Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...

is not officially recognized as a religion in

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

. As of January 2021, Buddhists numbered 6,722 or 0.12% of the population. Various Buddhist schools, including all three traditional vehicles (

Theravada ''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' ...

Mahayana ''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and is considered one of the three main existing br ...

and

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 ...

), are active as either informal groups or civil associations. Theravada is represented by groups of

vipassana ''Samatha'' (Pāli; sa, शमथ ''śamatha''; ), "calm," "serenity," "tranquillity of awareness," and ''vipassanā'' (Pāli; Sanskrit ''vipaśyanā''), literally "special, super (''vi-''), seeing (''-passanā'')", are two qualities of the ...

practitioners. Several

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 ...

schools, including disciples of Sando Kaisen and the Korean Kwan Um School, represent the Mahayana. Vajrayana schools include

Nyingma Nyingma (literally 'old school') is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It is also often referred to as ''Ngangyur'' (, ), "order of the ancient translations". The Nyingma school is founded on the first lineages and transl ...

practitioners following Namkai Norbu Rinpoche. The

Diamond Way 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 ...

organisation founded and directed by

Ole Nydahl Ole Nydahl (born 19 March 1941), also known as Lama Ole, is a ''lama'' providing Mahamudra teachings in the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. Since the early 1970s, Nydahl has toured the world giving lectures and meditation courses. With his ...

is also active in Slovakia.

History

After World War II, Czechoslovakia (later to be known as Slovakia) was reconstituted as a socialist state and religious freedoms were restricted. Article 32 of the 1960 Constitution of Czechoslovakia established the freedom of religion for individuals. Along with immigration and globalization, the number of Buddhists and influence of Buddhism in Slovakia slowly increased. However, the influence and spread of Buddhism remained obscure as adherents amounted to less than 1% of the population. Buddhism has been acknowledged in Slovakia, however, and leaders of Buddhist traditions have been welcomed. In 2016, president of Slovakia

Andrej Kiska Andrej Kiska (; born 2 February 1963) is a Slovak politician, entrepreneur, writer and philanthropist who served as the fourth president of Slovakia from 2014 to 2019. He ran as an independent candidate in the 2014 presidential election in which ...

met with the Dalai Lama in Bratislava and described it as a “privilege” to meet with the Tibetan spiritual leader.

Demographic

According to the 2021 census, the number of adherents to Buddhism numbered 6,722 or 0.12% of the population. Buddhism is not recognized as a state religion in Slovakia as it does not meet the requirement of at least 50,000 adherents, and is thereby registered as a civic association. In 2022, the Public Defender of Rights (ombudsperson) stated that the registration requirements were unreasonable, discriminatory, and unnecessary; the Ministry of Culture refused to initiate a legal change.

References

Sweden, Buddhism in Religion in Slovakia

{{Slovakia-stub

History

Demographic

See also

References