Buddhism in Europe

So in recent months an idea kicking around in my head has been a group of East Asian Buddhists over the course of several centuries making their way to Europe where they set up a monastic society in the Alps, preserving in many aspects their culture. While that idea specifically is VERY unrealistic, one thing that I have always been interested in is whether or not Buddhism in any form can make its way to Europe.

I don't mean becoming the dominant faith. Far from it. Instead, have a sizable portion (Say 5-10%) or even an entire country adopting the faith formally or informally. What are the odds of this happening? Where is this most likely to happen? When is it most likely to happen?
 
There is already a Buddhist people and corresponding polity in Europe: The Kalmyks.

As you might expect, they're Oirats who migrated west from Dzungaria and landed in the North Caspian region. Today they're an autonomous republic of Russia.
 
Fascinating. I did not know about the Kalmyks.

However, I was more wondering about Central and possibly even Southern or Western Europe?
 
Unlikely. Besides it being far too far out of the way, there is the subject of if they would provide their own food. There are many strains of Buddhism of course, and it is unlikely the South East Asian and East Asian versions would reach Europe, but if you go by the Tibetan model you will need some peasants. So they will be like Christian monks, but without the (at least early) focus on good works and self sufficiency. Though loads of the monasteries had massive swathes of land and a percentage of church tithes to keep themselves going, but things varied over the years. More importantly is how long a monastery would last if they had no children.
 
I mean, maybe if you had super-Mongols slice straight through Europe? But OTL was a massive rollicking Mongol-wank as it is.

Odds are good that Buddhism arrives much as it does OTL: Via a Mongolic nomad group migrating west and getting sucked into the gigantic demographic blender that is the North Caucasus and the western Pontic Steppe. You could plop some bigger analogue to the Kalmyks somewhere in that region, sure.
 
Does Christendom have to exist? Because there's this TL that seems to be heading towards Buddhism in Europe, albeit one heavily infused with Zoroastrianism and Greek philosophy like East Asian Buddhism is infused with Chinese religion. :p
 
So in recent months an idea kicking around in my head has been a group of East Asian Buddhists over the course of several centuries making their way to Europe where they set up a monastic society in the Alps, preserving in many aspects their culture. While that idea specifically is VERY unrealistic, one thing that I have always been interested in is whether or not Buddhism in any form can make its way to Europe.

I don't mean becoming the dominant faith. Far from it. Instead, have a sizable portion (Say 5-10%) or even an entire country adopting the faith formally or informally. What are the odds of this happening? Where is this most likely to happen? When is it most likely to happen?

When is it most likely to happen? Possibly in the future, where Buddhism could take off to that degree. Or maybe instead in an alt-20th century. I don't think it would be much more than 5-10%. Either way, I think it would be from mass immigration of a primarily Buddhist population alongside Westerners taking up Buddhism.

But aside from that, maybe it could be transmitted by the Mongol Empire during the invasion of Europe? A wholly Buddhist state is unlikely to emerge, or last for very long (they'll be forced to convert before long), but the corresponding Buddhists and their converts (probably speaking Tatar or Cuman) might make up a decent fraction of the people and survive as a distinct ethno-religious group. Look at the Lipka Tatars for the Muslim example of this.

Hungary, Romania, or Poland is the best place for this. I think Transylvania might be the best place, where a Buddhist Turko-Mongolic ethnic group could migrate into the hills and effectively co-exist with the Orthodox and Catholic (and Jewish) populations. A worse depopulation of Transylvania during the Mongol Invasions would be the way you'd get this situation to emerge. Thus, I think that Buddhists could comprise maybe 10-15% of Transylvania's population, if not more. They'd be an important minority group in whichever state controls Transylvania.
 
I guess you could have Emperor Ashoka launch more missionaries west. Or, you could have King Menander of Bactria successfully conquer India (he seems to have been able to even raid the city of Pataliputra at one point - far east from Bactria) and then this more powerful Bactria could send missionaries west.
 
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