Buddhism is a legally recognized religion in Slovenia and it is followed by more than 1,000 Slovenes, though no official numbers are established as the previous census did not include Buddhism specifically. Although still small in absolute numbers (though Slovenia has only 2 million inhabitants), Buddhism in Slovenia enjoys widespread acceptance if not popularity.[citation needed]
As in most European countries, different branches and schools of Buddhism are represented by groups of varying sizes. The largest traditions represented are Theravada and Vajrayana. There is a Buddhist temple in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia,[1] and Theravada hermitage in the forested countryside in Goljek, near Trebnje, which belongs to Ajahn Chah lineage.
In Slovenia, the competent administration dealing with religions is the Governmental Office for Religious Community of Republic of Slovenia,[2] and a newly approved regulation has been enacted in 2007.[3]
Buddhist organisations
Buddhist religious communities registered to the Office for Religious Communities of the Government of Slovenia include:
On 4 July 2008, an agreement was signed between Dharmaling and the State of Slovenia. This is first agreement signed with a Buddhist Community in Slovenia.
Buddha-Dharma, registered in 1995.
The following smaller associations also exist in Slovenia:
Phowa group (focused on the practice of phowa, under the guidance of Ayang Rinpoche, a renowned Phowa Master)
Association of Theravada Buddhism Bhavana ("Društvo theravadskih budistov, Bhavana")[4]
Samanadipa Forest Hermitage, founded in 2016. It is associated with the Forest Tradition of Ajahn Chah. This community has a resident monk, Ajahn Hiriko.
Slovene Buddhist Association Madyamika ("Slovensko budistično društvo Madyamika, Srednja pot")[5]
Chah Subhaddo also known by his honorific name "Phra Bodhiñāṇathera" was a Thai Buddhist monk. He was an influential teacher of the Buddhadhamma and a founder of two major monasteries in the Thai Forest Tradition.
Ajahn Khemadhammo OBE is a Theravāda Buddhist monk. He is one of the founders of the Thai Forest Tradition in the West.
Phra VisuddhisamvaratheraAM, known as Ajahn Brahmavaṃso, or simply Ajahn Brahm, is a British-born Theravada Buddhist monk. Currently, Ajahn Brahm is the abbot of Bodhinyana Monastery in Serpentine, Western Australia; Spiritual Adviser to the Buddhist Society of Victoria; Spiritual Adviser to the Buddhist Society of South Australia; Spiritual Patron of the Buddhist Fellowship in Singapore; Patron of the Brahm Centre in Singapore; Spiritual Adviser to the Anukampa Bhikkhuni Project in the UK; and Spiritual Director of the Buddhist Society of Western Australia (BSWA). He returned to the office on 22 April 2018 after briefly resigning in March, following a contentious vote by members of the BSWA during their annual general meeting.
With nearly 250,000 Buddhists, Brazil is home to the third-largest Buddhist population in the Americas, after the United States and Canada. Buddhism in Brazil consists of practitioners from various Buddhist traditions and schools. A number of Buddhist organisations and groups are also active in Brazil, with nearly 150 temples spread across the states.
Amaravati is a Theravada Buddhist monastery at the eastern end of the Chiltern Hills in South East England. Established in 1984 by Ajahn Sumedho as an extension of Chithurst Buddhist Monastery, the monastery has its roots in the Thai Forest Tradition. It takes inspiration from the teachings of the community's founder, the late Ajahn Chah. Its chief priorities are the training and support of a resident monastic community, and the facilitation for monastic and lay people alike of the practice of the Buddha's teachings.
Luang Por Sumedho or Ajahn Sumedho is one of the senior Western representatives of the Thai forest tradition of Theravada Buddhism. He was abbot of Amaravati Buddhist Monastery, UK, from its consecration in 1984 until his retirement in 2010. Luang Por means Venerable Father (หลวงพ่อ), an honorific and term of affection in keeping with Thai custom; ajahn means teacher. A bhikkhu since 1967, Sumedho is considered a seminal figure in the transmission of the Buddha's teachings to the West.
