Buddhism in Hungary

Route travelled by Körösi Csoma

The ancient religion of Hungarian tribes was shamanism, but presumably some had come across Buddhism during their westward migration and some of them had probably adopted Buddhism as their religion.[5] Due to the religious tolerance of Buddhism it was possible to practice two or more traditions at the same time, as was the case for Tibetan and Mongolian tribes. In the 15th century a Geleotti, humanist philosopher, fleeing the inquisition, found refuge at the court of Matthias Corvinus, king of Hungary. Galeotti called the Buddha an "Indian sage" and he thought that the capital of the country, Buda was named after him.

Sándor Kőrösi Csoma, in the hope of finding the ancient homeland of the Hungarians, wanted to travel to India via Afghanistan, and further on to Mongolia via Tibet. Eventually he reached Ladakh in Northern India. During this period at Zanskar — Csoma was the first European to visit the valley — he was immersed in an intense sixteen-month study of the Tibetan language and the Indo-Tibetan Buddhism at the core of its literature, with a local lama, Sangs-rgyas-phun-tshogs. He was one of the first Europeans to master the Tibetan language and read two of the great encyclopaedias of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist literature, the Kangyur (100 volumes) and the bsTan-'gyur (224 volumes), which contained translations of Buddhist books brought from India.[6] Kőrösi Csoma was given the title of bodhisattva in Tokyo in 1933 at the Taishyo Buddhist University as Csoma Bosatsu.[7][8]

Buddhism appeared first in Hungary in the end of the 1890s, when József Hollósy, brother of painter Simon Hollósy, took refuge and wrote Buddhista Káté (1893).

László Mednyánszky was working on the sketches of the Arrival of the Hungarians, painting of Árpád Feszty, in Máramarossziget. József Hollósy lead a Buddhist circle which became a great influence for Mednyánszky. As a result, he dedicated the rest of his life to Buddhism. Mednyánszky was the first Hungarian artist to represent Buddhism with his choice of colours and themes.[9] There was another Buddhist community in Budapest between 1931 and 1935. The main figures were László Vágó wholesaler and Tibor Boromisza painter. Their seals represented Buddha under a székely gate (ornate door) surrounded by an epigraph: „Magyar Buddhisták” (Hungarian Buddhists).[10]

Writer Géza Gárdonyi also believed in reincarnation and there was a time when he wanted to convert to Buddhism.[11][12]

The first official Sangha in Hungary was founded in 1951-ben by Ernő Hetényi who was ordained in Germany in 1938. The actual date of the foundation of the Hungarian Buddhist Mission is 18 February 1952.[13] Arya Maitreya Mandala German Buddhist order was founded by Lama Anagarika Govinda, German traveller, philosopher, painter, and poet. This order belongs to Mahayana and its rites follow the Tibetan tradition. Ernő Hetényi was the third person who graduated from this order. In 1956 the Buddhist Mission was declared Eastern European centre to promote Buddhism in the neighbouring countries. The mission aimed at representing all Buddhist schools without partiality. The foundation of Kőrösi Csoma Sándor International Buddhology Institute in Berlin was aimed to achieve the same goal. During his eastern travels Hetényi visited monasteries in India, Mongolia, Buryatia, and Laos. He received empowerment from Tibetan and Mongolian lamas and in 1982 he was blessed by the 14th Dalai Lama whom he met three times.

In 1990, due to several issues, the Kőrösi Csoma Sándor Institute was closed, but later, two great historical figures of Hungarian Buddhism, Dobosy Antal and Takács László, reorganised and reopened it. After this Buddhist orders and schools were open throughout the country. The sudden liberty and the large number of institutions also involved some degree of drop in quality. New books appeared which were mainly translations from English. A large part of the works of Sándor Kőrösi Csoma remain untranslated to this day.

The first official broadcast of Buddha FM radio, the first Buddhist on-line radio channel of Hungary, was at 6 am on 22 September 2014.[30][31] Founders of the radio are all the Hungarian Buddhist communities, members, students, and teachers of the Dharma Gate Buddhist College.[32]

• Dharma Gate Buddhist Church (1991) – a unity of five Buddhist communities
• Dharma Gate Buddhist College (1991)[4]
• Đại Bi tự (大悲寺, 2018)

• Vipassana Hungary[33]
• Buddhist Vipassana Party[34]

• Diamond way Buddhist Community – Láma Ole Nydahl[35]
• Dharmaling Hungarian Tibetan Buddhist Community (1989) – Shenphen Rinpoche Lama[36]
• Kamala Buddhist Community (2003)[37] – Shamar Rinpoche
• Khyenkong Karma Tharjay Buddhist Community (2007)
• Hungarian Árya Maitreya Mandala Community – Buddhist Mission[38]
• Hungarian Dzogcsen Community (2012)[39]
• Hungarian Karma-Kagyüpa Buddhist Community, Karma Ratna Dargye Ling (1987)[40]
• Hungarian Nyingmapa Community (1991)
• Mahá Maitrí Buddhist Community and Consultation Service
• Maitreya Buddhist Martian Art Association Non-profit Unity (1992)[41]
• Mantra Hungarian Buddhist Church – Nepal-Bhutan Buddhist Drukpa Kagyü community[42]
• Sakya Tashi Chöling Buddhist Community (1986)[43]
• Sangye Menlai Gedün, Healing Buddha Community
• Part To Help Tibet – Shambhala Tibet Centre (1994)[44]

• One Drop Sanhga Hungary (2000)[45] – Japanese Zen
• Kvan Um Zen Hungary (1989)[46] – Korean Zen
• Original Light Zen Community and Church(2011)[47] – Korean Zen
• Hungarian Chinese Chan Buddhist Church (2003) – Chinese Zen (Chan)
• Mokusho Zen House – Taisendji Temple (2002) – Japanese Zen
• Dharma Gate Zen Community (1992)[48] – Korean Zen