Country Experiencing a Buddhist "Boom"

June 9, 2004

Source: Deutsche Welle

http://www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1441_A_1231623_1_A,00.html

On June 9, 2004 Deutsche Welle reported, "Increasing numbers of Germans are switching off their worries along with their mobile phones and immersing themselves in [the] Buddha's teachings...Around a hundred Germans, among them doctors, architects and harried advertising executives, arrive at [Hamburg's Buddhist Center], take off their shoes, switch off their mobile phones and settle down on cushions arranged on the floor of a large light-filled room to meditate. The atmosphere is relaxed, some hold rosaries in their hands, others look expectantly at pictures of the Buddha on the wall. 'We're reflecting about cause and effect, about the fact that we decide ourselves what happens in our lives,' 43-year-old Juliane, who leads the meditation, told the news agency dpa. Juliane said that many who came to the center were disappointed by Christianity but were still looking for a sense in life. 'They realize that making money and consuming things isn't everything,' she said...The Hamburg center, which follows the teachings of 63-year-old Danish Buddhist leader and former boxer Ole Nydahl, is just one among several Buddhism centers that have cropped up in the country in recent years. Books both by the Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhism's spiritual leader, and by other Buddhists on topics ranging from healthy living to making money are turning up on bestseller lists. Even the country's sensationalistic tabloid Bild recently featured sayings by the Dalai Lama in its headlines. The eastern religion is enjoying an unprecedented boom in Germany."