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Whatever problem one experiences if one thinks about the benefits of problems and how they are beneficial for ones own life, to develop ones mind in compassion, to develop loving kindness, patience, wisdom, and all the positive qualities for the path to liberation. By thinking of the benefits one develops this precious quality, this most healthy positive way of thinking that brings happiness and that stops you from harming yourself and stops you from harming others.
- Lama Zopa Rinpoche
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Teachers
Atisha Buddhist Centre Lineage Teachers
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His Holiness the Dalai LamaInspiration and Guide of the FPMT
His Holiness the 14th the Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso,
is the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people.
He was born Lhamo Dhondrub on 6 July 1935, in a small village
called Taktser in northeastern Tibet. Born to a peasant family,
His Holiness was recognized at the age of two, in accordance with
Tibetan tradition, as the reincarnation of his predecessor the
13th Dalai Lama, and thus an incarnation Avalokitesvara, the Buddha of Compassion.
Click here to visit the web site for His Holiness the Dalai Lama >>
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Lama Thubten YesheSpiritual Founder of FPMTLama 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 1974, the Lamas began touring and teaching in the West, which would eventually result
in The Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition. Lama Yeshe died in 1984,
his reincarnation Lama Osel Rinpoche was born to Spanish parents in 1985.
Click here to visit the web site for Lama Thubten Yeshe >>
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Lama Thubten Zopa RinpocheSpiritual Director of FPMT
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, FPMT's spiritual director, is the reincarnation of
the Sherpa Nyingma yogi Kunsang Yeshe, the Lawudo Lama. Rinpoche was
born in 1946 in Thami, not far from the cave Lawudo, in the Mount
Everest region of Nepal, where his predecessor meditated for the last
twenty years of his life.
From time to time whilst giving teachings at various centers around the
world, Rinpoche would tell stories of his childhood: in Thami, then in
Tibet, where he went when he was ten, and finally India, where he first
met Lama Thubten Yeshe, with whom he would remain as heart disciple
until Lama passed a way in 1984.
Click here to visit the web site for Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche >>
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OselThe person recognized as the incarnation of FPMT’s founder, Lama Thubten Yeshe, was in his early life known as Lama Osel. Today he prefers to be called simply “Osel”. In 1984, Lama Yeshe passed away on the first day of The Tibetan New Year.
In 1985, Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche assumed leadership of the FPMT organization and
began a search for Lama's reincarnation. A western child was born on 12 February 1985
in Bubion, Spain at O.Sel.Ling Dharma Center in the beautiful mountains of Granada. 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.
Click here to visit the web site for Osel >>
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Thubten GyatsoAtisha Centre is fortunate to have weekly teachings from Thubten Gyatso.
Born in Melbourne in 1946, Adrian Feldmann graduated from the University of Melbourne with a degree in medicine. After practising medicine in Australia and overseas, he travelled for several years through Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, eventually finding his way to a Tibetan monastery in Nepal. After much study and soul-searching, he became ordained in the 1970s by Lama Thubten Yeshe as the Buddhist monk, Thubten Gyatso. Since then he has run a free medical practice in Nepal, taught Buddhism and meditation in Nepal, Mongolia, Taiwan, USA, France, New Zealand and Australia, establishing monasteries in France and in Bendigo. He was one of the first Westerners to become a monk in the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. He is an FPMT veteran who has been instrumental in establishing a number of Dharma centres in France, Taiwan, Australia and Mongolia. As well as teaching extensively around the world, Gyatso is the author of two books.
In his talks and in his writing Gyatso doesn't shirk revealing the mistakes and failings which help to highlight his personal message of hope. He wants us to know that the ego undermines our happiness and fortifies our habitual destructive emotions. His spiritual path is a quest to slay the ego and his life story is a parable for modern times.
Click here to visit the web site for Thubten Gyatso >>
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Venerable Thubten LhundrupDirector of Thubten Shedrup Ling Monastery and teacher at Atisha Centre and other study groups.Thubten Lhundrup has been studying Buddhism since 1996 and received full ordination (gelong) vows from His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 2004.
Before this Lhundrup mostly worked in the radio industry as an announcer and music programmer. Now Director of Thubten Shedrup Ling Monastery near Bendigo, Lhundrup teaches at Atisha Centre as well as other centres and study groups in Victoria and is the author of Practical Meditation. Lhundrup enjoys sharing the knowledge he has gained from the teachings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Geshe Konchok Tsering and other precious teachers.
Click here to visit the web site for Venerable Thubten Lhundrup >>
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Venerable Tony BeaumontVenerable Tony visits each year to present the Chenrezig Retreat at Atisha Centre from Dec 27th - Jan 1st.
Tony Beaumont was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1951. His first
intensive contact with Buddhism was in Nepal and India in 1976-1977
during which time he attended 2 one month long Kopan Lam-rim courses
and their retreats and a three month group Vajrasattva retreat.
On returning to Australia he trained as a psychiatric nurse and
worked for four years in psychiatric hospitals. For most of the
1980's he lived at Chenrezig Institute where he worked at various times
as cook, office worker and gardener.
