London Buddhist Vihara
The London Buddhist Vihara ( Sinhala:ලන්ඩන් බෞද්ධ විහාරය ''Landan Bauddha Viharaya'') is one of the main Theravada Buddhist temples in the United Kingdom. The Vihara was the first Sri Lankan Buddhist monastery to be established outside Asia. Established in 1926, the Vihara is managed by the Anagarika Dharmapala Trust in Colombo. The current chief bhikkhu of the Vihara is Ven Bogoda Seelawimala Nayaka Thera, who is also the Chief Sangha Nayaka of Great Britain. The Vihara building, Grade II listed, was the social club for the Bedford Park garden suburb until 1939. The building was designed by Norman Shaw; the interior, now much modified, was by Edward John May. History The London Buddhist Vihara was founded in 1926 by Anagarika Dharmapala. One of the temple's main benefactors during its early days was Mary Foster, who financed ‘Foster House’ in Ealing. This was the first Sri Lankan Buddhist temple established outside Asia and was named t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bedford Park, London
Bedford Park is a suburban development in Chiswick, London, begun in 1875 under the direction of Jonathan Carr, with many large houses in British Queen Anne Revival style by Norman Shaw and other leading Victorian era architects including Edward William Godwin, Edward John May, Henry Wilson, and Maurice Bingham Adams. Its architecture is characterised by red brick with an eclectic mixture of features, such as tile-hung walls, gables in varying shapes, balconies, bay windows, terracotta and rubbed brick decorations, pediments, elaborate chimneys, and balustrades painted white. The estate's main roads converge on its public buildings, namely its church, St Michael and All Angels; its club, now the London Buddhist Vihara; its inn, The Tabard, and next door its shop, the Bedford Park Stores; and its Chiswick School of Art, now replaced by the Arts Educational Schools. Bedford Park has been described as the world's first garden suburb, creating a model of apparent informality ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Royal Borough Of Kensington And Chelsea
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is an Inner London borough with royal status. It is the smallest borough in London and the second smallest district in England; it is one of the most densely populated administrative regions in the United Kingdom. It includes affluent areas such as Notting Hill, Kensington, South Kensington, Chelsea, and Knightsbridge. The borough is immediately west of the City of Westminster and east of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. It contains major museums and universities in Albertopolis, department stores such as Harrods, Peter Jones and Harvey Nichols, and embassies in Belgravia, Knightsbridge and Kensington Gardens. The borough is home to the Notting Hill Carnival, Europe's largest, and contains many of the most expensive residential properties in the world, as well as Kensington Palace, a British royal residence. The local authority is Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council. Its motto, adapted from the opening word ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Buddhism In Europe
Although there was regular contact between practising Buddhists and Europeans in antiquity the former had little direct impact. In the latter half of the 19th century, Buddhism came to the attention of Western intellectuals and during the course of the following century the number of adherents has grown. There are now between 1 and 4 million Buddhists in Europe, the majority in Italy, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. Early history European contact with Buddhism first began after Alexander the Great's conquest of northwestern India in the 3rd century BC. Greek colonists in the region adopted Indian Buddhism and syncretized it with aspects of their own culture to make Greco-Buddhism, which developed between the 4th century BC and the 5th century AD in Bactria and the Indian subcontinent. Emperor Ashoka The Great sent Buddhist missionaries to the Hellenistic world, where they established centers in places such as Alexandria on the Caucasus, creating a noted presence in the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Buddhism In London
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gradually spread throughout much of Asia via the Silk Road. It is the world's fourth-largest religion, with over 520 million followers (Buddhists) who comprise seven percent of the global population. The Buddha taught the Middle Way, a path of spiritual development that avoids both extreme asceticism and hedonism. It aims at liberation from clinging and craving to things which are impermanent (), incapable of satisfying ('), and without a lasting essence (), ending the cycle of death and rebirth (). A summary of this path is expressed in the Noble Eightfold Path, a training of the mind with observance of Buddhist ethics and meditation. Other widely observed practices include: monasticism; " taking refuge" in the Buddha, the , and the ; ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Buddhism In The United Kingdom
Buddhism in the United Kingdom has a small but growing number of adherents which, according to a Buddhist organisation, is mainly a result of conversion. In the UK census for 2011, there were about 247,743 people who registered their religion as Buddhism, and about 174,000 who cited religions other than Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, Jainism and Sikhism. This latter figure is likely to include some people who follow the traditional Chinese folk religion which also includes some elements of Buddhism. Statistics At the 2011 Census, 178,453 people in England and Wales ticked the Buddhist box. Of these, the main places of birth were UK 66,522, Far East 59,931 and South Asia 9,847, and the main ethnic groups were White 59,040, Chinese 34,354, Asian 13,919, Mixed 4,647, Black 1,507 and Other 34,036. In Scotland, people were asked both their current religion and the one that they were brought up in. 6,830 people gave Buddhism as their current religion, and 4,704 said th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Wat Buddhapadipa
