The National Buddhist Unions Committee

The National Buddhist Unions Committee

Following National Buddhist Unions (NBU) are members of the EBU and are taking part in the NBU Committee: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Each National Union has many Buddhist member organisations of different traditions. They represent Buddhism in their countries vis-à-vis their respective governments. Buddhism is officially recognised as a religion in almost all countries and, depending on the legal situation, also receives official and financial support like all other religions.

The NBU Committee is an important ground for exchanging experiences on the fields of Buddhist internal dialogue (between various Buddhist traditions), practical matters of cooperation and common concerns. Also the external dialogue and relations (with other religions, beliefs and philosophies; with governments and other institutions) are common subjects for exchange between the representatives of the different European countries.

The NBU Committee has also a special connection to the EBU European Affairs Team as they both are a source of information towards each other on subjects identified by e.g. the INGO Human Rights Committee, such as: hate speech and intercultural dialogue for an inclusive society. It facilitates an exchange of knowledge and dialogue between European decision makers, national institutes and Buddhist leaders.

One of the ongoing projects is the updating of the estimated number of Buddhists in Europe. We estimate the number of Buddhists in Europe between 4 - 5 Mio.