In 1991 he took novice ordination with Kirti Tshenshab Rinpoche at
Kopan and in 1993 took full ordination with Geshe Yeshe Topden at Lama
Tsong Khapa Institute in Italy. For the first 4 or 5 years following
ordination he was based at Nalanda Monastery, France and then at Thubten Shedrup Ling Monastery, where he was
director for four years and later director of the International
Mahayana Institute (the organization for ordained Sangha of the FPMT)
for 3 years. Tony has taught Lam-rim Courses and the Discovering Buddhism Program
and led various retreats as well as teaching in prisons and schools.
Click here to visit the web site for Venerable Tony Beaumont >>
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Venerable Robina CourtinYou can see and hear Ven. Robina at Atisha Buddhist Centre May 17th - 26th 2013Born in Australia in 1944, Venerable Robina spent the early part of her life studying classical singing, being involved with the radical left/feminist activism and then, in her quest for a spiritual path, studying martial arts.
Venerable Robina became a student of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche in 1976 and was ordained as a nun at Kopan Monastery eighteen months later. Since then, Robina has worked full-time for the lamas' Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) in various roles: as editorial director of Wisdom Publications, editor of Mandala magazine, executive director of Liberation Prison Project and since 1987, as a touring teacher at FPMT centres worldwide.
Well-known for her intense energy and no-nonsense manner of expressing her profound understanding of Buddhist philosophy, Ven Robina is the subject of an award-winning documentary, "Chasing Buddha" and a film by Christine Lundberg called "On the Road Home".
You can see Ven Robina's teaching schedule on her own website.
Click here to visit the web site for Venerable Robina Courtin >>
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Geshe Thubten SherabVisiting Geshe at Atisha Centre from 1st August to 8th August, 2012
Geshe Thubten Sherab was born in 1967 in a small village in the province of Manang, the western part of Nepal, to a Kagyu-Nyingma family. He entered Kopan Monastery at the age of nine and completed his geshe studies at Sera Je monastery in South India, followed by a year at Gyumed Tantric College. He then completed retreat and teaching assignments both in the U.S. and Asia. He served as Head Master of Kopan Monastery's school for four years, overseeing debate training and tantric training activities. Geshe Sherab understands and connects very well with Western students, presenting the Dharma in an accessible, warm, and open manner.
He
taught and helped in FPMT International Office for 2 ½ years in Taos
from 2001-2003, and also served as Director of FPMT Board for a few
years. After
he returned from USA, he did retreat for a year and was then appointed
as Head Master of Kopan. For the last 4
years, he has been travelling and teaching at FPMT Centres in USA,
Canada, Mexico, Asia and Europe.
Click here to visit the web site for Geshe Thubten Sherab >>
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Venerable Tenzin ChogkyiTeacher at Atisha Centre during October 2012Venerable Chogkyi says of herself:
"I first became interested in meditation after reading Be Here Now and Autobiography of a Yogi in the early ’70’s. For the next 20 years, my spiritual path was meandering and haphazard, and included several dead ends, until I bought a one-way ticket to India in early 1991 with the intention of meeting His Holiness the Dalai Lama. I became a student not only of His Holiness, but also of Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche and Lama Zopa Rinpoche during the year I spent studying at Tushita Meditation Centre in Dharamsala and Kopan Monastery in Kathmandu.
After returning to the US, I worked at various positions within Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s organization, the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition – director of Vajrapani Institute, co-director of FPMT International Office, FPMT Center Services Coordinator – and also completed several long meditation retreats.
I took novice ordination in 2004 with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and since 2006 I’ve been teaching at various FPMT centers around the globe. I am a regular teacher at centers in North and South America, India, Nepal, Australia, and New Zealand, and a visiting teacher for the Liberation Prison Project, having taught in prisons in the US, Colombia, Australia, and New Zealand. I’m also involved in animal rescue, and helped to found the Karuna Animal Sanctuary near Dharamsala in India."
Click here to visit the web site for Venerable Tenzin Chogkyi >>
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Glen Svensson Teacher at Atisha Centre in February 2013.
Glen (originally from Queensland, Australia) is a world renowned Buddhist teacher, practitioner and long time student from the seven-year Masters Program in Advanced Buddhist Studies of Sutra and Tantra. Since 2005, with a teaching style emphasizing clarity and simplicity, he has taught extensively at Dharma Centres in Australia and also in India where he frequently leads both introductory and intermediate level courses in Tibetan Buddhist philosophy and meditation at Tushita Meditation Centre (Dharamsala), home-in-exile of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Click here to visit the web site for Glen Svensson >>
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Geshe Konchok TseringResident Teacher at Atisha Centre 2003 - 2011
Atisha Centre has been very fortunate to have Geshe Konchok Tsering, as our resident teacher from 2003 - October 2011, communicating his great wisdom through both his words and actions. Geshe-la was born in India in 1963 of Tibetan refugee parents. He became a Novice Monk at the age of 12 and at 22 he took the vow of an ordained monk from His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. For the next 16 years he studied at Sera je Monastery and in 1995 he was awarded the Geshe Degree and began teaching Dharma to students at Sera Je Monastery. Geshe-la accepted an invitation to teach in the west from Kyabje Zopa Rinpoche and began teaching at Atisha Centre in May 2003. Geshe-La made many wonderful contributions to the centre in many ways. He helped hundreds of people through teaching the dharma, providing individual advice, giving blessings, leading ceremonies and providing advice for the development of the centre. Members and friends of Atisha Centre look forward to his visits in the future.
Click here to visit the web site for Geshe Konchok Tsering >>
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