This a Buddhist temple that was set up in 1990 by the East Midlands Buddhist Association. It is located in the Braunstone area of Leicester and was paid for by donations from the public and EMBA members. We offer Buddhist services to the community and help to anyone who visits with an interest in Buddhism or meditation.  We host various festivals, meetings and meditation groups with visitors travelling from across the Midlands and the UK.

Shrine Room Buddha StatueThe main area of the Vihara is the shrine room, which is used for group meetings, religious practice, meditation and chanting.  It houses a 4-foot tall seated Buddha statue brought over from Sri Lanka which serves as a reminder of the Buddha’s teachings.  There is meditation equipment of various sorts for use by visitors.

The Vihara provides accommodation for up to three experienced Buddhist monks who have trained in Sri Lankan monasteries and kindly travelled here to provide spiritual help and leadership to the Buddhist community.  The monks offer their experience and services to all visitors and are happy to give Dhamma talks, meditation instruction, blessings, chanting and counselling.  People who are new to Buddhism and meditation are especially welcome to speak to the monks and ask any questions they might have. When invited, the monks often visit homes, schools and hospitals to give blessings, teachings and information.

Regular visitors and followers like to make offerings and donations of food (Dana) and on most days a ceremony is held at the Vihara where offerings are made to the Buddha and to the monks followed by chanting and a Dhamma talk. From time to time we are lucky enough receive visits from prominent Buddhist teachers who kindly give talks at the Vihara.

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Leicester Buddhist Vihara Shrine Room Buddha Statue

Our library contains hundreds of Buddhist books covering many aspects of Buddhism in various languages such as English, Thai, Singhalese, Mandarin Chinese and Japanese.  Visitors are welcome to use the library and we provide a facility to borrow books from the lending section.  We also keep a selection of free Buddhism books and audio CD’s (subject to availability).

We host large annual events that appear on the Buddhist calendar such as the Remembrance Day and the Katina ceremony which usually take place at the nearby Braunstone Civic Centre or Blaby Social Centre.  These events are very popular and people travel across the UK to join in.  Details of future events will be posted on the Events page.

Vihara Timetable

Mondays 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm
Dhamma Study

Saturdays 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Meditation and Dhamma discussion

Sundays (Twice a month) 3.30 pm – 6.00 pm
Dhamma school for children

All other times Open as usual (9:00 am to 9:00 pm)

Please Note: This timetable is for guidance only. Please check with the Vihara for the latest information. Also, check the Events page for changes to the schedule.

Upcoming Religious Events / ඉදිරි ආගමික වැඩසටහන්

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Buddhist Philosophy
Transform Life,
Way of Eradicating Suffering

Special Notice.
The new EMBA Committee for 2024-25 was appointed at The Annual General Meeting on Sunday 10th March 2024.

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EMBA Committee

The new members of the EMBA management committee are sworn in at the AGM held every year. The committee comprises of a President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and 5 committee members.
The committee works closely with Trustees and is responsible for the overall management of the EMBA and the daily activities of the Leicester Buddhist Vihara.

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The origin and the start of the EMBA

Most of you may be unaware of the origin of the establishment of the East Midlands Buddhist Association (EMBA) and the Leicester Buddhist Vihara and the sustained efforts and the difficulties faced initially.

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Leicester Buddhist Society

We meet on Friday evenings at fortnightly intervals at the house of one of our members in Oadby. Meetings start at 7:45 pm, and finish at around 10:00 pm, and include meditation and Dhamma discussion.

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Latest Sermons

Dhamma Talk 2 – English Medium

By Ven. Usgoda Dhammagaru, 03/10/2021 6:00 pm

Dhamma Talk 1 – English Medium

By Ven. Usgoda Dhammagaru, 03/10/2021 6:00 pm

Dhamma Talk – English Medium

By Dr Anthony Fletcher, 22/08/2021 6:00 pm

ලෙස්ටර් විහාරවාසී පූජ්‍ය මාරස්සන සද්දානන්ද ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේගේ සුභාසිංශනය

උත්තිට්ඨෙ නපපමජ්ජෙය්‍ය
ධම්මං සුචරිතං චරෙ
ධම්මචාරි සුඛං සෙති
අසමිං ලොකෙ පරං හිච

නිතර නැගී සිටීමද
පමා නොවීමද
සුචරිතයෙහි යෙදීමද
මෙසේ ධර්මයේ හැසිරෙන්නා මෙලොව පරලොව සුවසේ වෙසෙත්..

වෛරයෙන් හිංසනයෙන් භීෂණයෙන් කැලැබුනු වර්තමාන ලෝකයට සාර්ථකව මුහුණ දීමට භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේ විසින් දේශනාකොට වදාළ ශ්‍රී සද්ධර්මය මහත් රුකුලක් බව අවිවාදනීයය.

එම සද්ධර්මය ගුරුකොට ගනිමින් එක්සත් රාජධාණිය තුල පුරා 29 වසරක සාඩම්බර ඉතිහායකට උරුමකම් කියන ලෙස්ටර් බෞද්ධ විහාරය සුවහසක් බොදු දනන්ගේ ජාතික ආගමික සාමාජික කටයුතු සිදු කරලමින් අභිමානවත් ගමනක නියැලෙමින් සිටින විහාරස්ථානයකි.

සිංහල බෞද්ධ ජනී ජනයාගේ මෙන්ම බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය පුරවැසියන්ගේද දහම් පිපාසය සංසිදුවාලීමට විශාල මෙහෙවරක් විහාරස්ථානය තුලින් සිදු වෙන බව නොරහසකි.

යතාර්ථවාදි සනාතන බුදු දහම නිවැරදිව අවබෝධකරගනිමින් ධර්මානුකූලව ජීවත්වන්නේ නම් තත්කාලීන සමාජය තුලින් මතුවන ගැටලු වලට නිවැරදිව මුහුණ දෙමින් සැනසිලිමත් ජීවිතයක් ගත කරන්නට ලැබෙන පිටුවහල අපමණය.

තවත් චිරාත් කාලයක් ලෝ වැසි බොදු දනන්ගේ දහම් පිපාසය සංසිදුවාලමින් අප්‍රතිහත ගමනක නියැලීමට ශක්තිය ලැබේවායි ප්‍රාර්ථනා කරමු.

තෙරුවන් සරණයි
ලෙස්ටර් විහාරවාසී පූජ්‍ය මාරස්සන සද්දානන්ද

Message from the Leicester Vihara resident Monk Ven. Marassana Sadhananda Thero

Leicester Buddhist Vihara is one of the oldest temples in the UK that has a very long and illustrious history. Since it’s inception 29 years ago, it has come a long way and thanks to a handful of an extremely dedicated group of devotees, today it is a spiritual and a social hub to a large number of both Sri Lankan Buddhist devotees and other citizens in the United Kingdom.
It is a place where anyone can practice Dhamma freely and peacefully. It is a place where compassion and loving-kindness is nurtured, and one learns to forgive and live without hatred, fear or anger.

I sincerely hope Leicester Buddhist Vihara will continue to grow from strength to strength and be able to offer a great service to the Buddhist community in the UK.

May the Triple Gem Bless you all
Ven. Marassana Sadhananda Thero.

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