WHO WE ARE
The European Buddhist Union (EBU) is the main European association of Buddhist organisations and national Buddhist unions. We are open to all schools and traditions of Buddhism in Europe wishing to unite on the basis of Buddhist teachings and to work together in spiritual friendship and respect for diversity. We wish that the voice of Buddhism may help bring about a world guided by wis
dom and compassion, for the happiness and wellbeing of all. Membership enquiries may be sent to
[email protected]
SHORT HISTORY
The EBU was founded in London in 1975, at the initiative of Judge Paul Arnold. The first Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held the same year in Paris. In 2008 the EBU obtained official participatory status with the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. The EBU is active in the Council of Europe's Conference of International Non-Governmental Organisations. The EBU has been a regular partner in dialogue between the European Union and European bodies concerned with religion and belief. The EBU is a founding member of ENORB, the European Network of Religion and Belief, founded in Brussels, 2011. The EBU is also a member of the World Fellowship of Buddhists (2000) and the International Buddhist Confederation (2014). EUROPEAN BUDDHISM
The interaction between Buddhist and European culture began more than 2,300 years ago with the empire of Alexander the Great. From the time of Alexander the Great until the year 393 CE (when emperor Theodosius prohibited non-Christian religious customs in the Roman Empire) there was a great sense of connection between the Indian sub-continent, the Persian empire, and Greece. During all those centuries Europe was familiar with Buddhist culture. The interaction of European and Buddhist culture flourished especially in the Graeco-Indian Kingdom of Gandhara, in today’s northern Pakistan. The Greek king Menander (+130 BCE) became a patron of Buddhism. Graeco-Buddhism, a synthesis of European Hellenistic culture and Indian Buddhist culture, flourished for almost eight centuries. Due to the rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire in the 4th century and the Islamic conquests of Persia and India in the 7th century, the connections that existed in the ancient world were largely lost and Buddhism and Europe became cut off from each other for many centuries. With Muslim invasions, Graeco-Buddhism and Indo-Buddhism were largely destroyed. The roots of a settled Buddhist presence in Western Europe date back to the 19th century. There are presently around 3 million Buddhists across Europe, east and west. The only region on the European continent where Buddhism is the majority religion is the Republic of Kalmykia (in the European part of the Russian Federation). Today, the political authorities of most European countries have come to some form of official recognition of Buddhism. BUDDHIST CHARACTERISTICS
Buddhism has characteristics found in religion, philosophy and science alike, yet cannot be reduced to any of these. Therefore, Buddhism has an unusual position within the European religious, philosophical and scientific landscape. Like other religions, Buddhism challenges us to ask some of the deepest possible existential questions. It has temples, lay people, monks, nuns, ordination, rituals and prayer; and it offers meditation and spiritual training. On the other hand, like philosophy, Buddhist methodology is non-dogmatic and follows rigorous logical analysis. It is empirical and embedded in a non-theistic tradition, as is science. Hence, Buddhism can shed a fresh light on our traditional definitions and preconceptions of religion, which may result in a better cross-cultural and inter-disciplinary understanding. A BUDDHIST VOICE FOR EUROPE
"Throughout Europe we are slowly evolving as a voice, a Buddhist voice, that has something distinctive to say, informed by a set of values that are not traditionally those of Europe, yet are now being articulated by Europeans. One of the positive things about organisations such as the European Buddhist Union, is that it provides a place where we can meet and talk to one another." (Stephen Batchelor in 'A Buddhist Voice for Europe.')
THE VALUES THAT GUIDE US
We believe in the limitless potential of all beings for wisdom and compassion. We are motivated by the values of non-violence, compassion, kind-heartedness and responsibility, which are at the heart of Buddhism. We support the implementation of Human Rights, equality and individual responsibility for all, regardless of ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, language, religion, nationality, social origins, birth status or any other distinction. We share the values that inspired the founders of the Council of Europe and the European Union: of creating and maintaining peace, solidarity and diversity across Europe, after centuries of war and discrimination, via free, democratic, open and non-discriminatory states. We encourage openness, clarity and transparency within the EBU, and within the societies in which we live and work. At the root of many modern difficulties may often be found greed, anger and prejudice. Though these may be personal and local in origin, their consequences may be global and collective. We believe that Buddhist practice, founded in a deep understanding of interconnectedness, can help transform attitudes. We believe that oppression, discrimination, labour exploitation and all aspects of social and economic injustice should be transformed into openness, freedom, co-operation and peace. With wisdom and compassion, unhealthy consumerism and over-exploitation of our planet can be transformed into care for all life forms and deep respect for the earth and its ecological diversity.
