By Phoebe Morton
Jamyang Buddhist Centre in Holbeck has a 25-year-long plan to become Europe’s largest urban Buddhist centre.
The plan involves expanding to 33,000 square feet across three floors to create a new temple, building a 70,000 square feet rooftop garden, and dorms for resident monks, visitors or Buddhist retreats.
The development will be paid for by the Centre, which raises funds through The Happy Yak vegetarian café, a Buddhist book shop, charity shop and jumble sales.
The Centre has been in Leeds for 25 years but moved to its new Holbeck building in February 2019.
By having connections with local schools such as Ingram Road Primary School, and offering talks to universities, the Centre hopes to educate younger generations on Buddhism.
House manager Jay Simpson said: “Just like the industrial revolution started in Holbeck, here we’re starting a compassionate revolution.”
After the development, the Buddhist Centre will remain a communal space for Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike.
Jay Simpson said: “As a faith we’re not allowed to convert, so the ground floor is non-threatening, but features prayer flags to open up communication.”
The centre already has a well-established connection with the mindfulness movement in the UK.
Jamyang Buddhist Centre has partnered with the NHS to offer two mindfulness retreats a month during 2022, as the NHS website has begun to suggest mindfulness as a self-help solution to anxiety disorders.
Many of the volunteers themselves at the centre have discovered the mental health benefits of mindfulness in Buddhism.
Colin said: “There was a lot of stuff that connected with my mental health, the things I was struggling with, through a lot of the stuff that’s in Buddhism I realised ‘Oh, that makes sense’, and I was causing my own problems.”
The centre offers mindfulness courses so that the practice is taught properly and effectively as its popularity grows.
Jay Simpson said: “We have people come in and say ‘We’ve been on mindfulness courses, we know all about mindfulness’, and then when you check, they don’t really grasp what it’s for, or why they’re using it.
“But we have mindfulness practitioners that work for us as volunteers… mindfulness is one part of an extended meditation sequence.”
Colin said: “There was a lot of stuff that connected with my mental health, the things I was struggling with, through a lot of the stuff that’s in Buddhism I realised ‘Oh, that makes sense’, and I was causing my own problems.”
The centre offers mindfulness courses so that the practice is taught properly and effectively as its popularity grows.
Jay Simpson said: “We have people come in and say ‘We’ve been on mindfulness courses, we know all about mindfulness’, and then when you check, they don’t really grasp what it’s for, or why they’re using it.
“But we have mindfulness practitioners that work for us as volunteers… mindfulness is one part of an extended meditation sequence.”
The 2011 census recorded 238,626 Buddhists living in the UK and around one-third of these were in London.
Pure intentions to help us, the public, find a location to connect and find that inner calm.
Well done to Jamyang Leeds and Jay Simpson !
Thankyou