- Buddhism in Norway
- Haavard Lorentzen
There are not many Buddhists in Norway, a country
with 4.5 million inhabitants in the northern part of Europe. As a matter of fact, most
Buddhists are of Vietnamese descendance, there are also a few with Japanese, Chinese,
Korean, Tibetan, Thai and Cambodian background. And there are a few Norwegians too who
have caught interest in this fascinating religion, and the number has increased slowly
over the last couple of decades. It is difficult to estimate the total number of Buddhists
in my country, because the different ethnic groups (Vietnamese, Cambodians etc.) are
mostly organised separately. As for the Norwegian Buddhists only a few of them are
organised or attached to a special group, mainly in the capital, Oslo. Buddhists
throughout the country have to practice and study Buddhism on their own. In Oslo, however,
there is a Theravada society, as well as different Mahayana schools, like the Chan (Zen),
The Pure Land and also a small Tibetan monastery. So, a rough estimate of the total number
of Buddhists in Norway would probably number approximately 10,000 people or so.
The major religion of Norway is
Christianity, the Lutheran (or Protestant) branch being the far largest. Christianity has
been the dominant religion of my country for the last 900 years, the final change came
after a major battle in the year 1030 which ended the Viking age and also the belief in
the polytheistic Viking mythology where the major gods of worship were Odin (Wotan) and
Tor. This religion was also mixed up with aspects of animism, a few traces of which we can
still see in today’s Christmas celebration. Santa Claus being one, Originally Santa
Claus was an underground, mysterious and magical figure, living in the deep forests, and
he could both harm and be benevolent towards humans, dependent on whether he received food
offerings or not.
The second largest religion in Norway today
is Islam, which numbers approximately 100,000 people, almost all of them of Middle East,
Pakistan or North African origin. These people came to Norway during the 1970s as foreign
workers, and also as refugees. There are several mosques in Oslo.
The first people to introduce Buddhism in
Norway were, ironically, Christian missionaries who had worked in East Asia, mostly in
China. The missionaries had different attitudes towards other religions, many of them were
quite hostile towards Buddhism, Taoism etc., while others caught a serious interest in
these beliefs and advocated a tolerant and liberal attitude. Especially one person should
be mentioned, his name was Reichelt, and he spent most of his life in China before the
turn of the century. He spoke and read Chinese fluently, and translated several Buddhist
and Taoist texts into Norwegian, among them the Tao Te-ching. Reichelt never changed in
Christian belief, but he showed a tolerant and open minded attitude which deserves the
deepest respect.
There has also been a special interest for
Tibet in my country, mostly because Tibet also was a country where Norwegian missionaries
were active. After the Chinese occupation of the country, there has also been some
political support for Dalai Lamas struggle for independence, although leading Norwegian
politicians have been very reluctant to give him absolute support. When Dalai Lama visited
Oslo in 1988, none of the leading politicians were willing to meet him. The risk of losing
important economic contracts with China was probably the major reason for this cowardly
act, which arose a lot of harm among ordinary people. However Dalai Lama was awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize the year after.
As mentioned earlier, one of the first to
make Buddhism known in Norway, was a Christian missionary called Karl Ludvig Reichelt
(1877-1952). His lexical data are as follows:
He was educated a primary school teacher, later
he studied at the so-called Missionary School in Stavanger, and was sent out to do service
in Ninsiang, Hunan province, China, in 1902. He stayed there for eight years, then he made
further studies in Leipzeg, Germany, before going back to China as a teacher at the
Lutheran Mission School, near Hankow. During a stay in Norway between 1920-22, he put
forward plans for missionary work among Chinese Buddhist monks, based on other principles
than those which had been used among Christian missionaries earlier. His main concern was
based on a recognition of the religious values found in Buddhism, and he also wanted to
integrate these values, together with rituals and concepts familiar to the Chinese, with
the basic ideas found in the Christian religion. His employers in Norway could not accept
these new ideas. Reinchelt therefore founded a new missionary institution based on his own
principles in 1922. The center of Reinchelt’s mission was established in 1929. It was
called Tao Fong Shan, located near Hong Kong.
Reichelt spent most of his life in China,
and wrote several books in Chinese, among others an introduction to The New Testament.
Besides, he wrote several books about the religious life in Eastern Asia. The most
important are the following: Kinas religioner (The Religions of China) 1913, Fra
Ostens religiose liv (From the Religious Life of the East) 1922, Det rene land (The
Pure Land) 1928, Mot Tibets grenser (Towards the Borders of Tibet) 1933,
Fromhetstyper og helligdommer I Ost Asia (Piety and Holiness in Eastern Asia)
1947-49. (The titles given in English here, are direct translations of the Norwegian
titles. Many of Reichelts books are translated into English and German, the titles of
these editions may be different from those found in this article). In 1948 his book Laotse
was published, this book included a translation of the Tao Te-ching. In a foreword to this
book, the Norwegian professor Henry Henne writes: "First of all, Reichelt was a
missionary. But he always kept an open mind. In a period when many of his contemporary’s
looked down upon the traditions and the cultures of China, he himself felt a deep
admiration for the people, the language and the country..(…). The study of the
religious rituals and the texts, occupied much of his time. Through these studies, he
achieved first hand knowledge about the literary sources, as well as the religious
practices among both monks and lay people..(…). The deeper understanding achieved in
this way, gave him the opportunity to see the tremendous religious and philosophical
values found in Buddhism, as well as in newer and older forms of Taoism."
In 1947, one of Reichelts relatives, Gerhard M.
Reichelt, translated and wrote an introduction to Hui Neng’s The Sixth Patriarch
(Chinese: Lu-tsu Fa-pao-t’an-ching), as you know, the only Chinese Buddhist text
given the honorable title of sutra. Together with D.T. Suzukis books, this was a major
contribution to make ch’an Buddhism known in Scandinavia.
Other Scandinavians should also be mentioned
here, first of all, the Danish scholar Poul Tuxen, who translated and commented on several
major Buddhist texts. A new translation of the Dhammapada has recently been published in
Denmark by Chr, Lindtner, a scholar also responsible for the translation of several of
Nagarjunas texts (Ratnavali, Yuktisastika, Niraupamyastava, Paramarthastava), thus making
the teachings of the Madhyamaka school available in a Scandinavian language.
However, as Norwegian (as well as other
Scandinavian languages) are spoken and read by rather few people, the majority of Buddhist
texts will have to be read in English translations. As most Scandinavians speak and read
English quite well, the major texts of Buddhism are made available through these
translations. English has definitely become the language of Buddhism in the West.
Knowledge of Buddhism in Norway today is
mostly channeled through the Secondary School System. A brief introduction to Buddhism is
given alongside with other major religions like Islam, Hinduism, Taoism, Confucianism,
Shinto, Judaism and Christianity. As a teacher in these subjects for many years, I have
noticed two different attitudes towards Buddhism among my students. One group finds it too
abstract, too pessimistic and a bit peculiar, while others are catching a serious interest
in the philosophical aspects of Buddhism. When I meet old students after many years and
start to talk to them, surprisingly many say that they have been thinking about the
lessons on Buddhism, they have borrowed books about the subject in the libraries, and a
few of them have also started to study Buddhism at University level. All the four
Universities in Norway offers the opportunity to study world religions, and after a basic
course, the students may specialise in one particular religion.
Like most other Western Countries, Norway
has experienced a period when religion, philosophy and belief have lost much of its
previous influence, but this development seems now to have come to a final end. There is a
limit for material wealth too, and quite many young people start to look for deeper moral
and philosophical values as fundaments in their lives. In this new development, Buddhism
will play a major role.
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