European Buddhist Union holds its 2022 Gathering
Gabriele and David
Rigpa is an active member of Buddhist unions around the world. One of these is the European Buddhist Union (EBU). Gabriele Maass (Germany) and David Rycroft (UK/France) recently represented Rigpa at the 2022 EBU annual meeting. Here they tell us more about the role and current initiatives led by this collaboration of Buddhist communities.
What is the European Buddhist Union
Founded in 1975, the European Buddhist Union (EBU) brings together around 50 Buddhist groups from all over Europe. Their mission is to:
facilitate international exchange and promote spiritual friendship amongst European Buddhists,
to support social action and ideas motivated by Buddhist values, and
to amplify the voice of Buddhism in Europe and worldwide.
2022 Annual Meeting
In September, the 47th EBU annual gathering took place over three days in Paris at Fo Guang Shan, France, a large Taiwanese temple near Disneyland. Together with around 30 participants, Gabriele Maaß and David Rycroft represented the Rigpa community. Most of the programme involved individuals presenting their current dharma projects to the wider group. For example, Rigpa Senior Teacher Dominique Side joined by Zoom to present the ‘Windows into Buddhism’ website of resources for school teachers.
One session of the gathering was dedicated to the Annual General Meeting, where the main subject was reporting on the movement of the EBU’s seat from Paris to Brussels. Also, as a consequence of a recent European documentary by Arté about abuse in Buddhism, the EBU’s statement on abuse was revised and refreshed. There was also plenty of time for ‘networking’ and getting to know practitioners and holders of other Buddhist traditions.
Current EBU Strategy
Over the last five years the EBU has shifted its activity significantly to become more project-orientated. In 2021 each member of the EBU committed to actively supporting and advancing the EBU mission. Each member organisation is asked to participate in activity and/or use the EBU platform to make a specific project more visible. The EBU has been recognised as a valuable interlocutor with regard to Buddhist matters. You can read more in the full annual activity report (in English) (September 2022).
Rigpa & European Buddhist Union
Rigpa students are currently involved in two EBU projects:
Windows into Buddhism - original and interesting resources on Buddhism for school teachers: Dominique Side and Amalée Rycroft have launched a website that gathers and provides practical and reliable resources for school teachers teaching students about Buddhism and its values in English.
Buddhist Chaplaincy: A network with seasoned chaplains formed in January 2022. This project was presented to participants by Dario, an Italian Zen Buddhist who is very active in the EBU. One of their aims is to create accredited training that is fully recognised in each of the diverse national locations. Rigpa teacher Kirsten Deleo is involved in this project. To know more, read the article in the Spring edition of the European Buddhist Magazine (in English) (page 44).
Other EBU projects include:
The Eco dharma network that has contributed a very interesting One Earth Sangha website, where you even find EcoSattva Vows.
For Safer and Stronger Communities in Europe (SASCE): The EBU received significant European Union funding to create a network of people taking care of crisis management and security for their communities.
Italian Buddhist Union [UBI] has just agreed to fund an EBU project on promoting Buddhist values in a secular way in schools. Mind With Heart (led by Rigpa members Fiona Clarke & David Rycroft) have a strong interest in being involved in this EBU project.
European Rainbow Sangha, where each of our websites could easily state with displaying this sign, that they enter a safe space for LGBTQIA+
For more information, see the EBU’s annual report
Gabriele Maass was the National Director of Rigpa Germany from 2010-2021 and continues to be actively involved in a range of international initiatives in Rigpa. She has been Rigpa’s representative in the European Buddhist Union for the last 5 years.
David Rycroft taught art in London for ten years. He is a co-founder of both Rigpé Yeshé and Mind With Heart. As a Rigpa teacher, one of his recent projects is devising and running ‘Art & Meditation’ retreats.
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