Buddhism is the fourth largest religion in the world, being exceeded in numbers only by Christianity, Islam and Hinduism. It was founded in Northern India by the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama (born circa 563 BCE).

Buddhism is not a single monolithic religion. There are now three main systems of thought within Buddhism which are geographically and philosophically separate. These are: Southern Buddhism (known as Therevada Buddhism), which has 100 million followers, mainly in Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka and Thailand, and parts of Vietnam; Eastern Buddhism, the predominant religion in China, Japan, Korea and much of Vietnam; and Northern Buddhism, with perhaps 10 million adherents in parts of China, Mongolia, Russia and Tibet.

In the West, Southern Buddhism became established in Europe early in the 20th century. Buddhism came to the U.S. in the early 19th century, with the arrival of Chinese and Japanese immigrants in Hawaii and in the west coast of the U.S. mainland. The Zen Buddhist tradition of Eastern Buddhism has developed a large following, particularly after the "Beat" generation, which began in the 1950s. Today, there are racial and cultural divides in American Buddhism, between nationalities of new immigrants, and between whites and Asians. They exist largely as two solitudes, with little interaction.

Canadian Buddhists totaled 163,415 in the 1991 census. There are nine Buddhist groups in the Winnipeg area.

For more information, see Buddhism in Canada at http://buddhismcanada.com/index.html