Never in my life I met so many Buddhists as in Cambridge; so I take the signs and put up this web page to honour the Buddhist spirit in Cambridge.
This page tries to give a complete overview of the Buddhist scene around Cambridge - PLEASE help me completing and updating it.
May all beings be well, may all beings be happy - peace, peace peace - Ralph
There are several buddhist organisations and orders in and around Cambridge. The most known is the Buddhist Order of the West in 36-38 Newmarket Road, Cambridge. Some of the other organisations do not have a venue, but meet in private homes - others only meet on residential weekends. This page aims to give an overview about the Buddhist ways in Cambridge. Please help keeping it updated and e-mail me
This group grew from a few local Buddhists, who were interested in the teachings from Amaravati Buddhist monastery near Hemel Hempstead. They meet fortnightly on Sunday evenings in each others' houses to meditate together, with a brief Buddhist ceremony beforehand, and a cup of tea and chat afterwards. Amaravati monastery is in the Theravadin tradition of Buddhism, generally found in countries such as Thailand, Sri Lanka and Burma, although most of the monks and nuns at Amaravati are Westerners.
The type of meditation taught there is usually Vipassana or Insight Meditation. The group functions as a way for meditators to come together, rather than as a taught class, and is open and sociable. Over the years people have joined who are interested in different forms of Vipassana meditation, or in different Buddhist traditions altogether. The group also acts as a contact point for people interested in visiting Amaravati, to find out more directly about this sort of meditation and Buddhist way of life.
The Cambridge Buddhist Institute serves as a focus for those interested in Buddhist studies in Cambridge, both in the University of Cambridge and in the region.
If you are coming to Cambridge to work on Buddhist material, or you are already here, feel free to e-mail the Cambridge Buddhist Institute and make yourself known. The institute is interested in including anyone working on anything connected with Buddhism, from music to art history, from meditation to bibliography, from museums to politics, from manuscripts to anthropology, from medicine to history, from monasticism to sociology, from Mongolia to Singapore...
The instititute publishes the Cambridge Buddhist Institute Series with the publisher Hardinge Simpole.
More at www.edlis.org/cbi
Cambridge Buddhist Society provides talks, meetings and information about Buddhism and meditation. It was founded in 1983 as an offshoot of the Cambridge University Buddhist Society which was itself founded in the mid 1950s. Both societies hold meetings with speakers from a wide range of Buddhist traditions.
We aim to provide meetings that are of interest not only for local Buddhists but also for the many non-Buddhists who take an interest in the teachings and practices of Buddhism.
Our talks are usually held monthly, often on the last Friday of the month at 7-30pm, at the Friends' Meeting House, 12 Jesus Lane, on the corner with Park Street.
See www.cambridgebuddhistsociety.org.uk We can be contacted by email at: info [AT] cambridgebuddhistsociety.org.uk
or telephone (01223) 249732
The Cambridge University Buddhist Society, the second oldest Buddhist
society in Britain and the first run by students, has provided Cambridge's diverse community with an opportunity to meet Buddhist thought and philosophy since its founding in 1955. The society has evolved according to the changing interests of its members and anyone interested in Buddhism is encouraged to join and influence the society's activities. In past decades CUBS published a widely circulated journal, KALPA and in the 1970's, His Holiness the Dalai Lama became our Honorary President.
At present, the CUBS main activities are to organise visits to Buddhist
centres and monasteries, meditation and discussion sessions, and a series of talks by
members of the Buddhist community: scholars, meditation teachers, writers,
and Buddhist monks and nuns. The diversity of the speakers has allowed the
audience to come into contact with a wide range of different Buddhist
perspectives, interpretations and traditions. The society also provides
information on local activities such as meditation classes, study
programmes, groups meeting for practice, study or discussion, and
celebrations of Buddhist festivals. Members may also borrow from the
society's library of books, cassettes and pamphlets on Buddhism."
Chan is Chinese Zen, and it is similar to Japanese Soto Zen in approach. In this group our core practice is the method of Silent Illumination. This is an objectless meditation in which we let go of thoughts, feelings and sensations as they arise. We sit 'without trying to think and without trying not to think'. When applied correctly and with diligence Silent Illumination is a method that combines both 'calming' and 'insight' in a single process. If appropriate for a practitioner we may also use methods based on awareness of breathing and body, particularly in the early stages of learning meditation.
