The committee will probably change the name of OVBF in the near future because 1) Viken county will be dissolved, because 2) the society’s focus should perhaps be national, and 3) because we want to change the name before starting larger long-term projects – including raising financial support internationally.

Go to this website (Norwegian language only) – vote for your favorite name, suggest a new name or leave a comment. Or use our member group in Telegram.

From the member survey, we have received the following suggestions:

• Norges Buddhistforening
• Stor-Oslo Buddhistforening
• Oslo og Omegn Buddhist Forening
• Øst-Norsk Buddhistforening
• Oslo og Akershus Buddhistforening (OABF)
• Karuna Buddhistforening

And these comments:

• Preferably a name that tells what we stand for (are) and where the “head office” is located.
• Perhaps avoid very local names to getting more members throughout the country.
• It is not necessary to change the name. The name will only get better more and more curious as the years go by. Viken is not just a county name, but a historical name that goes all the way back to the Viking Age, and which in different periods has covered different areas around the Oslo Fjord.
• Or something not related to place. A more neutral name? Something that says a bit about which “branch” of Buddhism the society promotes?
• Universal friendship, together in friendship, sympathy and peace of mind