BUDDHISM IN GERMANY
Martin H. Petrich
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Rudolf Doering is a Zenpriest. He lives with
his Japanese wife and his three children in his Buddhist temple in
Dinkelscherben, a village in the Southern part of Germany. Everyday he
practices meditation and recites the sutras. Several times a month he conducts
some meditation-courses, called Sesshin. Born as a Catholic he found the way to
Buddhism about ten years ago, when he traveled to Asia. Zazen (sitting
meditation) became for him more meaningful than to attend religious services on
Sunday. After he met his Japanese Zen-master Hozumi Gensho Roshi in Japan, it
became clear for him: he wanted to become Buddhist. For many years he devoted
his time for meditation and in 1991 he was ordained as priest in Japan and
received the Buddhist name Dorin Genpo. Currently he teaches interested people
Zen-meditation and gives regularly Dhaka-talks.
His story is not a unique one. In recent
years Buddhism became very popular in Germany. More and more people find their
way to Buddhism. Some even become monk or nun, others practice as laymen. But
the history of Buddhism in Germany is still very young. The 19th century can be
seen as the time, in which Buddhism entered Europe. Through reports of traveler
and colonial officer people in Europe learned about this foreign religion. In
Germany intellectuals and artists were the first one, who took interest in
Buddhism. This is not surprising: Germany is known as the country of great
poets and philosopher. Philosophers like Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche or poets like
Goethe, Schiller and Hesse are admired all over the world. The philosopher
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) was so much attracted by the Buddhist
philosophy, that he began to study the then available Buddhist scriptures.
Already in 1879 Friedrich Max Mueller (1823-1900) published the "Sacred
Books of the Buddhists" in English. He was one of the founder of the
London based Pali Text Society (PTS) in 1881. The German translation of the
main parts of the Pali Canon was done by the Austrian Karl-Friedrich Neumann
(1865-1915). Another German, Hermann Oldenberg (1854-1920) wrote a biography of
Gautama Buddha in the year 1881. His book is still one of the outstanding
studies about the life of Buddha. Through those publications and German
translations of Buddhist scriptures more and more people got knowledge about
Buddhism. Many young people found their way to Buddhism through the works of
the famous poet Hermann Hesse (1877-1962). After giving up his studies in
Protestant theology he came in contact with Indian philosophy and Buddhism and
was very influenced by its thinking. Hesse got in touch with Asian cultures
through a three-month-journey to Sri Lanka and Indonesia in the year 1911. His
book ‘Siddhartha’, published in 1922, and many other writings became so much
popular all over the world that they were translated even in many Asian
languages (including Vietnamese).
But only to study Buddhist philosophy was
for some Germans not enough. They wanted to organize themselves in Buddhist
communities in order to practice Buddhism and to promote Buddhist teaching. In
1903 Karl Seidenstucker (1876-1936) founded the first German Buddhist
organisation in Leipzig, called "The Buddhist Mission in Germany" and
published in magazine, ‘The Buddhist’. In the same year another German, Anton
W.F. Gueth (1878-1957), entered the Buddhist Sangha as the first German Novize
in Rangoon (Burma). He became well known under his Buddhist name Nyanatiloka.
Numerous Buddhist scriptures were translated into German (among others the
famous Visuddhimagga) by him. In 1991 he found a monastery, the socalled
‘Island Hermitage’ in Sri Lanka, and attracted many Western disciples. Even
today the Island Hermitage remains as a popular place for western Buddhists,
willing to live as Buddhist monks and nuns in monastery. In Germany, further
Buddhist groups were found in the years after the first World War. The medical
doctor Paul Dahlke (1865-1928) established in 1924 the Buddhist house in
Berlin-Frohnau, which became the center of German Buddhism. In his lectures,
which attracted numerous people, he tried to explain the anatta-doctrin in a
modern scientific way and called his Buddhism ‘Neobuddhism’. Today the Buddhist
house is owned by a Buddhist organisation from Sri Lanka and some Singhalese
monks are living constantly there. Another Buddhist community was found in 1921
by Georg Grimm (1868-1945) in Munich. He rejected Dahlkes way of Gautama Buddha
within the Pali-canon in order to find out what Gautama Buddha really taught.
He called his way "Ancient Buddhism" and rejected all traditional
schools, since all of them misinterpreted according to him Buddha’s original
teachings.
German Buddhism was in the beginning mainly
dominated by Theravada-Buddhism. Japanese Zen-Buddhism became known only after
the World War II. Several Japanese Zen-influenced philosopher were attracted by
the philosophy of Martin Heidegger, some of them even studied under him at the
University of Freiburg, e.g. Tanabe Hajime. Heideggers interpretation of
nothingness was compared with the Mahayana-Buddhist teaching of emptiness.
Hisamatsu Shin’ichi and especially D.T Suzuki through his numerous publications
introduced Zen-Buddhism to a broader auditorium. From the sixties onwards
Zen-Buddhist groups spread all over the country. After the time of intellectual
reception of Buddhism, meditation-practice became more and more the center of
interest. Several Japanese Zen-master visited Germany and other European
countries regularly in order to conduct meditation-courses, a few even settled
down, e.g. Taisen Deshimaru Roshi in France.
In 1962 only 2000 Buddhists were registered
in the 1955 founded German Buddhist Union (DBU), the umbrella organisation of
today more than 30 German Buddhist groups. Now, there are altogether some 70000
Buddhists living in Germany (with a population of about 80 million), both Asian
migrants (about 40000 Buddhists) and native Germans. All the big Buddhist
branches are represented: Theravada-Buddhism, Mahayana-Buddhism and an
impressive number of followers of the Tibetan tradition (Vajrayana). Although
the number of Buddhist followers is still small, Buddhism is very popular.
Bookstores are full with Buddhist literature and the interest in meditation
practice is very high. But compared with the centerfold tradition in Vietnam
and other Asian countries, Buddhism is still at the beginning in Germany. There
is not a German Buddhism, yet (like Vietnamese Buddhism) and there is a lack of
qualified Buddhist teacher. Rather there are several Asian Buddhist traditions
practiced in Germany. But there is also a chance. While in Asian Theravada –
and Mahayana-Buddhism are strictly separated (except in Vietnam), in the West
the different traditions can come in contact with each other and exchange their
knowledge and different approaches. At present Buddhist studies are unfortunately
not accepted at the German Universities, unlike Christian studies are. While in
Asia mainly ordained monks and nuns are teaching the Dhamma, in the West there
are also many lay-followers (women and men) among the teacher. But due to the
fact that more and more migrants settle down in Germany, the country becomes
also more multi-religious. More than two million Muslims are already living in
the country and the number of Buddhists, too is increasing. So we can be
hopeful, that in Germany the Lotus flower will have bright blossoms in the
future.
MARTIN H. PETRICH
Source: quangduc.com