About the Bodhi Garden
The Bodhi Garden was established in 2001 by the English Buddhist Monastery Trust (EBMT), a UK-registered charity (no. 1088804) whose object is to support the study and practice of the Buddhist way of life, and whose ethos is one of non-sectarianism.
Our current focus is to support Buddhist teachers and groups/charities with no independent means of support.
Between 2001-19, the Bodhi Garden played an important role in Brighton’s thriving Buddhist community, chiefly through its meditation centre of the same name. Below is a potted history.
A charitable trust
The EBMT was set up in the late-1990s by a small team of volunteers as part of an effort to establish a non-denominational (i.e. inter-traditional) Buddhist monastery in England. The inspiration for this project came from Tenzin Josh, an English-born monk in the Tibetan Gelugpa tradition who had also taken ordination in the Theravadin Thai Forest tradition. The project came with the blessing of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Josh’s main teacher.
Trying to establish a monastery in the UK with little money or support proved to be a too-huge undertaking! While it remained a core ambition of the EBMT for several years, the focus gradually shifted to the establishing and maintaining of the Bodhi Garden Dharma Centre in central Brighton. This centre had a similarly non-sectarian ethos to the Trust and was a practical way of providing a free space for Buddhist groups and individuals interested in dharma teachings. It fulfilled the same basic intention behind the work of the Trust: helping the dharma to take root and flourish in the West.
An urban dharma centre
Between 2001 and 2011, the Bodhi Garden took the form of a non-denominational dharma centre in the Lanes area of central Brighton. The centre acted as an umbrella space for a variety of local Buddhist sitting groups, including those from the Theravada, Tibetan and Zen traditions. The centre also offered an extensive programme of daily meditation, study groups, day retreats and workshops.
For a small centre it had a significant impact. It became a talking point on both the UK and international Buddhist ‘scenes’ through its overt efforts to bridge sectarian divides by accommodating different traditions, as well as monastic and lay forms of practice, under one urban roof. Teachers and practitioners flocked from all directions in rainbow shades: monastic Buddhism, agnostic Buddhism, mystical Buddhism, engaged Buddhism, academic Buddhism, tantric Buddhism, artistic Buddhism, psychotherapeutic Buddhism, green Buddhism, Buddhism-without-the-Buddhism. At its high point, pre-social media, the Bodhi Garden was networked to every continent with the exceptions of Antarctica and South America (we had a contact in Ecuador, but it didn’t come to anything).
A pop-up day retreat space
Throughout its existence, the centre’s identity was, perhaps fittingly, difficult to pin down. To the discerning eye, it was little more than a name and the sum of its parts. Its core community, and what held it together, were nebulous. ‘Who are we?’ and ‘What is this?’ were favourite koans at inter-group meetings. This, together with the practical limitations to maintaining a dana-run centre, led to the EBMT becoming unable to continue the lease on the premises.
During its next phase, between 2011-2019, the Bodhi Garden ‘went forth from home to homelessness’ and took the form of offering retreats in hired venues. Most of the sitting groups that were hosted at the original centre received practical support to continue their activities independently in various venues around Brighton and Hove. These groups continue to provide practice opportunities for the general public (see links).
A non-denominational ethos
The abiding hope of the EBMT has been that the Bodhi Garden, in its various incarnations, has allowed passing spiritual travellers to investigate different dharma threads for themselves without fear of being ensnared by righteous or dogmatic instructors or instruction. Encouraging open-ended enquiry and stimulating dialogue between traditions have been mainly intentional, even if much of the rest of its activities has been a series of creative adjustments and happy accidents.
If there were one identifiable group of people whose support has been indispensable to the Bodhi Garden it is the visiting teachers, to whom we express our deep gratitude. Between 2001-19, the Bodhi Garden hosted teachers from:
Amaravati Buddhist Monastery, Amida Trust, Chithurst Buddhist Monastery, Community of Interbeing, Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, Gaia House Retreat Centre, Insight Meditation Society, Institute of Buddhist Dialectics, International Zen Association, London Buddhist Vihara, London Jamyang Buddhist Centre, Maitrikara Tibetan Buddhist group, Network of Engaged Buddhists, Rigpa, Samatha Trust, Samye Ling Monastery, Satipanya Buddhist Retreat, Serene Reflection Meditation Centre, Shambhala International, Sharpham College for Buddhist Studies and Contemporary Inquiry, and White Plum Zen Sangha.
Our gratitude, also, to the numerous independent and/or non-affiliated teachers who have accepted our invitations to teach.
Please note that, currently, the Bodhi Garden does not host teachers or organise retreats. Our efforts are currently focused on supporting a small number of Buddhist teachers and groups/charities with no independent means of support. We welcome any support you can give us in this effort.
If you would like to join our email list, please contact us at info@bodhigarden.org.