about alan clements
General biography
Alan’s international sales and marketing career spans 55 years with companies that includes Wiggins Teape, Alcan and Unilever. As an entrepreneur, he has also built-up businesses as diverse as printing, packaging, advertising and online marketing. Alan has visited over 30 countries, had an office in Dehli and China, and his knowledge of international marketing is extensive.
For 10 years, Alan was chairman of the UK Tibet Society, and later vice-president of the Tibet Society and Tibet Relief Fund, Working on projects for HH The Dalai Lama in India and the UK. More recently, he has become chairman of the Japanese Garden Society (in Midlands region).
spiritual biography
A Buddhist for more than 30 years Alan has taken instruction in meditation in both the Gelug Tibetan Buddhist and Japanese Soto Zen traditions. He has had a number of private meetings with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and attended many of his teachings in the UK and India. He has received instruction and empowerments from a number of other Buddhist teachers including Lama Yeshe Losal Rinpoche, Sogyal Rinpoche and Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
He was also influenced by private meetings with Professor Ven. Samdhong Rinpoche, past prime minister of the Tibetan exiled community. Visits to gompas in Ladakh and temples in Tibet, Japan and China have greatly added to his knowledge of Buddhism and Taoism and sacred meditation places around the world.
An early grounding in Christianity and a degree that included Philosophy and Physics sparked off an interest in the deeper questions of life. His first meeting with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1992 was to ask the the question “what is the meaning of life” and this led him to becoming the Chairman and later Vice President of the Tibet Society and Relief Fund. More recently he has become the Chairman of the Japanese Garden Society (MIdlands Region). He has also been greatly influenced by the teachings, videos and books about Lao tzu, Gandhi, Father Bede Griffiths, Alan Watts and Fritjoff Capra.
He is particularly interested in the comparison of east-west philosophies and the remarkable correlation between the scientific findings of quantum physics and Buddhism and Taoism.
A lifetime of being in awe of nature, a love of the world’s great landscapes and his passion for gardening has led him to create his own four-acre meditation garden, Cascades Gardens in Bonsall, Derbyshire. He has a strong belief in the therapeutic and spiritual value of beautiful landscapes and the concept of being “one with nature”.
Alan has a significant collection of photography and records of the development of his garden and travels around the world and sees it all as part of his own spiritual Journey. He has a blog www.cascadesgardens.com/blog/ and regularly gives public talks.