Shanthi Vihara, Nottingham
Shanthi Vihara and Meditation Centre, based in Nottingham, is a registered charity in England and Wales. We are a proud Buddhist society, providing religious services and aiding the development of other services, particularly in Sri Lanka, as well as within the community, irrespective of their individual religion and beliefs. A sacred place of teaching; we focus on the practice of mindfulness through meditation and host a program monthly, designed for children, where they can develop spiritual practices and disciples by understanding cultural and traditional values.
Opening of Shanthi vihara
Current Services
Children and youth living away from the Motherland face the prospect of forgetting their roots and the Daham Pasala prevents this from happening. Not only they are taught Dhamma but also Sinhala Language, one of the most beautiful and versatile languages in the world. They are trained to take part in cultural activities like traditional dancing. The dedicated staff do a wonderful voluntary job.
In addition to organising religious celebrations like Vesak, Poson, traditional rituals like Vas and Kathina, Shanthi Vihara also organises cultural events like Sinhala and Tamil New Year Festival. Even Sri Lankans’ craze for cricket is not forgotten.
However, Venerable Amitha’s foremost aim is the spread of the practice of meditation far and wide. Meditation, a practice originating in India over 3000 years ago, was revolutionised by the Buddha. He introduced a new type of meditation, Vipassana, which is shown to be far superior to other types. Vipassana, Mindfulness Meditation, helps one to live in the moment (not, for the moment), not getting depressed about the past or anxious about the future. Of late, there has been tremendous worldwide interest, more so because of the ever-increasing scientific data showing benefits of Mindfulness Meditation. Though the Buddha showed it as a means to ‘Ultimate Detachment’, it is bringing so much of worldly benefits that some governments have already adopted it as a part of the policy to improve performance of students as well as to improve the behaviour of those in correctional facilities.
Resident Monks
Venerable Teldeniyaye Amitha
Venerable Teldeniyaye Amitha is the head of Shanthi Vihara. He bacame a Buddhist Monk 32 years ago and is a graduate of the University of Peradeniya, He is in-charge of overall activities and conducts Mindfulness Meditation classes in many venues.
Venerable Anamaduwe Wimalajeewa
Venerable Anamaduwe Wimalajeewa, ordained as a Buddhist Monk 19 years ago. He is a graduate of the University of Colombo.
Venerable Nepalaye Suwachaseela
Born in Nepal but educated in Sri Lanka, Rev Suwachaseela Thero became a Monk 15 years ago. He is a graduate of the University of Colombo. He is currently the Principal of Nottingham Dhamma School.