Searching for inner peace with Harrogate’s Buddhists

From the outside, it looks like a normal terraced house on a Harrogate backstreet, but inside its followers practice the ancient and mystical religion Buddhism.

Around 60 people in Harrogate are practicing Buddhists and visit Harrogate’s Dechen Buddhist Centre on Granville Road.

It has a shrine upstairs for meditation and a meeting room to discuss the teachings of the Buddha, a religious leader who lived more than 2,500 years ago in what is now Nepal.

Followers of Buddhism don’t worship a supreme god or deity. Instead, they focus on achieving their goal of enlightenment, or Nirvana, which they say is a state of inner peace and wisdom.

Buddhism has traditionally been most popular in East and Southeast Asia, but its influence is growing in the west.

David Bullock started following Buddhism 14 years ago after a local newspaper article tweaked his interest.

He said:

“I was looking for a religion and I knew Christianity wasn’t the one. I bought the Knaresborough Post one Friday evening and saw an article about a Buddhist Lama that had been to Harrogate. It gave a phone number, I rang that, and got to speak to someone. 

“I’ve never believed in God anyway. If there was a God and he’s as powerful as the Bible leads us to believe, then why can’t he stop all this violence in the world?”

Howard Quinn said Buddhism has helped him come to terms with a traumatic childhood.

He said:

“I gradually realised that was a set of experiences that stopped defining me, and that’s the thing of the teachings, they are about the rediscovery of the heart, it’s not an intellectual process.”

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Inner peace

The Buddha’s most important teachings, known as The Four Noble Truths, are essential to understanding the religion.

These teachings involve discarding negative emotions such as hatred, anger and jealousy.

The centre in Harrogate is visited by Lama Jampa Thaye twice a year. A Lama is a spiritual guide and has the authority to impart the Buddha’s teachings.

Greg Tunesi used to be a regular churchgoer but said joining Buddhism has been a life-changing experience.

“It’s brought a deep and profound inner peace and joy which is wonderful actually.

“Everybody is searching for true happiness and deep peace to avoid pain dissatisfaction and disappointment. That’s a glue that pulls everybody together, but we don’t always behave in a way that facilities joy. We get caught up in everyday stuff.”

In the shrine room.

Meditation is a key aspect of Buddhism and the path to enlightenment.

The centre offers meditation sessions every Wednesday at 10am and 7.15pm and on Saturdays at 11.15am.

Afterwards, they discuss a Buddhist teaching together and how it relates to their own lives and experiences.

Mr Tunesi said:

“Meditation gives us a real opportunity to observe and quieten that busy mind. Many of us think, ‘we are our thoughts’, but we’re much more. Our thoughts are random things that come and go.

“Once we’ve quietened the mind there’s an opportunity to really reflect on an aspect of the teachings and integrate it into our everyday existence.”

Goodness in life

Mr Quinn said many people come to Buddhism after facing trauma, illness or upheaval in their lives.

He said meditation and the teachings help soften the raw emotions that sometimes come with change.

Mr Quinn said:

“We appreciate what we have much more and see the goodness in life in a much clearer way. We spend much more time living in the moment and much less time reliving negative experiences and habits from the past or worrying what might happen in the future.”

Inside the Buddhist centre

Buddhists believe in karma, which is a philosophy that has transcended the religion and is something many of us are all familiar with.

Mr Tunesi added:

“Be kind and don’t be a cause of suffering, if the whole world was operating like that, goodness me, there wouldn’t be so many people tooting their horn if someone has held them up for a second!”

If you’re interested in learning more about the Dechen Buddhist Centre call 01423 881647 or email info@yorkshirebuddhistcommunity.com

Harrogate residents form group to fight £10.9m Station Gateway

Harrogate town centre residents have formed a group to oppose the £10.9m Station Gateway project, which they say will increase traffic and pollution and reduce the value of their homes.

Granville Road Area Residents Association is a long established group representing about 250 homes in the streets close to Cheltenham Parade and Cheltenham Mount.

Members are now setting up a Gateway Action Group to oppose the gateway scheme. They say the consultation has been rushed and fails to take into account their views. They are also upset that a full environmental impact assessment wasn’t deemed necessary for such a major scheme.

Karl Battersby, corporate director, business and environmental services at North Yorkshire County Council, which is leading on the gateway, said it doesn’t think the project will have a significant impact on streets off Cheltenham Parade.

But residents aren’t convinced and formulated plans to act at two meetings at North Bar this week.

Jo Bagley, chair of Granville Road Area Residents Association, said the scheme would push traffic away from the largely commercial Cheltenham Parade into residential areas such as Granville Road, Back Granville Road, Mount Parade, Back Cheltenham Mount and Strawberry Dale Avenue. She said:

“The consultation questions were not relevant for people who live in the area affected. We don’t go into Harrogate — we are in Harrogate,

“A lot of us run businesses and we need to be able to get in and out and I forsee the area being gridlocked.”

Computer data

Colin Anderson, who lives on Granville Road, said his main concern was the volume of traffic that would be diverted on to the narrow Mount Parade if plans to make a section of Cheltenham Mount one way are approved.

He added:

“Traffic will be sitting here with their engines running. Those in charge of the scheme haven’t stood here watching the traffic — they use computer data.”

Mount Parade traffic gateway

Traffic on Mount Parade today.

Resident Nick Karpik said those leading the scheme had “manipulated” numbers from the previous consultation to falsely claim the scheme had public support.

Rachel Melvin, who has lived on Granville Road for 28 years, said:

“They are not solving the problem. They are moving it to a residential area and it will increase noise and pollution.”

Ms Melvin added that even if claims traffic would only increase in each street by two cars a minute were correct, that could still amount to more than 2,000 cars per day in the area.

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Residents also face the loss of four parking spaces on Cheltenham Parade, for which they have permits. They say this will make parking more difficult, and the knock-on effects of reduced parking throughout Harrogate would encourage more motorists to use the disc zone area in streets outside their homes.

Rachael Inchboard, who is a member of Harrogate Civic Society as well as a local resident, said the gateway scheme would have a profound impact on Harrogate conservation area yet most residents weren’t aware of it until they received letters from the council on October 22 giving them notice of the intention to develop. They now have just nine days until the consultation ends.

The council’s response

Karl Battersby, corporate director, business and environmental services, said:

“We don’t envisage significant impacts on the streets off Cheltenham Parade. Traffic modelling has assessed the potential impact of the proposed changes. In the worst-case scenario, which is the afternoon peak hour, we do not anticipate a significant increase in vehicles on these streets.

“The streets where the greatest increases are predicted in this hour are Bower Road, with an average increase of two or three vehicles per minute, and Cheltenham Mount, with an average increase of one or two vehicles per minute.

“We are in the middle of a public consultation in which we encourage as many people as possible to make their views known. All views will be taken into account before final decisions are made on how we will take the proposals forward.

“In addition to the online consultation – which I encourage people to complete at yourvoice.westyorks-ca.gov.uk/harrogate – project officers have seen many residents face to face at drop-ins in the Victoria shopping centre. If people have not yet given us their views, I urge them to do so before the consultation ends on 12 November.”

What is the Harrogate Station Gateway?

The Harrogate scheme is one of three projects worth a combined £42m in Harrogate, Skipton and Selby funded by the Leeds City Region Transforming Cities Fund, which encourages cycling and walking.

They are being delivered in partnership by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, North Yorkshire County Council, Harrogate Borough Council, Craven District Council and Selby District Council.

A consultation is currently taking place on the revised designs. It is anticipated that work in Harrogate will begin by the middle of next year.