Dialogue and identity” “

A vision of the world and a religious practice that arouse sympathy: that’s how Buddhism presents itself to the eyes of Westerners. It’s a religion with a large following in the West (statistics speak of a million or so believers), present in all countries of the continent. To grasp the scale of the phenomenon, some thirty delegates from 16 European Episcopal Conferences met together in Strasbourg, where the Pontifical Council for Interreligious dialogue and the CCEE (Council of the European Episcopal Conferences) promoted the second Consultation on Buddhism in Europe. Three years since the first consultation (held in Rome in 1999), the Strasbourg meeting had as its theme: “Pastoral attention to the spread of Buddhism in Europe: difficulties, solutions and factors of encouragement for dialogue with Buddhism”. To understand the situation better, we spoke with some of the participants. Why people are attracted to Buddhism. First of all some figures: the largest number of Buddhists in Europe are found in France (350,000), Germany (170,000), and in the UK (180,000). They are followed, in descending order, by Italy (75,000), Holland (33,000) and Switzerland (25,000). But why does Buddhism have such a big following in Europe and in the USA? “Buddhism – explains Sister Katrin Amell, a Swedish Dominican nun, with a deep knowledge of Zen meditation and responsible for dialogue with Buddhists in Sweden – is appealing for various reasons”. First because “it appears more as a way of life than a religion with a system of doctrinal truths and a hierarchical institution”. In Buddhism, moreover, it is possible to share a view of life, “without necessarily belonging to a religious institution”. For these reasons, Buddhism very easily penetrates into “an individuallistic society like that of Europe”. In Sister Amell’s view, “the Church must take this phenomenon seriously” and “consider it not as a fashionable craze or a threat to Christianity, but as a spiritual way, followed for some 2500 years, with which we need to enter into dialogue”. “The conversion of a Christian to Buddhism – says Hans Vöcking of the CCEE secretariat on the other hand – is a painful decision for the Christian community but one that, according to the teaching itself of the Catholic Church, must be accepted, because each person is free to choose his/her own life of faith”. Formation and dialogue of the heart. How can we enter into dialogue with Buddhism? Zen, Tibetan buddhism, Thevarada: the Buddhist planet is formed of a myriad different forms and traditions, each of which has its own schools that propose different positions of faith and Buddhist practice. So complex a world has a need for trained interlocutors. The point is emphasized by Hans Vöcking, who identifies education as one of the “pastoral” priorities that emerged from the Strasbourg Consultation. “We need – he says – well-prepared persons who are familiar with the situation of Buddhism in every country and diocese and who may help the bishops and episcopal conferences in this task of promoting dialogue with Buddhists”. “Dialogue – recalls Msgr. Felix Machado of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue – forms part of mission. And this mission must be reflected in the particular local life of the Church”. Msgr. Machado is also of the view that the variety of groups and schools within Buddhism requires a particular effort of preparation and formation in dialogue: both “formation in the Christian faith and formation in dialogue. Dialogue – he explains – is listening with the heart: it means not seeing someone with a religious label hanging round his neck, but as a person. But we also need to study the religious traditions with which we come into contact and, in the case of Buddhism, understand their variety”. The Churches – Machado adds – have gained awareness of the fact that “the major part of Buddhism in Europe is that practised by the Europeans themselves” and have begun to ask themselves “why some Christians are attracted by this tradition”. In response to the spread of Buddhism, the need has emerged – Msgr. Machado stresses – to “reaffirm those truths of our faith that have been forgotten, so that the riches of Christianity may be revisited and rediscovered”. Maria Chiara Biagioni correspondent of SirEurope in Strasbourg