13th Armed Forces Buddhist Conference Takes Place

The 13th Armed Forces Buddhist Conference has taken place in Hampshire.

The conference provides a chance for Buddhists whether they are serving, veterans or working in the wider defence community to come together for three days.

Buddhism is one of the smaller religions represented in the UK Armed Forces, with only 4,000.

Speaking to Forces News, Dr Sunil Kariyakarawana, the Buddhist Chaplain to the military, said: "This provides an opportunity at a focal point to meet with other Buddhists and like-minded people and to also touch base with their own practice."

The conference started with meditation before focusing on breathing and movement exercises like Qi Gong, which is similar to Tai Chi.

The religion is 2,500 years old and is gaining popularity in the West. 

Retired Lieutenant Colonel Scott Derben is a Buddhist who spoke to Forces News about what Buddhism has taught him:

"The key one that we talk about is attachment.

"We (in the military) have no attachment to the plan, we might have an attachment to winning overall. 

"And having an attachment to an outcome creates a lot of stress so having no attachment on an outcome relieves all that stress."

This is part of a wider idea being discussed in military circles of mental resilience or mindfulness.

Chief of Staff at Royal Navy HQ, Major General Rob Magowan, said he wants to see more mindfulness involved in military practice.

"We're really keen in terms of raising awareness of the Buddhist faith, you know a greater spirit of diversity and inclusivity in defence. 

"We are introducing a number of pilots to bring mindfulness into Phase One of training and being a naval officer, I volunteered to start with the Royal Navy.

"And over the next four or five months we're going to look at a number of pilots, we're going to have conversations with commanding officers in those phase establishments."

If the pilots go well, the Ministry of Defence plan to also teach mindfulness in Phase Two of training and beyond.