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Londoners help to run huge Buddhist meditation course in Hamburg

Posted on: December 29th, 2014 1 Comment

Many of the hard-working members of the London Diamond Way Buddhist Centre have left London this New Year. They’re joining an international crew of volunteers to organise one of the biggest Buddhist meditation courses in Europe. Our friends will be treating the hungry participants to a proper English Breakfast from the Queen’s Head cafe.

Diamond Way Buddhism’s New Year’s Course happens each year in a different venue in a large city in Europe. This year it’s in Hamburg, where the Diamond Way Buddhist Centre was founded 35 years ago. Lama Jigme Rinpoche, H.H. Karmapa’s representative in Europe, and Lama Ole Nydahl are giving teachings.

Check out some photos from the course below, courtesy of the Diamond Way Buddhism Google Plus Page.

Lama Jigme Rinpoche & Lama Ole Nydahl in London, April 2014

Posted on: February 18th, 2014 2 Comments

The London Diamond Way Buddhist centre is delighted to invite you to a weekend of Buddhist teachings from two high Karma Kagyu Buddhist lamas: Lama Jigme Rinpoche and Lama Ole Nydahl. The events in London take place over three days, and form an exciting Buddhist course entitled “View, Meditation, and Action”.

The course includes teachings about the Buddha aspect Diamond Mind, as well as a meditation on, and an initiation into his practice. Diamond Mind (Skt. Vajrasattva) embodies the purifying power of all Buddhas. His practice, which forms the second of the Four Foundational Practices (Ngöndro in Tibetan) of Diamond Way Buddhism, is used to remove obstacles on the way to enlightenment. In particular, his practice especially targets the heaviest negative karmic imprints accumulated through anger, transforming them into Mirror-like Wisdom. It is advisable for anyone wishing to accomplish the Four Foundational Practices to receive an initiation, for example that of Diamond Mind, from a qualified Diamond Way teacher. We are therefore fortunate to be able to receive this transmission, together with practice explanations from Lama Jigme Rinpoche. Lama Jigme Rinpoche is the representative in Europe of His Holiness the 17th Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje, head of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism.

Lama Ole Nydahl will give teachings on Death and Rebirth, a subject in which he is uniquely qualified. Ole Nydahl, a Danish-born Buddhist lama in the Karma Kagyu lineage, holds the transmission for the practice of Conscious Dying (Phowa in Tibetan), which he has taught to hundreds of thousands of students. Lama Ole Nydahl has written about death and dying in his book Fearless Death.

The Great Seal (“Mahamudra” in Sanskrit) is considered to be the crown jewel of Buddha’s teachings as transmitted in the Kagyu tradition. Including basis, way and goal, it brings about the direct experience of mind’s enlightened nature. Lama Ole Nydahl will give his contemporary commentary on the Great Seal Wishes, a classic Mahamudra text composed by the Third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje.

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Programme

Please bring a meditation cushion with you if you have one.

Friday, 4 April 2014
3pm Lecture by Lama Jigme Rinpoche “Teachings on Diamond Mind”
7pm Lecture by Lama Ole Nydahl “Death and Rebirth”
All day ticket price: £30/£25*
Evening lecture only: £15/£12*

Saturday, 5 April 2014
12.30pm Beaufoy public opening ceremony with Lama Ole Nydahl and Lama Jigme Rinpoche
5pm Diamond Mind meditation with local lay Buddhist teachers
7pm Diamond Mind initiation with Lama Jigme Rinpoche
All day ticket price: £35/£30*

Sunday, 6 April 2014
11am Lecture with Lama Jigme Rinpoche “Teachings on the Foundational Practices”
3pm Lecture with Lama Ole Nydahl “The Great Seal (Skt. Mahamudra)”
All day ticket price: £30/£25*

Registration

Online registration is now closed. You can buy your tickets on the door, in cash (pounds sterling only).

Note: All tickets are sold as day tickets, which include all events happening that day, except for the evening lecture on Friday, which you can buy on its own.

Venue

All events will take place at:
London Diamond Way Buddhist Centre
The Beaufoy
39 Black Prince Road
London SE11 6JJ

See the Address and Directions page for information about how to get to the Buddhist centre.

Accommodation

If you are travelling to London from abroad, or another city in the UK, there are many hostels and hotels in central London where you can stay.

