Buddhism in England

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Buddhism is quite a recent religion to arrive in England. Despite this, 238,626 people in England declared themselves to be Buddhist at the 2011 Census and 34% of them lived in London.^[1]

History

Theravada influences grew in England during the early twentieth century. A few of the significant events were the foundation of London’s Buddhist Society in 1924 and the Theravada London Buddhist Vihara in Chiswick in 1926. Anagarika Dharmapala (1864-1933), the founder of Mahā Bodhi Society (f. 1891), was instrumental in presenting Buddhism as a living monastic tradition to the UK.^[2] Return of Ananda Metteyya to England on 23 April 1908 after travels in Ceylon and monk ordination in Burma was another significant milestone in the legacy of British Buddhism. A slow trickle from England travelled to Asia to take monastic ordination, mainly as Theravadin monks. Kapilavaddho Bhikkhu introduced the Dhammakaya tradition to the UK in 1954 in this way and founded the English Sangha Trust in 1955. A few Asian monks came to live in England.

In 1967, Englishman Sangharakshita (1925-), who had spent time in the east as a Theravadin monk founded the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order (later renamed Triratna Buddhist Community), the first home-grown Buddhist movement. He was followed by other westerners who had studied in the East, and by Eastern teachers, particularly refugee Tibetan Lamas, and under the influence of these teachers a large and diverse British Buddhist world has emerged.

The Manjushri Kadampa Buddhist Centre^[3] in Conishead Priory located just outside Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria is a large New Kadampa Tradition Tibetan Buddhist centre. The priory established by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso in 1975 claims to be 'the mother centre from which around 1100 Kadampa Buddhist centres have been set up worldwide'.^[4]

A Theravada monastery consisting mainly of Westerners following the Thai Forest Tradition of Ajahn Chah was established at Chithurst Buddhist Monastery in Sussex, and has established branches elsewhere in the country. A lay meditation tradition of Thai origin is represented by the Samatha Trust, with its headquarters cum retreat centre in Wales. Sōtō Zen has a priory at Throssel Hole Buddhist Abbey in Northumberland.

There are now many Buddhist groups in England, to name a few from the Tibetan Tradition there are Sanghas of: Rigpa,^[5] Karma Kagyu,^[6] Dechen,^[7] Diamond Way Buddhism^[8] and Aro gTér^[9]

The district with the highest proportion of Buddhists at the 2011 Census was Rushmoor in Hampshire, with 3.3% of respondents identifying as Buddhist, this is mainly due to the area's (specifically Aldershot) historic ties with the Gurkha regiment.^[10] The Dalai Lama visited Aldershot in both 2010 and 2015^[11]

See also

• Buddhism in Scotland
• Buddhism in Wales
• Buddhism in the United Kingdom

References