Czech Republic

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The mixture of Ancestor Worship, Confucianism, Taoism and foremost Mahayana Buddhism is the predominant religion of Vietnamese people (about 2/3 to 3/4 of total Buddhist numbers in the Czech Republic) and they are also the biggest Asian community in the Czech Republic (estimate over 45,000 in the 2007 estimate).

Vietnamese people live mostly in cities as Prague and Cheb. The Czech Republic’s first Vietnamese style temple, Thien An Buddhist pagoda, opened in January 2008 in the northern Czech province of Varnsdorf. The pagoda, which was completed in September 2007, will also serve as a Vietnamese culture and language teaching centre for the Czech Vietnamese community.

Remains of Buddhists including a small number of Chinese people and a significant moderate number of Czechs have converted to Tibetan Buddhism (Vajrayana) or Theravada Buddhism mostly. The growing number of Vajrayana (or Diamond way) practitioners centered mainly in Nyingma and Kagyu schools, Karma Kagyu having about 50 centers and meditation groups.

About 0.5% of Czech Republic's population is Buddhist.

See also