In the 1980s, there were few Theravada Viharas in London, two prominent ones being The Buddhapadipa Vihara (Thai) in Wimbledon and the London Vihara (Sri Lankan) in Chiswick. Outside of London, there was the Amaravati Vihara in Hemel Hempstead and affiliated monasteries in Chithurst, Newcastle and Dundee, the Birmingham Buddhist Vihara, Buddhist Vihara in Wolverhampton and the Forest Hermitage in Warwick.

The desire to have a Burmese Buddhist Vihara in London had been in the minds of Burmese Buddhists for at least forty years, since the visit of Venerable U Thittila in the early 1940s. But the Burmese Buddhist population was very small at the time and the dream was not to be realised for another four decades.

Sayadaw Ven Rewatta Dhamma came to England in 1975 and established the West Midlands Buddhist Centre in Birmingham. He took every opportunity to encourage the Burmese Buddhists living in the country to establish a monastery in London where they could get guidance from their own Burmese Bhikkhus, practice traditional Theravada Buddhism, have social gatherings and send their children to learn Buddhism as well as keep up with the Burmese Language and Culture. It was largely thanks to his efforts that over the next five years the Burmese community had the opportunity to invite the two most eminent monks from Burma: During their short stay in England, the Most Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw and the Most Venerable Taungpulu Sayadaw encouraged the community to try and establish a Burmese monastery.

Similar encouragement also came from subsequent visiting eminent monks – Sayadaw U Janaka of Chanmyae Yeiktha monastery, Thabeik-Aing Sayadaw U Nyaneikthara and, once again, the Most Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw.

In the late 1970s, a wealthy businessman U Myat Saw, together with his wife Daw Sann Yee, ran a meditation centre at Oakenholt, Oxford for over ten years. In the absence of a Burmese Buddhist monastery in London, Oakenholt served as a temporary monastery for people who wanted to attend meditation retreat or to ordain as a monk for any length of time.

Finally, it was at the exhortation of the most Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw that the Britain Burma Buddhist Trust was founded.

Formation of the Britain Burma Buddhist Trust

On 14th February 1981 a meeting was held at 17 Wykeham Road, Hendon, (the residence of Daw Ohn Myint Aye), to establish the Britain Burma Buddhist Trust. The original founding members were U Maung Maung (George  Ba Oh), Daw Ohn Myint Aye, U Khin, U Sein Tun Aung, Dr Thein Thein Myint and Dr Win Maung. Daw Ohn Myint Aye was the Chairwoman, U Khin the Secretary and U Sein Tun Aung was the Treasurer of the trust. Sadly, U Maung Maung died in 1983 and later Dr Thein Thein Myint resigned due to other commitments.

This newly formed trust, with the help of the organising committee for ‘Establishment of a Burmese Vihara’, initiated a fundraising campaign. The Trust was registered as a charity in 1982, and began collecting funds to acquire the vihara. Within two years, the efforts of all the trustees, committee members, and generosity of well-wishers, culminated in generating enough funds to achieve their main objective.

Purchase of the Property

By early 1984, funds had increased to nearly £30K. However, for various reasons, attempts to purchase a property on two separate occasions were unsuccessful.

In June 1984 the Trustees had a pleasant surprise when the Bank informed them of a large anonymous donation of £35K which had been deposited into the Trust’s account. The second surprise came in January 1985 when a sum of £30K was donated by yet another anonymous donor which enabled the trustees to quickly find a suitable building for use as a vihara. Thus, the vihara at no. 1 Old Church Lane, Wembley Park, London NW9 8TG, formerly known as the “Heaven House” by the previous owners, was purchased at a cost of £110K.

On 27^th of October 1985 there was a large gathering at No. 1 Old Church Lane to celebrate the creation of the Vihara. Many Burmese people attended, joined by friends of other nationalities who were interested in Buddhism. Among the venerable bhikkhus present on that occasion were the Most Venerable Anandamaitreya, Ven. Dr. Saddhatissa, Ven. Dr. Rewatta Dhamma, Ven. Sayadaw U Nyanika, Ven. Phra Medhidhammacaraya (Chief Abbot of the Thai Buddhist  monastery), Ajahn Sumedho (President of the English Sangha Trust at Amaravati) and Ven. Khemadhammo. His Excellency U Tin Tun, the Burmese Ambassador to the United Kingdom at that time and some senior members of the Embassy staff were also among the large audience.

Once the Vihara was established, the plan was to invite monks from Myanmar to teach Theravada Buddhism. The founding trustees and Sayadaw Ven. Rewatta Dhamma established at the beginning that monks will be invited from Mahasi Yangon Monastery to reside at the Vihara for the duration of no more than two to three years for each monk. This aims to give many learned monks from Myanmar a chance to do missionary work outside of Myanmar in a two-to-three year cycle allowing them to experience different cultures, whilst the yogis and devotees in London benefit from the combined wisdom and teachings of many monks. The first residing monks were Ven. Sayadaw U Nyanika Myaungmya Sayadaw followed by Ven. Sayadaw U Pannasami, and Ven. Sayadaw U Pannasiha. A list of the monks who have completed their duty-cycle at the London Vihara can be found here.