Wat Charoenbhavana
Encyclopedia
On 8 February 2004 saw the establishment of Wat Charoenbhavana, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

 - also known in English as the North-West Centre for Buddhist Meditation. It is the first Thai Buddhist temple the Northwest of England. It is presently located in a converted curtain-rail factory in Salford
City of Salford
The City of Salford is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It is named after its largest settlement, Salford, but covers a far larger area which includes the towns of Eccles, Swinton-Pendlebury, Walkden and Irlam which apart from Irlam each have a population of over...

.

The temple was named Wat Charoenbhavana (Manchester) by the Thai community (lit. `the temple for cultivation of meditation') and was consecrated with the blessing of the Most Ven. Phrarajbhavanavimol head of the Thai Buddhist mission to England.

The temple was accepted as an official place for religious worship (no.81212) on 4 June 2004 with the help of the Thai Culture Forum UK.

Originally the temple had no Buddha image. The eight-foot Buddha image which has pride of place in the main shrine room was rescued from a roadside in Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...

.

Presently the temple runs a variety of pastoral services for the Buddhist community in Manchester and marks most of the events in the Thai Buddhist calendar. A variety of evening classes on Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...

 and meditation
Meditation
Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....

are run on weekdays and Thai language classes on weekends.

External links

  • http://www.thaitemple.org/html/link_03.html (entry 6)
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