Faith

The Vajrapani Centre's shrine...

Buddhism is more than 2500 year old so it's not surprising that different traditions and practices have evolved over time. Until recently members of the New Kadampa Tradition were based in a small terraced-house in Belmont Street, Huddersfield but, as the community grew, there was a need to find new accommodation.

When Huddersfield's New Kadampa Buddhists first put in a bid for Birkby Baptist Church it was still being used for Christian worship. Today it's the Vajrapani Centre, providing a home for both lay and ordained members of the community. A Peace Cafe - anyone is welcome to drop in - has opened recently and a new Peace Garden is taking shape outside.

Kelsang Pagmo is a nun and teacher based at the Centre which she believes has found a very good home in the old church: "I think it's quite nice that it was used for spiritual purposes before because it's the same kind of thing. It's looking for something beyond the human condition. I think it's nice and I think it adds to it."

Lisa and resident teacher Kelsang Pagmo

Arriving at the centre we are greeted not only by Kelsang but by a very friendly labrador. Eight members of the community, including Kelsang, actually live at the Centre. Kelsang says: "The whole idea of living in a community is so we can integrate Buddhist teachings into our lives." She shows us one of the light and airy bedrooms that have been fitted in to the lowest floor of the old church. Upstairs we find the new Peace Cafe. With paintings around the wall, fresh flowers, comfortable seating and tables not to mention the light pouring in through the old church windows - it's a place both to chat and relax.

It's also somewhere to come if you want to start finding out about Buddhism. Children are brought here on school visits. Kelsang says: "We teach basic Buddhism which is actually very simple - happiness is a state of mind and we need to go within our own minds to find our states of peace and happiness rather than search for it in external things and that basically encompasses the teaching...

The Peace Cafe

"Absolutely that's what meditation is about. In fact with Buddhism everything is about the mind. It is actually the study of the mind because, if you believe that happiness and suffering are states of mind, then obviously you need to understand very clearly the nature and functions of the mind and so Buddhist teachings are based on the mind."

This is where meditation comes in. Kelsang likens this journey to a road map: "There are external rules like gravity - if you jump out of the window you will fall to the ground and there are internal laws - if you behave in certain ways then it has certain effects on the mind. You need to begin to understand and chart these for yourself to be able to develop fully."

Lisa - who has been a practising Buddhist for 10 years - says she too thinks of it as a road map: "And within that many people may 'stop' at different service stations and along the way they may stay in one particular area or go down minor roads." Even basic meditation classes can help: "You know that the breath and the mind are very related so if you control the breath then you naturally slow the mind down and I think just being able to have that space within you own mental environment helps you to deal with the business of everything. I've got a disabled child so for me it's very practical."

A new shrine for an old church...

We ask Kelsang if there is a defining moment when one considers oneself to have become a Buddhist as baptism for the Christians who once worshipped in this church. She says: "You begin to look for protection in the scriptures, in the sangha [spiritual community] and in the example of the Buddha but there's no baptism, or so on. It's a personal decision to become ordained but hopefully when you become ordained you are a Buddhist anyway. You can practise at whatever level you are happy with. You can come to the Centre on any kind of level that you wish. One of the nicest things about it is that there's no external judgement. We want people to use it within their own personal lives. Like Lisa, she's got a child, she can use it. I'm not in that situation so I have different choices to make and every individual has different choices."

But the spiritual heart of the building - as it was in the days of the Baptist Church - can be found on the floor above the cafe. Here is the shrine to Buddha and the main areas for meditation sitting alongside the old organ with its now gleaming pipes. The light carpets, the old woodwork and the bright colours of the shrine combine to make this - and the adjoining gallery - a very beautiful and welcoming space.

Kelsang believes the Vajrapani Centre definitely has a role to play in 21st century Huddersfield: "It's nice to have an area where people can just come in and you know not necessarily meditate in our way. If they just want to use the building as a place for peace and comfort and, you know, refuge in their own way, you know we are quite happy with that. We are just interested in providing the kind of environment where that sort of mental development occurs and that's what we hope to provide in Huddersfield - a place where people can develop within themselves and within the community."