Buddhism in the United Kingdom
Total population | |
---|---|
United Kingdom: 289,551 – 0.4% (2021) England: 262,433 – 0.5% (2021)[1] Scotland: 15,501 – 0.3% (2022)[2] Wales: 10,075 – 0.3% (2021)[1] Northern Ireland: 1,542 – 0.08% (2021)[3] | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Greater London | 77,425 – 0.9%[4] |
South East England | 54,433 – 0.6% |
East of England | 26,814 – 0.4% |
South West England | 24,579 – 0.4% |
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Buddhism in the United Kingdom is the fifth-largest religious group in the United Kingdom. The 2021 United Kingdom census recorded just under 290,000 Buddhists, or about 0.4% of the total population, with the largest number of Buddhists residing in Greater London and South East England.[5] According to a Buddhist organisation, the growth of Buddhism in the United Kingdom is mainly a result of conversions.[6][7]
In the UK census for 2011, there were about 247,743 people who registered their religion as Buddhism, and about 174,000 who cited religions other than the other five world religions and Jainism.[8][9] This latter figure is likely to include some people who follow the traditional Chinese folk religion which also includes some elements of Buddhism.
History
Relationship with the Buddhist World
Although the practice of Buddhism in the United Kingdom started in the 19th century, the UK have had relations with Buddhist countries for more than a millennia. Britain may have had relations through the rule of the Romans, though most of these were directly from Rome. The religion of Manichaeism, a former major religion which had Buddhist influences, was said to have spread throughout the empire as far as Britannia.[10] There wasn't much contact between the Buddhist world and Britain until the early modern age. Archaeological evidence found in Sutton Hoo suggested that Britain was part of an international culture and the garnets discovered, with dated back to the
was the first Englishman to reach Japan in 1600, at that time the country was also Buddhist.History of Buddhism in the UK
Buddhism in the United Kingdom goes at least as far back as the 1810s. Adam Sri Munni Ratna, a Buddhist monk from Ceylon (Sri Lanka), travelled to England with his cousin (also a Buddhist monk) while accompanying
As Buddhism expanded in the United Kingdom, several umbrella organisations have formed, such as
Theravada
In Britain, the earliest Buddhist influences came from the
The
A slow trickle from United Kingdom travelled to Asia for deeper spiritual commitment via monastic ordination, mainly as Theravadin monks, like
A Theravada monastic order following the
Mahayana
There is a small
Vajrayana
In 1966,
Lama Shenpen Hookham, originally from Essex, travelled to India in the late 1960s on the instruction of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, became one of a group of early Western women to take ordination as a nun in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. She was taught by, and became a translator to many of Tibetan Buddhist masters, as was asked by 16th Karmapa to return to the West to teach. She was authorised to teach Mahamudra by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, who also encouraged her to return her monastic vows in order to teach Westerners. Lama Shenpen went on to establish the Awakened Heart Sangha and devised a unique, experiential training programme called Living the Awakened Heart, which presents the undiluted essence of Dzogchen and Mahamudra teachings and traditions, tailored especially for a Western audience. Lama Shenpen wrote about her time in India with her teachers and her path to becoming a lama in her autobiography Keeping the Dalai Lama Waiting & Other Stories - An English Woman's Journey to Becoming a Buddhist Lama, which has had many recommendations from other esteemed teachers, including Khandro Rinpoche.
Jamyang Buddhist Centre (JBC) in London is affiliated to the
The
New Religious Movements
'Diamond Way Buddhism' is a network of lay Buddhist centres, founded by Ole Nydahl.
