Olcott, and in 1880 they became the
first Westerners to receive the refuges and
precepts, the ceremony by which one traditionally becomes a
Buddhist. they were also later received into the Hindu
religion.
Throughout the early twentieth century the Theosophical and Theravadin influences
continued, particularly with the foundation in 1924 of London’s Buddhist
Society. In 1926 the Theravadin London Buddhist Vihara in Chiswick was founded. The
1950s saw the development of interest in Zen Buddhism. In 1967
Kagyu Samyé
Ling Monastery and Tibetan Centre was founded in Eskdalemuir, Scotland,
and is the largest Tibetan Buddhist centre in Western
Europe. The Manjushri Kadampa Buddhist
Centre[9] in
Conishead Priory located just outside of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria is a large New
Kadampa Tradition Tibetan Buddhist centre. The priory
established by Geshe Kelsang
Gyatso in 1975 claims to be 'the mother centre from which
around 1100 Kadampa Buddhist centres have been set up worldwide'.
[10]
A Theravada monastery following the Thai
Forest Tradition of Ajahn Chah was established at Chithurst Buddhist
Monastery in Sussex, and has established branches elsewhere in
the country. A lay meditation tradition of Thai origin is
represented by the Samatha Trust, with its headquarters cum retreat
centre in Wales. Soto Zen has a priory at Throssel Hole Buddhist
Abbey in Northumberland.
Also in 1967 the Englishman Sangharakshita (1925-) who had spent
time in the east as a Theravadin monk founded the Friends of the
Western Buddhist Order, the first home-grown Buddhist movement.
He was followed by other westerners who had studied in the East,
and by Eastern teachers, particularly refugee Tibetan Lamas, and
under the influence of these teachers a large and diverse British
Buddhist world has emerged. At the 2001 census, 36% of
those stating they were Buddhist lived in London [11] and
38% of Buddhists were white. [12].
As well as the Friends of the
Western Buddhist Order there are other Buddhism-based new religious movements such as the New
Kadampa Tradition and Sōka Gakkai International.
See also
References
- ^
BuddhistChannel - Allure of
Buddhism growing in the UK
- ^
Buddhist Channel - Seed of
Buddhism now growing in UK
- ^
National Statistics
Online
- ^
Buddhism and Ethnicity in
Britain: The 2001 Census Data
- ^
Census 2001: National Report for England and Wales, Office
for National Statistics, London, TSO, 2003, page 184
- ^
Census 2001: National Report for England and Wales, part
2, Office for National Statistics, London, TSO, 2004, page 33
- ^
Scotland's Census 2001: the Registrar-General's Report to the
Scottish Parliament, General Register Office for Scotland,
2003, page 31
- ^
Northern Ireland Census 2001: Standard Tables, National
Statistics, 2003, page 43
- ^
Buddhism & meditation in the English Lake
District
- ^
Conishead Priory,
Ulverston
- ^
National Statistics
Online
- ^
National Statistics
Online
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