The Dhammapadipa Temple, was originally established in 2002 by Phra Raja Pavana Wimol, the Abbot of The Buddhapadipa Temple in London. The Abbot stated he would like to promote Buddhism and establish a place for Thai Buddhists to congregate at in Scotland.
The temple can also be a place for every Buddhist to practice mindful meditation and Dharma. Therefore, the Abbot asked devout community members to help establish the temple in Scotland, by contacting the Thai-Scottish Association who were already an established Thai community group in Scotland. They agreed to help the Abbot on this new venture.
The project was led by Phra Maha Sangthong Thammajaro, Ms La-Ead Somtud as well as the devout community in London and Edinburgh.
After initially locating at temporary rented properties whilst it we became established, we found our home when we purchased the property for The Dhammapadipa Temple at 199 Slateford Road, Edinburgh, EH14 1LA.
It is acknowledged as the perfect place for our temple as it is close to the Thai community and convenient for people to travel to due to it is close proximity to Edinburgh’s city centre.
The temple has been developing and including the teaching of Buddhism, culture and traditions. They also work to support Thai people who are working, living and studying in Scotland and assist with liaison to partnership groups such as Police Scotland, local councils and Womens Aid.
We are now firmly seated in our local and national community as we embrace and enjoy working with our local schools, universities and other groups and charities. We present and develop projects for others and they assist ours.
In 2021 we carried out a major renovation of our building to provide a large prayer room for our community which will be fit for purpose for the next generation.
