Vilianajgd at 04:21, 21 December 2025

2025-12-21T04:21:58Z

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[[File:Bon shim.jpg|thumb|200px|Czech Buddhists]]
With a rough estimate of 6100 Buddhists, '''[[Buddhism]]''' is practiced by around 0.05% of the [[Czech Republic|'''Czech''']] population.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Buddhismus Diamantové cesty [Hospodářská a kulturní studia] |url=https://www.hks.re/wiki/doku.php?id=buddhismus2014 |access-date=2023-01-03 |website=www.hks.re}}</ref> The World Buddhist Directory lists 70 Buddhist places in the Czech Republic.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.buddhanet.net/wbd/country.php?country_id%3D58 |title=World Buddhist Directory, Czech Republic (Archived copy) |accessdate=2007-09-28 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014214240/http://buddhanet.net/wbd/country.php?country_id=58 |archivedate=2007-10-14 }}</ref>

The [[Vietnamese people in the Czech Republic|Vietnamese-speaking]] communities form the mainstay of the Buddhist population in the Czech Republic. The Vietnamese practice mainly [[Mahayana Buddhism]] with some syncretism of [[ancestor worship]], [[Confucianism]] and [[Taoism]]. They represent roughly from two thirds to three quarters of the Buddhist community alongside being the largest Asian community in the Czech Republic, numbering over 60,000.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.czso.cz/csu/cizinci.nsf/t/45002E12A0/$File/c01t01.pdf |title=Cizinci podle typu pobytu, pohlaví a státního občanství - k 31. 5. 2010 |trans-title=Foreigners: by type of residence, sex and citizenship; 31 May 2010 |access-date=2010-08-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514143408/https://www.czso.cz/csu/cizinci.nsf/t/45002E12A0/$File/c01t01.pdf |archive-date=2011-05-14 |url-status=dead |website=Český statistický úřad}}</ref> The remainder consists of a significant number of [[Czechs]] who have converted (mainly to [[Theravada]] or [[Vajrayana Buddhism]]) and the smaller communities of [[Chinese people in the Czech Republic|overseas Chinese]] and [[Koreans in the Czech Republic|Koreans]].

Buddhism is found mainly where the Vietnamese-speaking people reside, notably in the cities of [[Prague]] and [[Cheb]]. ''Thien An'' Buddhist Pagoda in the northern province of [[Varnsdorf]] was the first Vietnamese style temple to be consecrated in the Czech Republic, in January 2008. The pagoda was completed in September 2007 and now serves as a center of Vietnamese culture and teaching Vietnamese language.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2008-01-31 |title=Vietnam latest news - Thanh Nien Daily |url=http://www.thanhniennews.com/overseas/?catid=12&newsid=35384 |access-date=2025-02-15 |website=archive.ph |archive-url=https://archive.today/20080131024208/http://www.thanhniennews.com/overseas/?catid=12&newsid=35384 |archive-date=2008-01-31}}</ref> There are also ten Korean Buddhist temples in the Czech Republic, with three each in Prague and [[Brno]].<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.buddhanet.info/wbd/search.php?keyword=+korean+&prev_keyword%5B%5D=+korean+&newsearch=new&search=Begin+Search&country_id=58&province_id=0|title=Korean Buddhist congregations in the Czech Republic|publisher=Buddha Dharma Education Association|year=2006|accessdate=2010-05-01}}</ref>

The Vajrayana practitioners are mainly centered on the [[Nyingma]] and [[Kagyu]] schools. The [[Karma Kagyu]] tradition has established about 50 centers and meditation groups. The [[Diamond Way]] tradition of Vajrayana Buddhism, founded and directed by [[Ole Nydahl]] is active in both the Czech Republic and [[Slovakia]].

== History ==
[[File:Sčítání_obyvatelstva_2011,_Buddhismus_Diamantové_cesty_linie_Karma_Kagjü,_věková_struktura.svg|left|thumb|200x200px|2011 Population Census, Karma Kagyu Lineage Diamond Way Buddhism, Age Structure]]
Buddhism came to the [[Czech Republic]] around 1920. At this time, the West Mongolian nation of the [[Kalmyks]] arrived in [[Czechoslovakia]] . They were soon forced to leave the republic, because the government was not inclined to such religious practices. With this act, Czechoslovakia delayed the spread of the Buddhist faith by 40 years compared to Western countries.[[Leopold Prowe|Leopold Procházka]], Fráňa Drtikol, Eduard and Míla Tomášová, and Květoslav Minařík can be considered the leading popularizers of Buddhism in [[Czechoslovakia]] in the 20th century . After the fall of communism in 1989, people felt the loss of spiritual values, because until then they lived mainly in a materialistic way. This too could have been the reason for the increased interest in Buddhism after the [[Velvet Revolution]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Láskyplný svět - Buddhismus v Česku teorií i praxí |url=https://laskyplnysvet.cz/blog/55-buddhismus-v-cesku-teorii-i-praxi |access-date=2022-10-12 |website=laskyplnysvet.cz}}</ref>

== Culture ==
In mid-January 2022, the Buddha close-up exhibition was opened in the National Gallery in [[Prague]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rufr |first=Martin |date=2022-01-18 |title=Expozice Buddha zblízka |url=https://info.dingir.cz/2022/01/expozice-buddha-zblizka/ |access-date=2023-01-03 |website=Náboženský infoservis |language=cs}}</ref> Using medallions of individual practitioners in the form of videos, individual schools operating in the [[Czech Republic]] are presented.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Vojtíšek |first=Zdeněk |date=2022-05-02 |title="Souhvězdí Buddhy" poskytuje dobrý obrázek o buddhismu v české společnosti |url=https://info.dingir.cz/2022/05/souhvezdi-buddhy/ |access-date=2023-01-03 |website=Náboženský infoservis |language=cs}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Vietnamese people in the Czech Republic]]
*[[Demographics of the Czech Republic]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Rozehnalová, Jana (2008). Czech Perspectives on Buddhism, 1860–1989, Journal of Religion in Europe 1, 156–181
* Cirklová, Jitka (2009). [http://www.globalbuddhism.org/jgb/index.php/jgb/article/view/110/118 Development of Interest in Buddhism in the Czech Republic], Journal of Global Buddhism 10, 5-16

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
# https://www.denik.cz/z_domova/v-praze-vzniklo-nejvetsi-buddhisticke-centrum-v-cesku-20140520.html
# http://www.buddhismusvcesku.cz/clanky/korespondence-kvetoslava-minarika.html
# http://www.tibinfo.cz/clanek.php?id=221
* [http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=3,5874,0,0,1,0 Czech Republic first Buddhist temple opens]

{{Buddhism topics}}
{{Buddhism in Europe}}

[[Category:Religion in the Czech Republic]]
[[Category:Buddhism by country|Czech Republic]]
[[Category:Buddhism in Europe|Cze]]

Buddhism in the Czech Republic - Revision history

Vilianajgd at 04:21, 21 December 2025