Buddhism in Italy

Buddhism in Italy is the third most spread religion, next to Christianity and Islam. It involves, by the statistics of Cesnur (National Center of Studies on New Religions), almost 74000 believers. For Baumann they represent instead the 0,1% of the Italian population.

The biggest Italian Buddhist centers are federated in the Italian Buddhist Union (Unione Buddhista Italiana: UBI), which is a member of the European Buddhist Union.[1] The UBI was founded in Milan in 1985[2] and received recognition by the President of the Italian Republic in 1991.

The Buddhist presence in Italy begins to be known in the 60s, with the first attempts to ground some Buddhist centers. Between the oldest we can count the one of Engaku Taino and the Fudenji of Taiten Guareschi, disciple of Taisen Deshimaru. In 1960 is founded the Buddhist Italian Association (Associazione Buddhista Italiana) and in 1967 begins the publishing of the review Buddhismo Scientifico.

In 2000, the sign of the Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema on the accord between the Italian Republic and the UBI, even if not ratified by the Parliament, as will happen 10 years after, confirms a stable existence and the growth of Buddhism in Italy. The Accord between Italian State and Buddhist Italian Union was ratified the 11th December 2012.(work in progress)[6][7].

The UBI is acknowledged as an association with juridical figure and coordinates the 44 principal centers in Italy in the tradition Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana which hold the practice and the sharing of the traditional teaching. Between the most important Buddhist centers of Italy we can note the Soto Zen center "L'Arco", in Rome, the already citated Scaramuccia of Engaku Taino, in Orvieto; even in Rome, the lay association laica A.Me.Co for the pratice of Theravada buddhism, founded and directed by the lay dharma teacher Corrado Pensa, and near to the theravada monastery of the Forest's Sangha; In Milan, the biggest zen center is the zen monastery Ensoji il Cerchio, founded and guided by the zen master Testugen Serra; in Pomaia, the Tibetan Buddhism finds one of the biggest center in Europe, the Lama Tzong Khapa Institute.

Even the Japanese Buddhist school founded by Nichiren Daishonin sees in the UBI one representance: the temple of the Nichiren Shu Renkoji, in Cereseto, near Novara, guided by the master Shoryo Tarabini, and the association Nipponzan Myohonji, which provided to the grounding of the biggest stupa in Italy, the Peace Pagoda in Comiso (Sicily).

References

  1. ↑ Unione Buddhista Italiana at European Buddhist Union
  2. ↑ Unione Buddhista Italiana: l'Ente

External links

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