Buddhism in Italy is the third most spread religion, next to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

and Islam. According to Caritas Italiana, in the country there are 160,000 Buddhists, that is to say the 0.3% of the total population.

History

According to some sources, Buddhism might have been practised in Italy, although marginally, already in

Ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

, likely disappeared with the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire. The contemporary Buddhist presence in Italy instead begins to be known in the 1960s, 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. From the years 1984-1989, the

Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition The Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) was founded in 1975 by Lamas Thubten Yeshe and Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, who began teaching Mahayana Buddhism to Western students in Nepal. The FPMT has grown to encompass over ...

Thubten Yeshe Thubten Yeshe (1935–1984) was a Tibetan lama who, while exiled in Nepal, co-founded Kopan Monastery (1969) and the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (1975). He followed the Gelug tradition, and was considered unconventio ...

and

Thubten Zopa Rinpoche Thubten Zopa Rinpoche (; born Dawa Chötar) is a Nepali lama from Khumbu, the entryway to Mount Everest. Biography Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, also called Lama Zopa Rinpoche has an extensive biography of him in the book ''The Lawudo Lama'' by Jamyan ...

was based at the

Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa The Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa (ILTK) in Pomaia, a village in Tuscany, in Italy (40 km south of Pisa) is a branch of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), an international network of Gelugpa dharma centers. It ...

in the Tuscan village of

Pomaia Pomaia is a village in Tuscany, central Italy, administratively a ''frazione'' of the ''comune'' of Santa Luce, in the Province of Pisa. At the time of the 2001 census its population amounted to 188. The village is known for the Lama Tzong Khapa ...

. The

Italian Buddhist Union The Italian Buddhist Union ( it, Unione Buddhista Italiana, UBI) is an association representing Buddhism in Italy. The UBI was founded in 1985 in Milan and functions as the Italian member of the European Buddhist Union. In 2007 the association, ...

, member of the

European Buddhist Union The European Buddhist Union (EBU) is the umbrella organization of Buddhist communities and national Buddhist unions in Europe. The EBU is open to all schools and traditions of Buddhism in Europe wishing to unite on the basis of Buddhist teachings an ...

, was founded in Milan in 1985, received recognition by the President of the Italian Republic in 1991 and signed an agreement with the

Italian government The government of Italy is in the form of a democratic republic, and was established by a constitution in 1948. It consists of legislative, executive, and judicial subdivisions, as well as a Head of State, or President. The Italian Constituti ...

in 2007, in accordance with article 8 of the

Italian Constitution The Constitution of the Italian Republic ( it, Costituzione della Repubblica Italiana) was enacted by the Constituent Assembly on 22 December 1947, with 453 votes in favour and 62 against. The text, which has since been amended sixteen times, ...

(which regulates the relations with religious minorities), and the agreement became law in 2012. 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 there is the Soto Zen center "L'Arco", in Rome, the already cited Scaramuccia of Luigi Mario Engaku Taino, in Scaramuccia, Orvieto; even in Rome, the lay Buddhist association laica A.Me.Co for the practice of

Theravada Buddhism ''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school' ...

, founded and directed by the lay Dhamma teacher Corrado Pensa, and there is also Santacittarama, Theravādin monastery of the Forest's Sangha located near Rome; In Milan, the biggest

Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

center is the Zen Buddhist monastery Ensoji il Cerchio, founded and guided by the Zen master Carlo Zendo Tetsugen Serra; in Pomaia, the Tibetan Buddhism finds one of the biggest center in Europe, the Lama Tzong Khapa Institute. The

Vajrayana Vajrayāna ( sa, वज्रयान, "thunderbolt vehicle", "diamond vehicle", or "indestructible vehicle"), along with Mantrayāna, Guhyamantrayāna, Tantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Tantric Buddhism, and Esoteric Buddhism, are names referring t ...

Buddhism is represented, among others, by the centers of the

Diamond Way Buddhism Diamond Way Buddhism (''Diamond Way Buddhism - Karma Kagyu Lineage'') is a lay organization within the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. The first Diamond Way Buddhist center was founded in 1972 by Hannah Nydahl and Ole Nydahl in Copenhag ...

of the Kagyu school, spread in almost all the Italian regions. Even the Japanese Buddhist denominations affiliated to

Nichiren Buddhism Nichiren Buddhism ( ja, 日蓮仏教), also known as Hokkeshū ( ja, 法華宗, meaning ''Lotus Sect'') is a branch of Mahayana Buddhism based on the teachings of the 13th-century Japanese Buddhist priest Nichiren (1222–1282) and is one o ...

are represented in the UBI: the temple of

Nichiren Shu Nichiren (16 February 1222 – 13 October 1282) was a Japanese Buddhist priest and philosopher of the Kamakura period. Nichiren declared that the Lotus Sutra alone contains the highest truth of Buddhist teachings suited for the Third Age of B ...

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 (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

). In 2014 also

Honmon Butsuryū-shū The Honmon Butsuryū-shū () is a branch of the Honmon Hokke Shū sect (one of the most ancient sects of Nichiren Buddhism). It was founded by Nagamatsu Nissen (; 1817–1890) and a group of followers the 12th of January 1857 with the name of H ...

, or HBS, with its Kofuji temple in Florence, has become part of UBI. In June 2015, the SGI-Italy (

Soka Gakkai Italian Buddhist Institute The Soka Gakkai Italian Buddhist Institute ( it, Istituto Buddista Italiano Soka Gakkai) is the Italian branch of the Soka Gakkai International Nichiren Buddhist organisation. The Soka Gakkai Italian Buddhist Institute is popularly known by the acro ...

) was recognized by the Italian government with a special accord under

Article 8, acknowledging it as an official religion of Italy and eligible to receive direct taxpayer funding for its religious and social activities. It also recognizes the Soka Gakkai as a "Concordat" (It: "Intesa") that grants the religions status in "a special 'club' of denominations consulted by the government in certain occasions, allowed to appoint chaplains in the army - a concordat is not needed for appointing chaplains in hospitals and jails - and, perhaps more importantly, to be partially financed by taxpayers' money." Eleven other religious denominations share this status.

References

Bibliography

* Bikkhu Nanajivako (1989)
The Technicalization of Buddhism: Fascism and Buddhism in Italy (I)
Giuseppe Tucci - Julius Evola. Buddhist Study Review 6 (1), 27-38 * Bikkhu Nanajivako (1989)
The Technicalization of Buddhism: Fascism and Buddhism in Italy (II)
Buddhist Study Review 6 (2), 102-115 * Bikkhu Nanajivako (1990)
The Technicalization of Buddhism: Fascism and Buddhism in Italy (III)
Buddhist Study Review 7 (1-2), 3-18

External links

* Th
''Unione Buddhista Italiana''

Buddhist Directory of Italy

Homepage della Nichiren Shu in Italia
La sede italiana della scuola tradizionale fondata da Nichiren Shonin

Honmon Butsuryu Shu Italia

{{Religion in Italy Buddhism in Italy, Ita Ita