We are a group of lay practitioners with properly authenticated teachers. The group in Cambridge is affiliated to the Western Chan Fellowship which has a well-established retreat centre in Wales and a network of local groups across the UK. The group leader in Cambridge is an approved instructor of the Western Chan Fellowship. We follow the lineage of Master Sheng-yen, who teaches in the West at his retreat Centre at Pine Bush, Upstate New York, and is Abbott of a substantial monastery in Taiwan.
The group meets during the evening of the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of every month.
For more information or enquiries about the Cambridge Chan Group:
Email: -
Telephone: Call David Brown at 07766 686 345
Web-site: http://cambridge.westernchanfellowship.org (comprehensive, with links)
In 1969 Lama Ole Nydahl and his wife Hannah first met the 16th Karmapa in Nepal. Since then the teachings of the Diamond Way have gradually found their way to the West. His Holiness asked them to teach, establish meditation centres and ensure that the teachings would remain alive and attractive to intelligent, critical minds.
Diamond Way England is part of an international network of some hundred centres for
meditation, under the spiritual guidance of His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, Thaye Dorje, and directed by Lama Ole Nydahl. They are not abstract institutions but friendly places where all can meet to learn and meditate, share experience and development, actively participate and do the work which makes all this possible.
practices Buddhism in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh.
Meetings: every Wednesday evening 8pm for sitting and walking meditation at various venues.
1st & 2nd Sat. each month morning meeting
every third Sunday /month "Day of Mindfulness"
Contact Jane Coatesworth on 01223 842941
Web-site www.interbeing.org.uk
or the Plum Village www.plumvillage.org (Thich Nhat Hanh is based at Plum Village).
Jamyang Cambridge no longer meets.
Jamyang Cambridge Study Group was a member of the
Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana
Tradition (FPMT), an international organization with
over 80 centres around the world, including city,
retreat and healing centres, monasteries, nunneries
and publishing houses. The FPMT was set up in 1975
by Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, who
were among the first Tibetan teachers to dedicate
their lives to making the living practice of Tibetan
Buddhism available in the West.
If you are interested in finding out more about
Buddhist practice groups in Cambridge, please
contact Michelle Bernard, 48 St
Barnabas Road, Cambridge, Cambs CB1 2DE - E-mail: jamyangcambridge@yahoo.co.uk
Marpa House European Retreat Centre near Saffron Walden
Marpa House is a Buddhist retreat and meditation centre dedicated to
the advancement of Tibetan Buddhism.
The centre is rurally situated in England on the border of Essex & Cambridge, in
the village of Ashdon near Saffron Walden south of Cambridge.
Marpa House was established in 1973 by Lama Chime Rinpoche
as a Buddhist centre, and it now is run by the Dharma Trust.
Here is the opportunity to learn and practice in rural surroundings the oral transmissions of the Karma Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, based on the teachings of the four great masters - Tilopa, Naropa, Marpa and Milarepa.
The Nezang Buddhist Meditation Group is led by the Tibetan Lama Ato Rinpoche. Meetings are monthly on the 3rd Saturday of each month 2-4pm at the Morley Memorial School, Blinco Grove (off Hills Road). Meetings start with a talk by Lama Ato Rinpoche and are followed by prayer chanting and a short period of silent meditation. Teachings and meditation instructions are given. Please do not disturb others by arriving late.
NO MEETING in August and December!
Contact: phone Mary Rose Baugh on 01223 366 079 or Jane Sandemann on (01223) 246 461
runs meditation courses for beginners, teaching a traditional practice from Thailand. It is a breathing mindfulness (samatha-vipassana) practice for calm and insight.
Classes are 8:30pm on Mondays at the Friends Meeting House, 12 Jesus Lane, or 7.30pm on Wednesday evenings in term time in Clare College, Godwin Room.
Courses are free, donations towards expenses optional.
Contact: Alan Brownlee
, Tel. 01223 315171
Website:
www.samatha.org.uk/cambridge
This group is affiliated to the Order of the Buddhist Contemplatives www.obcon.org in the Zoto Zen tradition. The group meetings usually include recitation of Buddhist scriptures, sitting and walking meditation, and a time to meet informally. Meetings on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday eveningof the month in the centre of Cambridge. People from other traditions and those without religion are welcome to join.
This movement comes form Japan and is known to chant the mantra: "Nam myoho renge kyo". The Cambridge group meets at various private places: Wednesday and Thursday evenings in turns.
Contact: Stewart Holmes, T: 01223 / 572 970 or
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If your organisation wants to be included on this page, please do send me details by e-mail - Ralph
Cambridge Amaravati Group