Please note that it is not possible to stay in the centre itself.

Please see our suggestions for hostels and hotels near the Buddhist centre, and book early!

Beaufoy Birthday: 1 year of Diamond Way Buddhism in Lambeth

Posted on: January 23rd, 2014 No Comments

This Thursday, 23rd January 2014, the members of the London Diamond Way Buddhist Centre celebrated something very special. We ate together, meditated on the 16th Karmapa, and listened to a spontaneous lecture by Leo, a Buddhist teacher who was visiting to help with the Beaufoy renovations.

Looking over the photographs from the last year and swapping stories, we celebrated the first Beaufoy Birthday. So many things have happened that it’s hard to believe.

From visits of high lamas to tea and cakes, 2013 was a lot of work and a lot of fun.

Look back with us on our favourite events from the last year..

Diamond Way Buddhism comes to Lambeth
The Beaufoy Institute returns to life…
…and to the Lambeth community
Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche & Lama Ole Nydahl in London

Diamond Way Buddhism comes to Lambeth

Of the many dates that we could have chosen for the Beaufoy Birthday – the date we first saw the amazing Beaufoy Institute, then derelict and forgotten, or the date Diamond Way Buddhism UK got the planning permission from Lambeth Council – we decided to mark the date that the Buddha moved in to the Beaufoy.

On Wednesday 23rd January 2013, a large statue of the Buddha Maitreya was carried into the Beaufoy by Lama Ole Nydahl and friends, symbolically “opening” it as a Buddhist Centre, just after we had received our own set of keys for the building.

Today, a derelict school in Lambeth starts its transformation into one of the capital’s biggest Buddhist centres as a home for Diamond Way Buddhism. The Grade II Beaufoy Institute promises to be regenerated back to its former splendour.

– Read more at Diamond Way gets the keys to the Beaufoy Institute!

And although we didn’t know about it then, the profits from Diamond Way’s purchase of the Beaufoy Institute were already earmarked for a range of beneficial, very local projects that would be announced by Lambeth Council later in the year. Read more: Beaufoy Institute sale profits to be invested by Lambeth Council.

The Beaufoy Institute returns to life…

In 2013 we started the restoration work, and fully finishing the Beaufoy will take us probably a few years to come. With expert advice from friends from Diamond Way Buddhist centres abroad that have also taken on big restoration projects, we were able to make lots of progress this year.

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…and to the Lambeth community

No sooner had we done a little cleaning up of the years of grime from the Beaufoy, when we opened up for a weekend for local residents to come and take a look at the old building, and see records of the past and plans for the future. With guided tours of the building, showing its important architectural features, a video installation, and tea and cakes, there was something for everyone. Over two hundred friends and neighbours from Lambeth came to enjoy the history of the Institute and get a foretaste of the future Buddhist centre. Read more at “Beaufoy Institute Open Days: Diamond Way Buddhist centre invites Lambeth for tours and tea”

A foretaste of the role that the Buddhist centre will play in the spiritual life of the local area was given when Faiths Together in Lambeth, a local interfaith group, stopped off at the London Diamond Way Buddhist Centre as part of their Interfaith Walk. Read more: Diamond Way hosts Interfaith visit: Faiths Together In Lambeth.

As the Open Days had been such a success, we decided to join in with the tradition of the many Christmas Markets in London and hosted our very own in the Beaufoy. As a combined Open Day and opportunity for people to come in and do their last-minute Christmas shopping from local arts and crafts suppliers, the Beaufoy Christmas market was a great success.

We had previously accumulated the confidence to organise our own market by getting experience in the well-known Kennington Fete. Diamond Way Buddhism ran a stall at the Kennington Fete in the summer. From now on we’ll be known not just for meditation, but also for the best cakes this side of Kennington Cross. Read more at “Kennington Fete: Diamond Way Buddhism raises money for local charities”.

And lest we forget, we had another, specially themed Open Day weekend! As part of the Thames Festival, Diamond Way Buddhism hosted a historic tour of local sites important to the Vauxhall Ragged Schools movement. After taking in sights such as the White Hart Docks and the Lambeth Ragged School, the tour ended with our own Beaufoy Institute, with its own rich history. Read more: Vauxhall Ragged Schools tour & Buddhist centre Open House at the Beaufoy.

