About Swedish Buddhist Community

The Swedish Buddhist Community is a registered national faith community which is the umbrella organisation for a number of Buddhist communities in Sweden. Each member organisation retains its distinctive and independent activity with Buddhist teachings and practices common to all.

The aims of SBC are to:

• Promote Buddhist principles and ways of life in theory and practice based on the Buddha’s teachings of the Three Jewels, the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path.
• Support the development of Buddhist activities in Sweden.
• Promote peaceful coexistence between people from different cultural and religious backgrounds.
• Promote and support the work against all forms of racism and other forms of discrimination as well as violence and brutality.
• Promote the equal value and basic democratic values of all people, and equality between men and women.
• Promote and support work for sustainable environment.
• In general, promote increased humaneness in Sweden and the rest of the world.
SBC currently has 24 Buddhist member organisations, collectively serving more than 11 000 registered individuals.

The main activities of SBC are coordinating Buddhist spiritual care in Swedish hospitals and crisis management. When required, our coordinators arrange for spiritual support from Buddhist monks and other representatives of our member organisations. They also visit hospitals and local Buddhist communities, and organize seminars for Buddhist representatives and hospital staff. SBC has published a booklet about Buddhism and Buddhist views related to health, sickness and death. It also explains various practices and customs specific to Buddhist spiritual care. During the Covid-19 crisis, SBC is coordinating the various efforts of Buddhist communities in cooperation with various relevant government agencies on the national, regional and local levels.

Spiritual care in prisons is in development in cooperation with The Swedish Prison and Probation Service. The purpose is to provide spiritual support to inmates, through visits from ordained Sangha who can offer personal guidance, arrange sessions for reflection and meditation and spread Buddhist books.

SBC works closely with the Swedish Agency for Support to Faith Communities to administer various different state grants and also in relation to other kinds of cooperation.
SBC also sends delegates to interfaith consultations and networking in other institutions, including the Government’s Council for Contact with Faith Communities, the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, the Swedish Migration Office, and the Swedish Interreligious Council. SBC representatives also participate in several local interreligious networks with a variety of activities. One of the main aims is to counteract the increasing xenophobia and different expressions of violence and extremism in society. Other areas of interest are education and environmental sustainability. SBC has also entered into cooperation concerning Buddhist matters with the Royal Thai Ambassy in Stockholm. SBC is a member of the European Buddhist Union.

During the Corona pandemic all these contacts are very valuable for working together to cope with all the challenges connected to the crisis.

Contact:
Mrs. Trudy Fredriksson, Chairwoman
c/o Fredriksson, Kanslivägen 32, 1003
146 37 Tullinge – Sweden
kontakt@sverigesbuddhister.se