Ajahn Amaro is a Theravāda Buddhist monk and teacher, and abbot of the Amaravati Buddhist Monastery at the eastern end of the Chiltern Hills in South East England. The centre, in practice as much for ordinary people as for monastics, is inspired by the Thai Forest Tradition and the teachings of the late Ajahn Chah. Its chief priorities are the practice and teaching of Buddhist ethics, together with traditional concentration and insight meditation techniques, as an effective way of dissolving suffering.
Ajahn Candasiri is one of the Theravāda Buddhist monastics who co-founded Chithurst Buddhist Monastery in West Sussex, England, a branch monastery of the Ajahn Chah lineage. She is currently ordained as a ten-precept sīladhārā, the highest level that is allowed for women in the Thai Forest Tradition. She is one of the senior monastics in western Theravāda Buddhism and trained alongside women who later became fully ordained bhikkhunis and abbesses of monasteries.
The Sīladharā Order is a Theravada Buddhist female monastic order established by Ajahn Sumedho at Chithurst Buddhist Monastery, England. Its members are known as Sīladharās.
Bodhinyana is a Theravada Buddhist monastery in the Thai Forest Tradition located in Serpentine, about 60 minutes' drive south-east of Perth, Australia.
Hinduism is a minority religion in Slovenia. ISKCON was registered in Slovenia in 1983 and The Hindu Religious Community in Slovenia was registered in 2003 in Ljubljana
The Buddhist Congregation Dharmaling is a Buddhist organization, which main office is registered to the Office for religious communities of the Government of Slovenia. Buddhist Congregation Dharmaling is also signatory of an agreement with the State of Slovenia, and is as such the 6th religious community to have signed such agreement in Slovenia.
Cittaviveka, commonly known as Chithurst Buddhist Monastery, is an English Theravada Buddhist Monastery in the Thai Forest Tradition. It is situated in West Sussex, England in the hamlet of Chithurst between Midhurst and Petersfield. It was established in 1979 in accordance with the aims of the English Sangha Trust, a charity founded in 1956 to support the ordination and training of Buddhist monks (bhikkhus) in the West. The current abbot, since 2019, is Ajahn Ahimsako.
Buddhism in the United Kingdom has a small but growing number of adherents which, according to a Buddhist organisation, is mainly a result of conversion. In the UK census for 2011, there were about 247,743 people who registered their religion as Buddhism, and about 174,000 who cited religions other than Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, Jainism and Sikhism. This latter figure is likely to include some people who follow the traditional Chinese folk religion which also includes some elements of Buddhism.
Buddhism in England has growing support. 238,626 people in England declared themselves to be Buddhist at the 2011 Census and 34% of them lived in London.
Wat Pah Nanachat is a Thai Theravada Buddhist monastery in northeast Thailand about 15 kilometres from the city of Ubon Rachathani. It was established in 1975 by Ajahn Chah as a training community for non-Thais according to the norms of the Thai Forest Tradition. Resident monks, novices and postulants include a wide range of nationalities. The primary language of communication and instruction is English.
Aruna Ratanagiri Buddhist Monastery is a Theravada Buddhist monastery of the Thai Forest Tradition in Northumberland, England. The community consists of monks, novices and postulants from a wide range of nationalities, usually numbering around eight Sangha members. The monastery includes an adjacent lay retreat facility known as Kusala House.
Buddhism in Scotland is a relatively recent phenomenon. In Scotland Buddhists represent 0.24% of the population or around 13,000 people.
Samatha, "calm," "serenity," "tranquillity of awareness," and vipassanā, literally "special, super (vi-), seeing (-passanā)", are two qualities of the mind developed in tandem in Buddhist practice. In the Pali Canon and the Āgama they are not specific practices, but elements of "a single path," and "fulfilled" with the development (bhāvanā) of sati ("mindfulness") and jhana/dhyana ("meditation") and other path-factors. While jhana/dhyana has a central role in the Buddhist path, vipassanā is hardly mentioned separately, but mostly described along with samatha.
The Forest Tradition of Ajahn Chah is a Mahanikai monastic organization in the Thai Forest Tradition composed of the students of Ajahn Chah Subhaddo. Strictly speaking, the Forest Tradition of Ajahn Chah denotes the institutions who have a branch affiliation with Wat Pah Pong, the administrative center of the organization.
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