Erica Beaufoy, Jigme Rinpoche, Lama Ole Nydahl and Councillor Paul McGlone, cutting the ribbon to open the London Diamond Way Buddhist Centre at the Beaufoy, 5 April 2014
Saturday 5 April 2014 marked an important day in the history of Buddhism in London and the UK. After over a year of renovation works to prepare the Beaufoy Institute to host a regular programme of meditation and events, the London Diamond Way Buddhist Centre officially opened its doors to the public.
Lama Ole Nydahl, H.H. Karmapa, Lama Jigme Rinpoche and friends outside the Beaufoy Institute
Today, 12/12/12, marks the end of the three-month statutory waiting period or “intermediate state” (Tib. Bardo), after which final approval for planning permission for the Beaufoy Institute could be confirmed. During this time the opportunity was present for a judicial review to be launched into Lambeth Council’s decision to grant Diamond Way Buddhism UK planning permission to turn the Beaufoy into our new Buddhist centre. However, no such appeal was lodged, reconfirming the satisfaction of all parties with Lambeth’s decision.
We are therefore pleased to share the delightful news that there is now nothing holding us back from completing the sale of the Beaufoy Institute and moving into our new home and headquarters in Lambeth’s future London Diamond Way Buddhist Centre, a big and representative centre for the Karma Kagyu lineage in South London.
We would like to show our recognition of the enormous amount of meticulous planning, hard work, compromise and personal sacrifice made by people too numerous to name individually, both from within the Karma Kagyu Dharma family, and from Lambeth’s community. It was these people whose unrelenting efforts – particularly from March 2012 when the planning consultation opened – led us to this triumphant result.
On the international Diamond Way Buddhism website, there’s a new article where you can read more about our project for a new Diamond Way Buddhist centre in Lambeth.
The Wish Fulfilling Jewel
Victorious Banner
The “Victorious Banner” (Tib. Gyaltsen) was originally a military standard of ancient Indian warfare. Early Buddhism adopted the banner as a symbol of Buddha Shakyamuni’s triumph over the armies of Mara, the personification of obstacles on the path to enlightenment, whose demonic warriors bore it as an emblem. Legend says that this banner was placed at the summit of Mount Meru, the mythological centre of the cosmos, as a symbol of the Buddha’s victory over the entire universe. The top of the banner was surmounted by the “Wish Fulfilling Jewel” (Tib. Yidzhin Norbu), which is a famous epithet of the Karmapa…
July 2012 marked some of the most significant events in the history of the Karma Kagyu lineage in the United Kingdom: the Wish Fulfilling Jewel appeared once again in the UK, and a victorious banner was raised above the Beaufoy Institute in Lambeth. In the midst of the celebrations of the enormous success, after a long process of planning consultation, in planning permission being granted for Diamond Way Buddhism’s new London Centre at the Beaufoy Institute, H.H. 17th Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje arrived in the UK for a momentous 10 day visit.
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