Buddhism in the UK

Since the sixties and early seventies a broad range of Buddhist traditions has become well established in the UK and a significant number of Western (and Asian) Buddhists have been active in both practising Buddhism and in engaging in various ways with modern society and culture.

There is now a  greater understanding of Buddhism both from a practical and an academic perspective; there is a broad range of modern and excellent translations of Buddhist scriptures and the growth of the internet has led to the historically unprecedented situation where any UK resident with an interest in Buddhism can now gain easy access to major scriptures and recorded talks from respected Buddhist teachers. There is also a large and growing web based library of audio and video material on all aspects of Buddhism, some of it of the highest quality.

There are some very well established and popular Buddhist organisations, centres and monasteries with good reputations. And there are many Buddhist inspired charitable initiatives and much energy being devoted to social and community initiatives by Buddhists from all backgrounds.  

However, it is notable that after more than thirty years of development and a very positive public profile in the West, Western Buddhism has very little presence in most areas of public life. This is partly down to the low numbers of Western Buddhists, (although these numbers are comparable to those of the Jewish faith), but there are other factors. British Buddhism is diverse, with many groups from different traditions  working independently of each other. Buddhism is very cellular and individual groups tend to have a 'silo' outlook. The number and the success of Buddhist intra-faith initiatives are limited, although there are notable exceptions.

Buddhism has a lot to offer to the sometimes feverish and polarized religious and ethical debate in the West, and yet is under-represented in most of these debates.  Buddhism does encourage skilful communication and over the past 2500 years Buddhists have had a lot to say about the nature of the conditioned world that we live in and the imperfection and uncertainty inherent in it.

Moreover, Buddhist teachings also recognizes that we live in the world with others and have to agree social conventions and laws to skillfully manage interactions in the most beneficial and harmless ways. Buddhism’s clear understanding of social conventions as 'relative truth' is a great strength, since it reduces blind attachment to ideologies whilst at the same time recognizing their importance in encouraging or discouraging skilful behaviour. ‘Form is emptiness’, but form can foster healthy or unhealthy societies and healthy and unhealthy actions.

One significant problem that we face today is the blind and fanatical attachment that is being encouraged in some quarters towards various forms of dogma and ideology. Buddhist teachings are a useful antidote to this tendency. And Buddhism’s emphasis and practices for developing clear mindfulness and understanding enables us to actually be aware of just what our beliefs and attachments are.

The Triple Gem Buddhist Foundation intends to emphasise practical involvement in society. From an ethical perspective we aim to adopt a skilful and ethical approach to our actions. In Buddhism the idea that the end justifies the means is seen as a  deluded and harmful idea. The ‘end’ is just an uncertain idea or ideal in an unknown future - effectively a fantasy - whereas the ‘means’ refers to our immediate aims and actions, actions which are actually all that we can really be sure about.  The 'means' is the only thing that is 'real' and that we have some control over and hence it is the only arena where ethics can operate.  

What we in Triple Gem share in common is a wish to act as teachers and advocates   for Buddhist practices and teachings and to help to reshape or influence current approaches to ‘faith in public life’, which are heavily biased towards the Abrahamic religions. Through Dhamma teaching, research, writing, media commentary and news, we hope to open up fresh perspectives on questions like faith and violence, the state and religion, the increasing involvement of faiths in schools and public service provision, and so on.

We want primarily to educate the broader public in Buddhist practice. And we also want to make our proposals both practical and engaged - grounded ‘in the way things are’ and the possibility of applying wisdom and compassion. We believe that behaviour based upon generosity, virtue, compassion and wisdom has a profound and positive impact on both ourselves and others. And that skilful behaviour is intimately connected with skilful thinking, and our intention is to encourage non-dogmatic approaches through dhamma teaching, information sharing and dialogue.

If you are interested in helping, collaborating or contributing, then contact me, Chris Ward, at:

administrator at triplegem.org.uk (replace 'at' with '@' and remove spaces)