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SPIRITUAL GUIDES
His Holiness the Dalai
Lama
Inspiration and Guide
of the FPMT & Tushita Meditation Centre
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin
Gyatso, is the head of state and spiritual leader of the Tibetan
people.
His Holiness was born on 6 July 1935 in Taktser village in
northeastern Tibet to a peasant family. His
Holiness was recognized at the age of two as the reincarnation
the 13th Dalai Lama and is an incarnation of Avalokitesvara, the
Buddha of Compassion.
His Holiness began his monastic education at the age of six.
At twenty three he passed his final examination with honours and was awarded
the Geshe Lharampa degree, equivalent to a doctorate
of Buddhist philosophy. His Holiness describes himself as a simple Buddhist monk.
In 1959, with the brutal
suppression of the Tibetan national
uprising by the Chinese, His Holiness was
forced to escape to India. Since then he has been living in
Dharamsala, the seat of the Tibetan Government in exile.
His Holiness has received over 84 awards, honorary
doctorates and prizes in recognition
of his message of peace, non-violence, inter-religious understanding, universal
responsibility and compassion.
In 1989 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent
struggle for the liberation of Tibet.
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 Venerable Lama Thubten
Yeshe (1935-1984)
Founder of Tushita Meditation Centre and the FPMT
Founder of Tushita Meditation Centre and the FPMT
- Lama Thubten Yeshe was born in Tibet in 1935. At the age of six, he
entered Sera Monastic University in Tibet where he studied until 1959,
when as Lama Yeshe himself has said, "In that year the Chinese kindly
told us that it was time to leave Tibet and meet the outside world."
Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, together as teacher
and disciple since their exile in India, met their first Western
students in 1965. By 1971 they settled at Kopan, a small hamlet near
Kathmandu in Nepal.
In 1972, in response to the ever-growing demand
from their Western students, the Lamas decided to open a sister centre,
which was intended to be used for retreats. They decided to locate it
in McLeod Ganj, Dharamsala, which was home to many of their teachers,
and so Tushita Retreat Centre (which was later renamed Tushita
Meditation Centre) was founded.
In 1974, the Lamas began touring and teaching in
the West, which would eventually result in The Foundation for the
Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT). Lama Yeshe died in 1984,
his reincarnation Lama Tenzin Osel Rinpoche was born to Spanish parents
in 1985. Read
more>> |
Venerable Lama Thubten
Zopa Rinpoche
Spiritual Director of
the FPMT
Spiritual Director of the FPMT and Tushita
Meditation Centre - Lama Zopa Rinpoche was born in 1946 in Thami, in
the Mount Everest region of Nepal, not far from Lawudo cave where his
predecessor had meditated for the last 20 years of his life.
The Chinese occupation of Tibet in 1959 forced him
to forsake Tibet for
the safety of Bhutan. Rinpoche then went to the Tibetan refugee camp in
West Bengal, India, where he met Lama Yeshe, who became his
closest teacher. The Lamas went to Nepal in 1967, and over the next few
years built Kopan and Lawudo Monasteries.
In 1971 Lama Zopa Rinpoche
gave the first of his famous annual lam-rim retreat courses, which
continue at Kopan to this day. When Lama
Yeshe passed away in 1984, Lama Zopa Rinpoche became the spiritual
head of the FPMT, which has continued to flourish under his
peerless leadership.
Rinpoche’s published teachings include Wisdom Energy (with Lama
Yeshe), Transforming Problems, and a number of transcripts and practice
booklets. Read
more >>
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 Lama Tenzin Osel
Rinpoche
The recognized reincarnation of Lama Thubten Yeshe
- Lama Tenzin Osel Rinpoche - was born in 1985 to Spanish parents. In
1986, after a series of tests and divinations, young Osel Hita, was
recognized by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to be the reincarnation of
Lama Thubten Yeshe. He was then named Tenzin Osel.
Lama Osel was enthroned at Tushita, which had been
one of Lama Yeshe's favourite places to stay, at the age of three. Lama
Osel studied once again at his former Sera Monastic University,
re-established in South India, and is fluent in Spanish, English and
Tibetan. Lama Osel follows both traditional Tibetan studies and a
Western curriculum.
For more information we highly recommend reading:
"Reincarnation: The Boy Lama" and "Reborn in the West" by Vicki
Mackenzie. Read
more>>
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MAY ALL BEINGS BE HAPPY!
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