Three Wheels Temple

Three Wheels
Front door with logo & Buddha carved into stone at Three Wheels Temple
Religion
AffiliationJōdo Shinshū
SectHigashi Hongan-ji
1994
StatusActive
Location
LocationActon, London
CountryEngland
Interactive map of Three Wheels
Coordinates51°30′13″N 0°17′07″W / 51.503704°N 0.285351°W / 51.503704; -0.285351
Website
https://threewheels.org.uk/

Three Wheels is a Shin Buddhist temple in London, England, founded in 1994. It is the London branch of Shogyōji (正行寺), a temple in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, which has affiliations with the larger Higashi Hongan-ji (Ōtani-ha) branch of Shin Buddhism.: 286 

Zen garden at Three Wheels Temple, London, UK

The temple was founded by Kemmyō Taira Sato, a former pupil of D. T. Suzuki,: 10 : 291  supporting both the local Japanese diaspora and non-Japanese attendees. The temple is spread across three buildings, with a main building holding the primary altar and two separate buildings used for events and hosting guests, alongside a Zen garden. The Zen garden was designed by John White, art historian and professor at University College London,: 15–16  and it opened in 1997.: 290 

Three Wheels conducts daily services, meditation sessions, twice-yearly shokai retreats (a term coined from two characters meaning "to flow" and "to open") involving communal meals, dharma talks, and chanting,: 297  and services such as funerals and weddings. The temple also hosts bi-monthly eza gatherings, which feature dharma talks in English.: 289  The term "eza" means "to meet and sit": 296  and is a distinctive practice within the Shogyōji lineage of temples, compared with the wider Shin Buddhist movement.: 289 

Since 1997, Three Wheels has conducted a yearly Annual Ceremony to Pray for World Peace and Reconciliation between British and Japanese War Veterans.: 11 

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Matsunaga, Louella (14 July 2021). "Jōdo Shinshū in the UK: Impermanence, Precarity, and Change". Journal of Religion in Japan. 10 (1): 1–27. doi:10.1163/22118349-01002007. S2CID 237745705.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Kolata, Paulina (27 May 2023). "Navigating inclusion: 'home-making' in the UK Shin Buddhist community". Religion, State and Society. 51 (3): 283–299. doi:10.1080/09637494.2023.2212578.
  3. ↑ Watson, Sophie; Zanetti, Oliver (2016). "Religion as practices of attachment and materiality: the making of Buddhism in contemporary London" (PDF). Culture and Religion. 17 (3): 257–278. doi:10.1080/14755610.2016.1211544. S2CID 152187733.
  4. ↑ "The Zen Garden" (PDF). Three Wheels. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-08-11. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
  5. ↑ "2013 Foreign Minister's Commendation - Reverend Professor Kemmyo Taira Sato and Mr Keisaku Sano". Embassy of Japan in the UK. Retrieved 11 February 2024.

References