The History of Buddhafield

Buddhafield, as we know it today, was started by a pioneering crew (from the Croydon Buddhist Centre) who decided to take meditation classes to the Healing Fields at Glastonbury festival. They were inspired by a vision to bring a new perspective to festival goers.

Supported by Jacob Jones (the manager of the healing fields) who provided 12 free tickets and loaned one of his marquees. Over 100 people turned up. There were not enough cushions, nor mugs (the crew drove to local charity shops and cleared out all the mugs). In the background Tom Petty was playing on the main stage. 

This experience inspired a wave of fundraising at Croydon Buddhist Centre including sponsored all night meditations and selling malas to fund classes for the 1993 festival season.

The van sold eggs, bread and sausages from the burger van to a massive queue of hungry festival-goers. By the end of the year, the van was magically transformed into a sauna.

The Green Buddha Cafe (as it became known) was set up to as a fundraising initiative to fund the festival meditation classes.

This year saw the 1st summer retreat with about 90 retreatants, all cooked for everyone on one fire. Thanks again to the generosity of Jacob who donated his field. As a thank you gift everyone was asked to pull up 10 thistles so the field was cleared.

This year saw even more activities including the Green Buddha Cafe, camps and teaching, and the first festival called by Lokabandhu “The festival of temporary and ultimate delight. “ 300-400 people gathered in the "Big Field" owned by Teddy Stones.

Buddhafield came into being as a legal entity "Samaya Project Limited".

VJ developed the 'barley cup' method of measuring burgers - using a lid wrapped with cling film and plopping the round burger mix onto the grill.  This method still exists today!

Buddhafield bought its 2nd piece of land Frog Mill. 17 acres on Dartmoor, bought with the help of loans from friends.

Frog Mill affectionately becomes known as 'A home for Village and child-friendly activities'. Built of the principles of "it takes a village to raise a child" and the efforts of pioneering women Dharma practitioners in the 1990's with children forging a way to practice.

Buddhafield hosted the 2nd Total Immersion retreat. Led by Kamalashila and Paramananda and guest teachers such as Vessantara and Vajradevi. Total Immersion is now firmly rooted in the Buddhafield Calendar based at Bowerwood with Paramananda as the lead teacher along with guest teachers.

In an interview for the Buddhafield Base project Muditajina describes a Buddhafield low point " Probably 2012 – it was hard. Every event we did – Buddhafield Cafe, retreats, and Buddhafield Festival – was just completely washed out. I remember being at Sunrise Festival with the café; the main arena was a mud lake. You had to wade through it. The flags had all blown down, everyone had gone home, the cafe had a sea of mud flowing into the seating area…”

In the words of a festival goer “Another transformative festival. Wading through mud in the worst camping conditions ever, I made such enriching connections, underwent profound healing, shook my booty like never before, met loving beings from every realm and awoke to a new inner world. Thank you for this beautiful beautiful place.”

On 1st November 2012 Devapriya dies peacefully.  In his obituary on The Buddhist Centre Lokabandhu writes "He was ordained by Sangharakshita in 1981 and had played a significant part in many aspects of the Triratna Buddhist Community for over three decades, especially in establishing the very successful ‘Dharma Parents’ retreats for families and children at Buddhafield and elsewhere."

2019 sees the creation of the Eco-Sattva manifesto. A vision for Buddhafield and the seeds of the Buddhafield Base project emerge.

At the end of thie year Buddhafield has a new chair Amaragita, who begins to introduce the Mandate System a system that organises teams and enables decision-making.

Buddhafield is known for its deeply devotional rituals and pujas, many of which were created by Dhiramati such as the iconic Padmasambhava of Blazing Light Puja. In this year his Collected Puja's book was published by Triratna In-house Publications. The book is a reflection of many years of practice delving into the imaginal world. Weaving threads of magic and mystery into devotional rituals, honouring the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, as well as paying homage to the shamanic and pagan traditions of our ancestors and lands.

Kamalashila passed away on 5th October.  He was a much respected meditation teacher within the Triratna Buddhist Community and had a long association with Buddhafield. He had been the Buddhafield President and also led the Total Immersion retreats. In this blog Kamalashila describes how Total Immersion came into being at Buddhafield in 2006.

A heartfelt thank you to all those people who have contributed by sharing their memories and whose images have been used to create this history of Buddhafield. Photo credits include Triratna Photos and Fraser Donachie.