Welcome to Tendai Europe

The philosophy and doctrines of Tendai Buddhism originates in the Chinese T'ien-t'ai school, but was brought to Japan by the 8th century monk, Saicho.

It is now also present in the West; Tendai Buddhist Institute in USA is an ordination platform for priests in America and Europe.

The European Tendai sanghas are organized under Tendai Buddhist Institute, and offer Meditation Services, celebration of traditional Buddhist holidays, retreats and other activities.

What is so unique about Tendai, compared to the many other Buddhist schools present in the West?

The answer is obvious – to us. We enjoy the inclusiveness of the One Vehicle. All the many teachings and practice-forms come together here, in the Ekayana, the One Vehicle to the enlightenment of the Buddha. We all come to the Buddhist Path with different experiences, different karma. In Tendai, every single individual is met, helped and guided, where they are. There is a number of Tendai sanghas in the West who distribute newsletters, maintain web sites, or keeps libraries of important Buddhist texts.

Yakushi-do in Romsey, UK

Reverend Ganshin Rock graduated from a grammar school in London, specializing in English. During World War II, he served as a glider pilot since he had studied aeronautical engineering. After the war, he lived in Japan as a corporate executive for a telecommunication company in Tokyo.

Rev. Ganshin is also a member of the Endorsement Authority for Buddhist Chaplains in the UK Armed Forces.

During the period from 1982 to 1986, Rev. Ganshin regularly attended the Buddhist English Academy, where he met Professor Ichishima at his temple in Chiba-ken.

Having returned to the UK in 1986, he started his service to propagate Buddhism at his private residence and enshrined the Yakushi Nyorai he had obtained 40 years before. Presently he gives a weekly meditation class and regular sessions on Mahayana Buddhism from the Tendai-shu perspective for his ten regular students.

In 1988, Rev. Ganshin worked at the hospital as an Occupational Therapy Assistant with mentally ill patients for three years in order to gain more insight into human suffering and subsequently continued to work as a volunteer at the Southampton General Hospital.

In 1982, he was appointed Consultant to Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai with the responsibility of disseminating copies of their book "The Teaching of Buddha" in hotels, schools, hospitals, and other institutions throughout the country and is sometimes asked to give lectures on Buddhism at local schools and other institutions.

During the troubles in Northern Ireland, he made efforts to promote inter-faith dialog. One of the actions that he took was visiting Northern Ireland to share Buddhist teachings in order to help establish peace between the Catholics and the Protestants. He then sent a detailed report to the Prime Minister of the UK and urged him to intensify dialog with all the conflicting parties. In this way, Rev. Ganshin commits himself to spreading the Dharma by all possible means.

You can contact Rev. Ganshin at ganshin@sky.com

Welcome to Tendai Europe

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