About Us
The Mid Essex Buddhist Centre is at the heart of a thriving, friendly community of practicing Buddhists. We run daily meditation and Buddhism classes, courses, and study groups for all levels of experience, host day events for Buddhist festival days and other special events, and run several weekend retreats per year.
We are part of the Triratna Buddhist Community, a worldwide Buddhist movement in over 20 countries teaching and practicing Buddhism suitable for people, at all levels of commitment, living in the modern world.
The Aim and Vision of the Mid Essex Buddhist Centre is to create an environment where Spiritual Friendship & Sangha can flourish to enable people to grow and develop towards their full potential through Meditation & the Study of Buddhism. We are open to everyone, regardless of race, gender, age, religion, identity, and experience.
Read our full story below.
Volunteer Coordinators & Trustees
According to Buddhist tradition, Maitreya is a bodhisattva who is prophesied to appear on Earth, achieve complete Enlightenment, and teach the Dharma. According to scriptures, Maitreya's teachings will be similar to those of Gautama Buddha (also known as Śākyamuni Buddha).
The arrival of Maitreya is prophesied to occur during an era when the teachings of Gautama Buddha have been forgotten by most of the terrestrial world.
Our Values
Our History
The Dengie Centre began in 2011 by a group of like-minded persons who wished to meditate and study Buddhism meeting on a regular basis. Until July, 2013, the study class had a number of temporary homes.
By mid 2013 it was clear that a growing number of people were interested in meditation. At this time, the premises at Marine House in Mayland came free and in July 2013 became the permanent home of the centre which was called the Dengie Buddhist Meditation Centre.
In the autumn of 2015, The Dengie Buddhist Meditation Centre, joined together with a Buddhist group who originate from the Hockley area to form The Mid Essex Budhhist Centre (MEBC). The Centre belongs to the Triratna Buddhist Community and Order which was formed in 1967 (then known as The Friends of the Western Buddhist Order) when the founder Sangharakshita returned to the UK having spent 20 years studying as a monk in India. Since this time nearly every major city and town in the UK is now home to a Triratna Buddhist Group or Centre. Each Centre is a registered charity in their own right and are financially independent. However, all follow the same Buddhist Triratna principles. It is an international Buddhist Movement with over 60 centres across the 5 continents. There is a particularly large following in India, consisting of the former Untouchables who converted to Buddhism to escape their poverty by birth. As it gained international standing, the original name of Western Buddhist Order no longer felt appropriate and the Movement was re-named Triratna Buddhist Community and Order in 2010.
in February 2017, the MEBC moved to a rented property in the South Woodham Ferrers town centre. Since then the Centre has attracted a growing number of members.
in April 2023, we moved to our current premises in Chelmsford.
In our recent history, we have celebrated dozens of Mitra Ceremonies and many of our Mitras have asked for ordination.
Safeguarding
As an expression of our commitment to the Buddhist precepts, we are committed to ensuring everyone who comes to our centre is safe and those involved in teaching and running the centre always act appropriately and with integrity. To help us achieve this we provide a number of safeguarding and ethical policies explaining our practices.
For anything relating to safeguarding , contact safeguarding.mebc@protonmail.com
Privacy
As an expression of our commitment to the Buddhist precepts of honesty and of not taking the not giving, we are committed to only using the data we hold about the people involved in activities at our centre responsibly, and being clear about the way your information is collected and used. To help us achieve this we provide a privacy policy explaining our practices and the choices you can make.