Ganden Buddhist Centre

Welcome to the web site of Ganden Buddhist Centre (and The World Peace Café) situatedon North Bridge, Halifax, our Buddhist Centre and Café are a unique development, creating a blend of healthy eating, relaxed lifestyle and peace of mind. We offer meditation classes for relaxation, in-depth study of Buddhism, vegetarian food and is open for everyone to enjoy.

Ganden Centre is part of The New Kadampa Tradition of Buddhism and has been running classes in Halifax since 1993. Our move to North Bridge in 2003 saw the addition of The World Peace Cafe and has been a haven of tranquillity, good food and education ever since.

The New Kadampa Tradition – International Kadampa Buddhist Union – is a worldwide union of Buddhist Centres that follow the tradition of Mahayana Buddhism derived from the Buddhist meditators Atisha and Je Tsongkhapa. The founder of The New Kadampa Tradition is Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. For more information on our tradition visit www.kadampa.org. We run meditation classes, in depth study classes and Buddhist study classes, follow the various links to find out times and places. Many of them are run at the centre but lots are held throughout Calderdale.

Give us a call, follow the links on the site, drop us an email or just call in to find more details. Classes run at various times from lunchtime to evenings and we would definitely love to hear from you.

All of the meals we prepare including, sandwiches, cakes, coffees, teas and drinks we serve are 100% vegetarian, fresh and made by hand. You can be sure that food we provide is good for your health. The coffees we sell are specially blended for a smooth mellow flavour. We also have a number of speciality teas, delicious smoothies and soft drinks.

“I moved to Halifax during the summer of 2011 to be closer to the woman I love, and ended up falling in love with the World Peace Cafe as well. As a vegetarian it can be quite hard to find somewhere selling honest, home-cooked vegetarian food which tastes as good as it looks. I can honestly say that Susie and I look forward to our World Peace Cafe lunches… “

The more familiar our mind is with virtue, the calmer and more peaceful it becomes. When our mind is peaceful we are free from worries and mental discomfort, and we experience true happiness.

If we train our mind to become peaceful we will be happy all the time, even in the most adverse conditions. But if our mind is not peaceful, even if we have the most pleasant external conditions we will not be happy. Therefore it is important to train our mind through meditation. There are two types of meditation: analytical meditation and placement meditation. When we contemplate the meaning of a Dharma instruction that we have heard or read we are doing analytical meditation. By deeply contemplating the instruction, eventually we reach a conclusion or cause a specific virtuous state of mind to arise. This is the object of placement meditation.