The temple was founded by Kemmyō Taira Sato, a former pupil of D. T. Suzuki,[1]:10[2]:291 supporting both the local Japanese diaspora and non-Japanese attendees. The temple is spread across three buildings, with a main building holding the primary altar and two separate buildings used for events and hosting guests, alongside a Zen garden. The Zen garden was designed by John White, art historian and professor at University College London,[3]:15–16 and it opened in 1997.[2]:290[4]
Three Wheels conducts daily services, meditation sessions, twice-yearly shokai retreats (a term coined from two characters meaning "to flow" and "to open") involving communal meals, dharma talks, and chanting,[2]:297 and services such as funerals and weddings. The temple also hosts bi-monthly eza gatherings, which feature dharma talks in English.[2]:289 The term "eza" means "to meet and sit"[2]:296 and is a distinctive practice within the Shogyōji lineage of temples, compared with the wider Shin Buddhist movement.[2]:289
Since 1997, Three Wheels has conducted a yearly Annual Ceremony to Pray for World Peace and Reconciliation between British and Japanese War Veterans.[5][1]:11
Notes
123Matsunaga, Louella (14 July 2021). "Jōdo Shinshū in the UK: Impermanence, Precarity, and Change". Journal of Religion in Japan. 10 (1): 1–27. doi:10.1163/22118349-01002007. S2CID237745705.
Haywood, Matthew A. (2023). "Different affects? Intercepting orientalism through the affective encounters and ritualised mediations of a Shin Buddhist chanting tradition". Ethnomusicology Forum. 32 (1): 97–119. doi:10.1080/17411912.2022.2158113. S2CID256132616.
Matsunaga, Louella (2021). "Jōdo Shinshū in the UK: Impermanence, Precarity, and Change". Journal of Religion in Japan. 11 (1): 1–27. doi:10.1163/22118349-01002007. S2CID237745705.
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