At the heart of the Foundation are classes in Buddhist philosophy and meditation. We strive to offer Dharma courses to different age groups and beginners and experienced students. Following His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s approach to present Dharma in a modern way and help those interested in Buddhism use their own reasoning in investigating the reality, in addition to traditional teachings on lamrim and lojong, we introduce subjects like Buddhist psychology and logic.
Our classes are devoted to studying the following subjects:
· How to do daily prayers and practices
· Learning how to do Lama Chopa, Tara Ritual and Medicine Buddha sutra
· Meditation and prostrations class
· Fundamentals of Buddhism based on Lamrim Chenmo by Lama Tsongkhapa
Our resident teacher Geshe Jampa Thinley
Geshe Jampa Thinley was born in Buchu, a small village in Kham-Karze, located in Kham region of Tibet. Born on 5th April 1975 to Tsering Dremey and Thinley Dolma, in a religious family, his parents provided him the opportunity to study Buddhist scriptures at a very young age from his uncle. In 1988 he was ordained and admitted to Kham-Karze Monastery, where he started studying Buddhist texts. He fled to India as refugee, crossing the Himalayan mountains, with a strong will to study at Sera Jey Monastery in India. It is there he truly began his lifelong journey of studying Buddhist philosophical texts.
He took full ordination as a bhikshu in 2002 from His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. After studying for over a decade, he qualified and completed his six years of Gelug examinations in 2016, upon completion of which he was conferred the degree of Geshe. He studied tantra at Gyudmed Monastery the following year, and after that spent most of his time staying in retreat while teaching introductory Buddhism to several hundreds of devotees in Tibet and in India. He stayed in retreat for last three years as a part of his practice.
Geshe-la is a remarkably simple monk yet well acquainted in all fields of Buddhist studies. He was requested by Tengyur Rinpoche, the founder of Thubten Shedrubling Foundation, to teach at Tawang, which he readily accepted. Today Geshe-la is leading classes at Tawang attended by people from all walks of life. His simplicity and style of teaching is loved and appreciated by all.