Buddhism here and now: is Spain on the Nirvana trail?

Abstract

Since the 1960s, the number of sympathisers and converts to Buddhism in Europe has grown steadily year on year. Spain is not an exception, although little is known about this phenomenon. The purpose of this article is to describe the sectors of society that are adopting characteristic Buddhist values, such as nirvana, reincarnation, karma and the belief in a high instead of a personal God (Prebish & Keown, 2010). This study is a preliminary approach to the possible expansion of Buddhist philosophy in Spain. In doing so, two avenues are explored: on the one hand, the profile that is widely accepted in the literature on the subject that states that people interested in Buddhism in Western contexts are well-educated, with middle-class backgrounds and left-wing political views. On the other, the religious profile of those surveyed is taken into account, defined by the level of public and private practice of religion, in addition to the degree of secularisation with respect to religious institutions. In order to study this issue for the Spanish case, data from the survey «2008 Religion III» (provided by the International Social Survey Program, ISSP) is used.
The main findings, obtained via multiple regression procedures, highlight that the adoption of Buddhist values is often marked by elitist characteristics in as much as it attracts middle- to upper-class individuals who are well-educated. In general, people who align themselves with Buddhist philosophy also reject traditional religious institutions.

Keywords: Buddhism, social class, religion, values, distinction.