For the past 20 years, Kendal’s Buddhist Society group have had the pleasure of hosting visits and lessons from Venerable Piyatissa who brings over 50 years of knowledge and experience to the group.

Venerable Piyatissa, who began his journey in Buddhism at the University of Sri Lanka, and has spread his teachings of meditation, Buddhist culture and the Precepts and Dhamma Teachings of Buddhism.

The five precepts of the Buddhist teachings include:

1) I undertake the rule of training to refrain from killing living beings.

2) I undertake the rule of training to refrain from taking what is not given.

3) I undertake the rule of training to refrain from sexual misconduct.

4) I undertake the rule of training to refrain from false speech.

5) I undertake the rule of training to refrain from drugs and drink which tend to cloud the mind.

Venerable Piyatissa has been bringing lessons to Kendal for twenty years. The group was founded in 1999 and works closely with the Keswick group and various other organisations around the UK.

Venerable Piyatissa has been based at Manchester’s Ketumati Buddhist Vihara since 1999.

Before Covid, he would travel to Kendal every month to spread his teachings, however since lockdown the group have adapted using online forums.

He has also taught in Stoke, Wolverhampton and various other groups across England.

He said: “Kendal is a very nice place and when observing the people, I notice that they are always local.

“When meeting people in Manchester, they come from all over but in Kendal almost everyone you meet will be from the local area.

“When teaching our principles, the meditation is very significant in the teachings as it is a good way of healing the mind.

“We also focus on helping people get rid of disturbing thoughts. It is not about just letting go of them but dealing with their thoughts and feelings directly.

“I aspire to continue with these important principles, as well as expanding on community meditation, learning on kindness and ways of giving more.

“Buddhism is not a mere religion. Buddhism is the way of life that means the spirit can live on and all different types of people can join.

“From the environment to the sunrise, all these things are held in us.

“The moral precepts we teach are on respecting all forms of life, not just human beings, but other creatures and animals.

“We need to respect life, not destroy or harm it.

“When we are dealing with other people’s possessions and properties, we need to respect them as well as their family life.

“The principle leads us to be honest, trustworthy, not to lie and not to abuse.

“Finally, when dealing with any forms of alcohol we need to be very careful as these can cloud the mind.

“These are the basic moral code for the Buddhist people and anybody can understand their importance and how we can be the best possible people we are, and to make it a better society.”

Jacquetta Gomes, Joint Founder of BGKT Buddhist Group of Kendal in 1991, said: “We are very privileged to have him at our centre and for him to spread his teachings. We are delighted to have him as a guest and how his visits enhance the group.

“As we are a lay group we feel very strongly about being a lay group and what that entails.”

Venerable Piyatissa added: "My own experience living in this country with the British people, when we look at the Buddhist principles, I can see that their conventional laws are similar to the Buddhist way of life.

“I think a lot of people can benefit in their lives by reading some of the teachings of Buddhism and get many things from their guide lines and moral codes.”