Secular Buddhism and Mindfulness
Interest in
Vidyamala Burch and her organization Breathworks have helped to popularize mindfulness-based pain management (MBPM), a mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) providing applications for people suffering from chronic pain and illness.[41][42]
The British Association of Mindfulness-Based Approaches (BAMBA) is a network of 25 mindfulness teacher-training organizations that aims to support and develop good practice and integrity in the delivery of mindfulness-based approaches in the UK.[43]
Demographics
Year | Pop. | ±% |
---|---|---|
2001 | 151,816 | — |
2011 | 261,584 | +72.3% |
2021 | 289,551 | +10.7% |
Religious Affiliation was not recorded in the census prior to 2001. |
Region / Country | 2021[47] | 2011[52] | 2001[57] | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | |
England | 262,433 | 0.5% | 238,626 | 0.5% | 139,046 | 0.3% |
—Greater London | 77,425 | 0.9% | 82,026 | 1.0% | 54,297 | 0.8% |
—South East | 54,433 | 0.6% | 43,946 | 0.5% | 22,005 | 0.3% |
—East | 26,814 | 0.4% | 22,273 | 0.4% | 12,065 | 0.2% |
—South West | 24,579 | 0.4% | 19,730 | 0.4% | 11,299 | 0.2% |
—North West | 23,028 | 0.3% | 20,695 | 0.3% | 11,794 | 0.2% |
—West Midlands | 18,804 | 0.3% | 16,649 | 0.3% | 9,760 | 0.2% |
—Yorkshire and the Humber | 15,803 | 0.3% | 14,319 | 0.3% | 7,188 | 0.1% |
—East Midlands | 14,521 | 0.3% | 12,672 | 0.3% | 7,541 | 0.2% |
—North East | 7,026 | 0.3% | 6,316 | 0.2% | 3,097 | 0.1% |
Scotland | 15,501[a] | 0.3% | 12,795 | 0.2% | 6,830 | 0.1% |
Wales | 10,075 | 0.3% | 9,117 | 0.3% | 5,407 | 0.2% |
Northern Ireland | 1,542 | 0.08% | 1,046 | 0.06% | 533 | 0.03% |
United Kingdom | 289,551 | 0.4% | 261,584 | 0.4% | 151,816 | 0.3% |
Population
According to the
In the 2021 census for England and Wales, the main places of birth were the United Kingdom at 110,528 people (40.5% of the total Buddhist population),
For the 2001 census in Scotland, people were asked both their current religion and the one 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.[63] In Northern Ireland, the published report which listed religions and philosophies in order of size reported 'Buddhist' at 533.[64]
See also
- Pāli Text Society
- The Light of Asia, 19th century British poem about the life of the Buddha
- Hammalawa Saddhatissa
- Dhammakaya Tradition UK
- Dhamma Talaka Pagoda
- Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies
- Religion in the United Kingdom
- Religion in the Republic of Ireland
Notes
- ^ Scotland held its census a year later after the rest of the United Kingdom due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, data shown is for 2022 as opposed to 2021.
References
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- ^ "Home - Office for National Statistics". www.ons.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 12 March 2007.
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- ^ "Manichaeism | Definition, Beliefs, History, & Facts | Britannica". Archived from the original on 8 May 2020. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
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Bibliography
- Bell, Sandra (1991). Buddhism in Britain - Adaptation and Development, PhD thesis, University of Durham
- Bluck, Robert (2004). Buddhism and Ethnicity in Britain: The 2001 Census Data Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, Journal of Global Buddhism 5, 90-96
- Kay, David N. (2004). Tibetan and Zen Buddhism in Britain: Transplantation, Development and Adaptation, London; New York: RoutledgeCurzon
- Bluck, Robert (2006). British Buddhism: Teachings, Practice and Development. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-15817-1.
- Munt, Sally; Yip, Andrew (2016). Cosmopolitan Dharma: Race, Sexuality, and Gender in British Buddhism. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-23280-8.
External links
- United Kingdom at World Buddhist Directory
- The Buddhist Society
- BBC - British Buddhism
- Reassessing what we collect website – Buddhist London History of Buddhist London with objects and images
- Buddhism Today - Buddhism in United Kingdom
- Jamyang Archived 2000-10-22 at the Wayback Machine
- Kagyu Samye Dzong London
- Dechen
- Diamond Way Buddhism UK
- Aro gTér