• King William 315 Lecture Theatre (LT KW315)
• Old Royal Naval College
• London SE10 9LS London
• United Kingdom
• Tuesday, 26 February 2013 from 18:30 to 20:30
• For Further Info and to Reserve Tickets: tomturnerbuddhistgardens.eventbrite.co.uk

The Sustainable Landscapes Research Group are pleased to announce the forthcoming talk by Tom Turner on Buddhist Gardens and a talk by Simon Drury Brown on the Druk White Lotus School  in Ladakh, in India.

Tom is a world authority on landscape and garden history and he will review gardens and landscapes designed under the influence of Buddhism, as the world faith which has had most influence on garden and landscape design. Siddhārtha Gautama Buddha, who founded the faith, was born in a garden, became enlightened in a garden, gave his first sermon in a garden, spent each monsoon in a garden and died in a garden. His followers built monasteries in gardens and, at a later date, made gardens which symbolise the nature of the cosmos

In 2012 Simon Drury-Brown graduated from the University of Greenwich and then spent three months in Ladakh working on the Druk White Lotus School (DWLS – see Wikipedia article).  Simon will talk about the work, to create a beautiful, sustainable and productive landscape in an extreme environment at the school. The children will learn amid fruit, flowers, greenery and native plants. The school buildings were designed by Arup Associates and have won many awards. The project is funded by the Drukpa Trust, a charity which counts  the Dalai Lama, Joanna Lumley and Richard Gere among its patrons.