Introducing the Nottingham Buddhist Centre

The Buddha lived 2,500 years ago in India and taught love, generosity and awareness. At the heart of his Enlightenment experience, alongside an awakening to the way things really are, was a radical and altruistic vision to alleviate the sufferings of the world which are so evidently all around us. The Nottingham Buddhist Centre is dedicated to the spread of the Buddha's message in a way that is relevant to us here and now, yet remains faithful to the essentials of the Buddhist Tradition.

The centre is run by a team from the Triratna Buddhist Order, assisted by many of those who attend the centre regularly. It is affiliated to the Triratna Buddhist Community, a Buddhist movement founded by Sangharakshita in the late 1960's and originally known in the west as the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order (FWBO). This name was changed in 2009 to more truly reflect the international nature of the movement which now has centres in all six continents of the globe.

The name Triratna also reminds us of our central ideals, meaning ‘Three Jewels’, which refers to the Buddha - the man who, through his own efforts, gained Enlightenment; the Dharma - the teachings and practices taught by the Buddha that help us to overcome suffering and create a better world; and Sangha - the spiritual community of Buddhist practitioners who are dedicated to creating a world free of suffering.

For those new to the Centre, we have several weekly drop-in meditation classes, suitable for beginners, as well as regular 6- and 8-week courses. We also host many other activities that help to support a deepening practice of Buddhism.

We run the Centre on the spiritual principle of generosity - dana in traditional Buddhist language - whereby we strive to make what we do freely available to all those wishing to benefit from it whilst also asking for what we need in order to keep the Centre running. We ask for both financial donations from those who can afford it and offers of practical help in running the Centre. Indeed, we invite people to help us in whatever way they can to make Buddhism available to more and more people.

The Centre is located in the Lace Market district of Nottingham, right in the heart of the city centre. As well as our wonderful shrine room, our reception area has Nottingham's best-stocked Buddhist bookshop, which sells books on most Buddhist topics, cards, postcards and incense and some CDs. We also have some resources for the visually impaired in the form of CD recordings of some books.

Although we don’t have a cafe, the Buddhist centre is vegan in that we only provide soya and oat milks for the drinks we offer at classes.