Kadampa Meditation Centre Manchester — Chorlton-cum-Hardy, UK

Modern Buddhist meditation centre and charity in Chorlton, Manchester

The centre's own pages give two starting points. One dates the centre to 1992, and quotes a short reply from Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso to a group then known as the Manchester Mahayana Buddhist Centre. He welcomed the idea of establishing it as an independent centre within the New Kadampa Tradition and suggested the name Vairochana Buddhist Centre. The footer of every page gives the founding as 1994. The centre today is Kadampa Meditation Centre Manchester, a registered charity (1038999). It sits at 76 High Lane in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, about fifteen minutes from the city centre. The resident teacher is Gen Kelsang Drolkyi, a Buddhist nun who received ordination from Geshe Kelsang Gyatso in 1993 and has taught internationally for over thirty years. Visitors can drop in for a lunchtime or evening class, or sit with a coffee at the World Peace Café. The weekly programme is wide. There are 30-minute lunchtime meditations, a Friday Happiness Hour, a Wednesday Wellbeing Breakfast, and a Friday evening class on life's big questions. Thursday evenings bring the main beginners' class, currently the four-week Meditations for a Healthy Mind course. On Sunday afternoons a free class takes up prayers for world peace compiled by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, alongside meditation on the Eight Steps to Happiness. Weekend retreats have covered refuge and a silent day on emptiness. For those who want to go deeper there are the General, Foundation and Teacher Training study programmes. The centre also reaches beyond High Lane. Classes run in Bolton, Tameside and Ancoats, and a day retreat is held at the Grade II listed Didsbury Parsonage. Volunteers can help in the café, kitchen or garden, or on renovation projects, for a few hours or as residential visitors for a few weeks. The centre describes its activities as non-profit, with profits going to the International Temples Project Fund.

Traditions: Kadampa Buddhism, New Kadampa Tradition, Modern Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism, Breathing meditation, Lamrim

Programs: Meditations for a Healthy Mind (Thursday evening course), Happiness Hour (Fridays), Prayers for World Peace (free Sunday class), Free lunchtime meditation, Wednesday Wellbeing Breakfast, Exploring Life's Big Questions (Friday evening), Escape for the day: Retreat at Didsbury Parsonage, Foundation Program