Dhamma Talaka Peace Pagoda was opened in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, UK in 1998 and is the only such building in traditional Burmese style in the Western hemisphere. On its grounds there are now a monastery and the teaching hall of a planned Buddhist Academy.

Creating a pilgrimage site

Dhamma Talaka Pagoda was planned by the renowned scholar and meditation teacher, Aggamahapandita

Rewata Dhamma Sayadaw U Rewata Dhamma ( pi, Revatadhamma; 4 December 1929, Thamangone – 26 May 2004, Birmingham) was a prominent Theravada Buddhist monk and noted Abhidhamma scholar from Myanmar (Burma). After pursuing an academic career in India for most of ...

to enshrine the Buddha relics of the former Burmese royal family. Shared with visiting monks by the exiled former king

Thibaw Min Thibaw Min, also Thebaw or Theebaw ( my, သီပေါ‌မင်း, ; 1 January 1859 – 19 December 1916) was the last king of the Konbaung dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) and also the last Burmese monarch in the country's history. His re ...

of Burma, the relics had been passed into Dr Rewata Dhamma’s keeping in 1964. The pagoda’s name means ‘Reservoir of the Teaching’ and refers to its situation behind the

Edgbaston Reservoir Edgbaston Reservoir, originally known as Rotton Park Reservoir and referred to in some early maps as Rock Pool Reservoir, is a canal feeder reservoir in Birmingham, England, maintained by the Canal & River Trust.Environment Agency public regist ...

, a leet from which forms the boundary on one side of the property. The site was dedicated in 1990 and the pagoda was officially opened at an international ceremony in 1998. In 2002 the Sangharama Monastery was built in the same grounds and the Rewata Dhamma teaching hall in 2007. There is also a meditation garden to one side, overlooking the slope of the dam. The base and walls of the pagoda are octagonal. The interior focuses upon a gold-painted shrine on which there is a large marble statue of the Buddha in meditation posture, sculpted in Burmese style in

Mandalay Mandalay ( or ; ) is the second-largest city in Myanmar, after Yangon. Located on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, 631km (392 miles) (Road Distance) north of Yangon, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census). Mandalay was fo ...

. Images of the Twenty Eight Buddhas were created on site by a Burmese workman and mounted round the inner dome. The entrance is reached by a gabled arcade. Teak doors on three sides of the building are carved with temple guardians and two traditional lion statues at the arcade’s entrance provide protection from evil elements. The inner dome supports a gold-painted stepped spire in the same style as the

Shwedagon Pagoda The Shwedagon Pagoda (, ); mnw, ကျာ်ဒဂုၚ်; officially named ''Shwedagon Zedi Daw'' ( my, ရွှေတိဂုံစေတီတော်, , ) and also known as the Great Dagon Pagoda and the Golden Pagoda is a gilded stupa ...

Yangon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

, rising to an ornate umbrella feature above which is mounted a crystal bud. The main relics are housed immediately above the dome and also include a chunk of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...

, collected when it was dismantled in 1989. The Pagoda was also dedicated to the

Gyalwa Karmapa The Karmapa (honorific title '' His Holiness the Gyalwa'' ��ྒྱལ་བ་, Victorious One''Karmapa'', more formally as ''Gyalwang'' ��ྒྱལ་དབང་ཀརྨ་པ་, King of Victorious Ones''Karmapa'', and informally as the ' ...

, head of the

Karma Kagyu Karma Kagyu (), or Kamtsang Kagyu (), is a widely practiced and probably the second-largest lineage within the Kagyu school, one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The lineage has long-standing monasteries in Tibet, China, Russia, Mon ...

school of

Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...

. The pagoda complex is administered by the Birmingham Buddhist Vihara Trust,Open Charities site
/ref> which was originally set up in 1982 when Dr Rewata Dhamma converted a house in a street nearby into a monastery and meditation centre.

References

External links

Official website of Dhamma Talaka PagodaBBC West Midlands Faiths site

''Lotus'', the lay review of Birmingham Buddhist Vihara
{{coord, 52.4792, -1.9327, format=dms, type:landmark, display=title Buddhist temples in England Religious buildings and structures in Birmingham, West Midlands Pagodas in the United Kingdom