Resourcing A Welcoming and Sustainable Paris Centre

The Paris Buddhist Centre has been sharing the Dharma since 1999, and has been in its current home since 2019. Recently, more and more people have begun showing an interest in classes and events. The Centre now runs four regular classes each week, two monthly under-35 events, study groups, weekend practice days and occasional visits from schools discovering meditation. Evening classes can already attract up to 30 people, and under-35 events have recently ranged from 8 to 25 people, a sign of a young and growing sangha in the heart of Paris.

But growth brings very practical needs. The Centre only has enough meditation gear for around 25 people, and there have already been evenings when mats ran out. The existing mats and cushions were showing signs of being well used. This grant will help create the conducive conditions for practice: enough mats, cushions and blankets for everyone who comes through the door, and a shrine room that feels welcoming, cared for and ready for this next phase in the Centre’s life. Alongside this, new yoga mats and blocks will make it possible to begin yoga classes — helping regulars feel more at ease in their bodies, creating a gentle new route for newcomers to encounter the Centre, and making fuller use of a beautiful space that currently sits empty much of the week. In this way, a simple grant for mats, cushions and yoga blocks becomes part of something much bigger: helping the Dharma take root more deeply in Paris, one person, one class and one act of generosity at a time.

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