Hopefully these experiences of the Beaufoy have whetted the appetite of the residents of Kennington and Vauxhall for our upcoming Public Opening in April 2014.

Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche & Lama Ole Nydahl in London

Some important Buddhist teachers came in 2013 to see how our project to bring the Beaufoy back to life was progressing. In July, our much-loved teacher Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche visited us again. Rinpoche, a high lama from Nepal, took time out from his schedule of travelling and teaching in Asia and the West to visit us. Read more at Compassion in Action: Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche visits London, July 2013.

And Lama Ole Nydahl, founder of Diamond Way Buddhism and tireless supporter of our London Buddhist Centre project, visited us twice. Lama Ole came to London in January, to symbolically “open” the centre. And he came again in April, donning gloves and helping to clear up and prepare the site.

Because of Lama Ole Nydahl’s great enthusiasm for the new London Buddhist centre, which has gained international project status, he spontaneously decided to spend two of his project days working directly with the friends involved in the project and inspiring them with his personal example and teachings.

– Read more at Lama Ole Nydahl visits London to work on the new Diamond Way Buddhist Centre, April 2013

What was your favourite memory of last year? Leave us a comment, or a birthday wish below.

Lama Ole Nydahl comes to the Beaufoy Institute

Posted on: April 21st, 2013 3 Comments

As reported on our national Diamond Way Buddhism UK Blog, last week Lama Ole Nydahl visited London on a surprise break from his project work, which time he usually spends in one of our larger centres working on manuscripts and answering queries from his students. He came straight to the new London Diamond Way Buddhist Centre, the Beaufoy Institute, from the airport.

Despite London’s extended cold spell and the chilly conditions in the building, on both evenings, Lama Ole Nydahl gave teachings and Q&A sessions for his students in the beautiful main hall of the Beaufoy Institute. As Lama Ole so aptly put it in one of the Q&A sessions “There is no way to enlightenment for a lazy man.”

Read the full report on Lama Ole’s visit to London, and enjoy some images below of Lama Ole Nydahl and the London sangha in the Beaufoy Institute:

Lambeth Buddhist Centre symbolically opened by Lama Ole Nydahl

Posted on: January 23rd, 2013 4 Comments

It was a long journey, from the wishes of our highest Karma Kagyu lamas 40 years ago until now, running through the long preparation and planning application, down to the approval and the receipt of the keys, supported by the enormous hard work and altruistic dedication of many friends and supporters.

Finally, on Wednesday 23rd January 2013, the London Diamond Way Buddhist Sangha entered their new Buddhist centre and home for many years to come, the Beaufoy Institute. Lama Ole Nydahl, founder of over 640 Buddhist Centres around the world to date, symbolically unlocked the front doors and led a large group of students and friends inside.

Lama Ole helped to carry an impressive-sized statue of Maitreya, the Future Buddha, into the main meditation hall. Truly, the power-field of the direct unbroken lineage of the Karmapas was now established definitively, here in the heart of Lambeth. In the centre of London, we are a stone’s throw from the Thames and the Houses of Parliament, home of the oldest parliamentary democracy, heir to the Magna Carta, the “foundation of the freedom of the individual against the arbitrary authority of the despot”, often mentioned by Lama Ole in his lectures. History was in the air, and it seemed to fit perfectly that this very Institute, founded to help people, embodying a hundred years of idealism, would now be an exemplar of the development of selflessness and freedom – a Buddhist centre – home to so many idealists, and carrying the blessing of a thousand years of the Karma Kagyu Buddhist meditation transmission.

After having waited on Black Prince Road in the crisp winter weather, everyone was glad to be inside. Lama Ole gave a short speech, praising the hard work of his friends and students and underscoring the importance of working to benefit others. Especially, building up Buddhist meditation centres, places where people can access the Buddha’s teachings and experience the nature of their mind, is considered to be one of the most useful things one can do.

Immediately after Lama Ole’s speech, work began on cleaning the small meditation room. The delicate task of restoring the Beaufoy Institute and making it usable as a Buddhist centre will take some months; then we will open it for the Lambeth community and the general public, and it will be some years before the full potential of the Beaufoy Institute as a Buddhist centre is realised. The work continues – we shall not be bored!