Wat Buddhapadipa or the Buddhapadipa Temple ( th, วัดพุทธปทีป; , ) is a Thai Buddhist temple ('' wat'') in Wimbledon, London. Building work on the temple and shrine started in 1979 and it was completed in 1982. The architect was Praves Limparangsi (1930–2018) a renowned Thai architect, named by the Thai Culture Ministry as National Artists for Architecture in 1989. Funding was provided by the Thai Government and the main building is known as the Uposatha. Inside, the murals are painted by 26 young Thai artists between 1984–1992. It was the first such temple to be built in the United Kingdom. It is home to monks and nuns, but welcomes visitors of any faith to view the grounds and temple as long as they are respectful to the building. Its white exterior walls are put into contrast by the red and gold colours of the roof and decorations of the frames of the windows and doors. Inside the temple hall, the walls are covered with paintings showing the lif ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Maha Bodhi Society
The Maha Bodhi Society is a South Asian Buddhist society presently based in Kolkata, India. Founded by the Sri Lankan Buddhist leader Anagarika Dharmapala and the British journalist and poet Sir Edwin Arnold, its first office was in Bodh Gaya. The organization's efforts began in order to resuscitate Buddhism in India, and to restore the ancient Buddhist shrines at Bodh Gaya, Sarnath and Kushinara. The restoration and revival of the glory and sanctity of Bodh Gaya are also aims of Maha Bodhi Society. _http://mahabodhisociety.com/_Maha_Bodhi_Society.html" ;"title="-- non working ref --> http://mahabodhisociety.com/ Maha Bodhi Society">-- non working ref --> http://mahabodhisociety.com/ Maha Bodhi Society/ref>Arnold, Edwin (1906)India Revisited London: K. Paul, Trench, TrübnerDipak K. Barua (1981). “Buddha Gaya Temple: its history”, Buddha Gaya: Buddha Gaya Temple Management Committee Although many Indians had remained culturally Buddhist for centuries after the decline of Budd ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Richard Norman Shaw
Richard Norman Shaw RA (7 May 1831 – 17 November 1912), also known as Norman Shaw, was a British architect who worked from the 1870s to the 1900s, known for his country houses and for commercial buildings. He is considered to be among the greatest of British architects; his influence on architectural style was strongest in the 1880s and 1890s. Early life and education Shaw was born 7 May 1831 in Edinburgh, the sixth and last child of William Shaw (1780–1833), an Irish Protestant and army officer, and Elizabeth née Brown (1785–1883), from a family of successful Edinburgh lawyers. William Shaw died 2 years after his son's birth, leaving debts. Two of Shaw's siblings died young and a third in early adulthood. The family lived first in Annandale Street and then Haddington Place. Richard was educated at an academy for languages, located at 3 and 5 Hill Street Edinburgh until c.1842, then had one year of formal schooling in Newcastle, followed by being taught by his sister J ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hammalawa Saddhatissa
Hammalawa Saddhatissa Maha Thera (1914–1990) was an ordained Buddhist monk, missionary and author from Sri Lanka, educated in Varanasi, London, and Edinburgh. He was a contemporary of Walpola Rahula, also of Sri Lanka. Early life Saddhatissa was born in 1914 Hammalawa, a hamlet in the northwest of Sri Lanka. He ordained as a sāmaṇera (novice monk) at the age of twelve in 1926. He received his early education at the Sastrodaya Pirivena at Sandalankawa and continued his higher studies at Vidyodaya Pirivena, Colombo, where he passed the final examinations with honours. Missionary work in India The Maha Bodhi Society invited Saddhatissa to become a missionary (''dharmaduta'') monk in India like his contemporary Henepola Gunaratana. In order to teach to Indians he learnt Indian languages such as Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi. While in India, he came to know B. R. Ambedkar, who reportedly obtained advice from him on how to draft the Indian constitution along the lines of the vina ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chiswick
Chiswick ( ) is a district of west London, England. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist William Hogarth; Chiswick House, a neo-Palladian villa regarded as one of the finest in England; and Fuller's Brewery, London's largest and oldest brewery. In a meander of the River Thames used for competitive and recreational rowing, with several rowing clubs on the river bank, the finishing post for the Boat Race is just downstream of Chiswick Bridge. Old Chiswick was an St Nicholas Church, Chiswick, ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, with an agrarian and fishing economy beside the river; from the Early Modern period, the wealthy built imposing riverside houses on Chiswick Mall. Having good communications with London, Chiswick became a popular country retreat and part of the suburban growth of London in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was made the Municipal Borough of Brentford and Chiswick in 1932 and part of Greater Lon ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Narada Maha Thera
Narada Mahathera ( si, නාරද මහා ස්ථවිරයන් වහන්සේ), born Sumanapala Perera (14 July 1898 – 2 October 1983) was a Theravada Buddhist monk, scholar, translator, educator and Buddhist missionary who was for many years the Superior of Vajiraramaya in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He was a popular figure in his native country, Sri Lanka, and beyond. Biography He was born in Kotahena, Colombo to a middle-class family, educated at St. Benedict's College and Ceylon University College, and ordained at the age of eighteen. In 1929 he represented Sri Lanka at the opening ceremony for the new Mulagandhakuti vihara at Sarnath, India, and in 1934 he visited Indonesia, the first Theravadan monk to do so in more than 450 years. During this opportunity he planted and blessed a bodhi tree in southeastern side of Borobudur on 10 March 1934, and some Upasakas were ordained as monks. From that point on he travelled to many countries to conduct missionary work: ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cyril De Zoysa
Sir Cyril de Zoysa ( Sinhala: ශ්රිමත් සිරිල් ද සොයිසා) (26 October 1896 – 2 January 1978) was a Sri Lankan industrialist, Senator and a philanthropist. The President of the Senate of Ceylon from 1960 to 1965, he was a leader in the Buddhist revival movement in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in the 20th century. He was distantly related to Sri Lankan tycoon Sir Ernest de Silva. Early life and education He was born on 26 October 1896 to Solomon and Harriet de Zoysa in Galle, and was their second son. His brother V. T. De Zoysa, who became an advocate, established Air Ceylon.A tireless servant of the Dhamma Colombo Daily News - 27 October 2007 He was educated at [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |