About Our Community
A small, residental community of lay and ordained Buddhists located in Bitterne Park, Southampton. It also includes a flourishing wider community of families and people from many different backgrounds and walks of life.
The centre was established in 1996, by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso to give people living in Southampton and surrounding area the opportunity to learn to meditate and enjoy a peaceful and meaningful way of life.
We aim to provide an environment in which anyone can come and discover for themselves the techniques of meditation, and the peaceful Buddhist way of life. As a Kadampa Buddhist college, we provide a range of study programmes, from simple introductory meditation classes, day courses and retreats to more in-depth, systematic study programmes.
What is the New Kadampa Tradition Community?
With almost 1000 Kadampa Buddhist centres around the world, there are thousands of people now practicing Kadampa Buddhism under the guidance of Geshe Kelsang Gyatso.
The worldwide Kadampa community is like a global spiritual family because it offers us support and encouragement in our spiritual practice. It is very difficult to make spiritual progress without such help.
Kadampa practitioners are extremely diverse. There are people from all conceivable walks of life, professions and religious backgrounds. People of all ages mix easily at the different classes, centres and festivals.
Many young people are attracted to this tradition because it makes Buddha's teachings so relevant to their lives.