Buddhafield East is part of the Triratna Buddhist community (formerly the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order), which was founded in 1968 by Ven. Urgyen Sangharakshita.
 
The original Buddhafield retreats grew out of an initiative by members of the Croydon Triratna Sangha to teach meditation at the Glastonbury festival.
Buddhafield has gone from strength to strength since then and now hosts a full program of retreats, a 3000 capacity festival and takes meditation teaching, plus a cafe, to several festivals.

In 2002 Lokabhandu started approaching various friends around the country with the idea of regional Buddhafields, as a way to build upon Buddhafield's success. Buddhafield East and Buddhafield North were born.

The first Buddhafield East camping event took place near Sudbury in Autumn 2003 (see photo below) and the first Buddhafield East Summer Gathering followed in August 2004.

Buddhafield East have held events every year since then and are always seeking to extend what we do and to extend the positive sphere of influence that our events create.

Buddhafield East community's intention is to create a positive & radical sphere of influence from our events and in this way help to transform oneself and society.