A Survey of Buddhist Buildings in England Project Number 6749 Prepared for Historic England by Professor Emma Tomalin and Dr Caroline Starkey The Centre for Religion and Public Life University of Leeds June 2016 1 Contents page Executive Summary ............................................................................................................ 5 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 9 2. What does Historic England want? ....................................................................... 12 2.1 Background ............................................................................................................................ 12 2.2 Specific areas where knowledge is lacking and key areas of impact ...... 13 3. An introduction to Buddhism in England ........................................................... 15 3.1 Buddhism arrives in England ........................................................................................ 15 3.2 The post-war period to the 1960s............................................................................... 17 3.3 Buddhism in numbers ....................................................................................................... 18 4. Research Methods ........................................................................................................ 20 4.1 Desk-based national mapping and information gathering ............................. 20 4.2 Site visits and how the sites were chosen ............................................................. 21 4.3 Online survey and additional online research methods .................................. 23 4.4 Methodological Learning ................................................................................................. 24 5. A Survey of Buddhist Buildings in England: functions and types .......... 26 5.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 26 5.2 The functions of Buddhist buildings .......................................................................... 26 5.3 The types of buildings used by Buddhist communities .................................... 27 5.4 Change and progress: Peach and Gale’s four stage cycle (2003) ............ 30 6. A Survey of Buddhist Buildings in England: mapping the traditions .... 31 6.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 31 6.2 Theravāda Buddhism ....................................................................................................... 32 6.3 Tibetan Buddhism .............................................................................................................. 53 6.4 East Asian Buddhism ....................................................................................................... 78 6.5 Non-sectarian Buddhist organisations ..................................................................... 91 7. A Survey of Buddhist Buildings in England: thematic analysis and discussion .......................................................................................................................... 105 7.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 105 7.2 Finding and developing the buildings ..................................................................... 106 7.3 Buddhist Building Terminology .................................................................................. 127 7.4 The function of the buildings and who uses them ............................................ 131 7.5 The value of buildings for Buddhists ....................................................................... 143 8. Conclusions and recommendations to Historic England ........................ 153 8.1 Introducti on .......................................................................................................................... 153 8.2 Summing up ........................................................................................................................ 153 8.3 Recommendations to Historic England ................................................................. 157 9. Appendices ................................................................................................................... 162 9.1 Appendix 1 - Interview Questions............................................................................. 162 9.2 Appendix 2 - Online Survey Questions ................................................................. 163 9.3 Appendix 3 – Glossary: Words for Buddhist buildings or parts of Buddhist buildings ........................................................................................................................................ 164 9.4 Appendix 4 – suggested amendments to the NHLE ....................................... 165 9.5 Appendix 5 – mapping results .................................................................................... 173 10. Bibliography ............................................................................................................... 255 2 Boxes Box 1: The Buddhist Society __________________________________ 16 Box 2: Summary from Mapping Exercise of Theravada Buddhist Buildings in England ________________________________________________ 32 Box 3: London Buddhist Vihara ________________________________ 33 London Buddhist Vihara ______________________________________ 33 Source: Photo by Anuradha Dullewe Wijeyeratne (creative commons) __ 33 Box 4: Cittaviveka – Chithurst Buddhist Monastery _________________ 34 Box 5: Aruna Ratanagiri Monastery _____________________________ 36 Box 6: Amaravati ___________________________________________ 37 Box 7: Ambedkar Buddhism ___________________________________ 42 Box 8: Birmingham Buddhist Vihara (Burmese) ____________________ 44 Box 9: Wat Buddhapadipa (Thai) _______________________________ 46 Box 10: Dhammakaya _______________________________________ 49 Box 11 Summary from Mapping Exercise of Tibetan Buddhist Buildings in England __________________________________________________ 53 Box 12: Sakya Thubten Ling Tibetan Buddhist Centre ______________ 55 Box 13: Kagyu Samye Dzong _________________________________ 56 Box 14: Diamond Way London and the Beaufoy Institute ____________ 59 Box 15: Manjushri Institute ____________________________________ 62 Box 16: Jamyang London ____________________________________ 64 Box 17: Madhyamaka Centre __________________________________ 68 Box 18: The Tara Kadampa Meditation Centre and Kadampa Primary School ___________________________________________________ 72 Box 19: Gomde Lindholme Hall ________________________________ 74 Box 20: The Stupa at Harewood House __________________________ 76 Box 21: Summary from Mapping Exercise of East Asian Buddhist Buildings in England ________________________________________________ 78 Box 22: Fo Guang Shan ______________________________________ 80 Box 23: Throssel Hole Abbey __________________________________ 83 Box 24: Soka Gakkai UK and Taplow Court ______________________ 86 Box 25: Peace Pagodas ______________________________________ 89 Box 26: Summary from Mapping Exercise of Non-sectarian Buddhist Buildings in England_________________________________________ 92 Box 27: London Buddhist Centre _______________________________ 94 Box 28: Manchester Buddhist Centre____________________________ 96 Box 29: West London Buddhist Centre _________________________ 102 Box 30: One Westbourne Gardens, W1 _________________________ 126 3 Tables Table 1: Location of buildings by tradition and how many are listed...8 4 Executive Summary A Survey of Buddhist Buildings in England Overview The aim of this research was to provide Historic England (HE) with information about buildings that Buddhists use in England so that HE can work with communities to enhance and protect those buildings now and in the future. It focused on three main questions: • Where are Buddhist buildings and how many there are? • What kinds of buildings do Buddhists communities use and what do they use them for? • What is the value of these buildings to the communities and individuals? Where are Buddhist buildings and how many there are? Overall we found 190 ‘Buddhist buildings’ from our desk-based mapping exercise and interviews (see appendix 5). To the best of our knowledge this is the total amount of buildings that are owned or rented long-term by Buddhist communities in England. We have not counted all the ‘Buddhist groups’ in England since many of these meet in people’s houses or rent rooms in buildings for meetings and worship rather than having a permanent base in any particular building. Out of the 190 buildings 59 are from the Theravada tradition; 69 are from Tibetan traditions, with 39 of those from the New Kadampa Tradition (NKT); 29 are from different East Asian traditions; and 33 are what we are calling non-sectarian, with 25 of these from Triratna (previously called Friends of the Western Buddhist Order). Table 1 gives a summary of the buildings by tradition according to three factors: 1) whether they are urban, suburban or rural; 2) the numbers of listed buildings they have; and 3) whether they are in the North, South or Midlands (p. 6). What kinds of buildings do Buddhists communities use and what do they use them for? The functions of Buddhist