All ‘Event Reports’ posts

A short visit to the Beaufoy by a noble guest

Thursday, May 22nd, 2014
Dupsing Rinpoche and friends outside the London Diamond Way Buddhist Centre

Dupsing Rinpoche and friends outside the London Diamond Way Buddhist Centre

On Monday 19 May 2014, the London Diamond Way Buddhist Centre enjoyed a brief visit by a noble guest and old friend, the Third Dupsing Rinpoche.

Dupsing Rinpoche is a Karma Kagyu lama based in Pokhara, Nepal and is highly venerated by the Nepali Buddhist community both in Nepal and internationally. He was born 1981 in Mundgod in Southern India, and became a monk at the age of four. Shamar Rinpoche and other high-ranking Kagyu lamas later recognised him as the reincarnation of the previous Dupsing Rinpoche, and in 1987 Shamar Rinpoche made the official enthronement ceremony at Rumtek Monastery. Following this, the young Dupsing Rinpoche returned to Pokhara to continue his training as a lama and resume the responsibilities of his previous incarnation and study with numerous accomplished masters.

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The London Diamond Way Buddhist Centre opens its doors to the public at the Beaufoy Institute, Lambeth

Saturday, April 19th, 2014
Erica Beaufoy, Jigme Rinpoche, Lama Ole Nydahl and Councillor Paul McGlone, Beaufoy opening 5 April 2014

Erica Beaufoy, Jigme Rinpoche, Lama Ole Nydahl and Councillor Paul McGlone, cutting the ribbon to open the London Diamond Way Buddhist Centre at the Beaufoy, 5 April 2014

Saturday 5 April 2014 marked an important day in the history of Buddhism in London and the UK. After over a year of renovation works to prepare the Beaufoy Institute to host a regular programme of meditation and events, the London Diamond Way Buddhist Centre officially opened its doors to the public.

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Reading, Oxford, St Albans Buddhist groups host Lama Ole Nydahl

Sunday, April 13th, 2014
Lama Ole Nydahl in Oxford 2 April 2014

Lama Ole Nydahl in Oxford 1 April 2014

Having arrived in London for a week-long visit to the UK, on the first evening, Lama Ole Nydahl expressed the strong wish to make a spontaneous visit to as many as possible of the Diamond Way Buddhist groups in the close vicinity of London. A few phone calls later to discuss logistics, and a plan was made for the following day, Tuesday 1 April, to drive to Reading, Oxford and St Albans. The was the first time since Lama Ole Nydahl’s 2011 visit that he had visited groups outside the Capital.

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Compassion in Action: Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche visits London, July 2013

Saturday, August 10th, 2013
Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche giving the Loving Eyes empowerment in London, in 2013

Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche in London, July 2013

From 25-31 July 2013, the London Diamond Way Buddhist Centre was very fortunate to be able to host Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche for a program of teachings and transmissions at the Beaufoy Institute in Lambeth. Rinpoche is a highly respected lama of the Karma Kagyu lineage. He was ordained in Rumtek monastery by the 16th Karmapa, and is one of the few lamas who holds the title ‘Maniwa’, given to masters of the Loving Eyes (Skt. Avalokiteshvara; Tib. Chenrezig) practice who are able to encourage others to recite the mantra of Loving Eyes, OM MANI PEME HUNG, more than one billion times. Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche has led 30 “Mani Dhungyur” festivals in his homeland of Nepal, which are attended by thousands of students, in which a billion mani mantras are accumulated. Loving Eyes is the Bodhisattva of compassion, so the friends from London, the UK and abroad who gathered for the programme were particularly fortunate to receive teachings and transmissions related so closely to this most noble of qualities, from a master who embodies it so perfectly. London was one of the destinations on Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche’s 2013 tour of Europe.

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Lama Ole Nydahl visits London to work on the new Diamond Way Buddhist Centre, April 2013

Saturday, April 20th, 2013
Lama Ole in the Beaufoy, London April 2013

Lama Ole Nydahl in the Beaufoy Institute, April 2013

This April the new London Diamond Way Buddhist Centre at the Beaufoy Institute was fortunate to receive a visit from Lama Ole Nydahl. London was a surprise addition to Lama Ole Nydahl’s crowded schedule of worldwide travel. Lama Ole’s schedule for April included several “project days”, which are often used to focus on specific projects such as writing a book (for example the soon to be published “Fearless Death“). Because of Lama Ole Nydahl’s great enthusiasm for the new London Buddhist centre, which has gained international project status, he spontaneously decided to spend two of his project days working directly with the friends involved in the project and inspiring them with his personal example and teachings. Having heard about Lama Ole’s decision to come over, the friends in London quickly set to work preparing for the visit.

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Lama Ole Nydahl visits London and the Beaufoy Institute, January 2013

Saturday, February 2nd, 2013
Old electricity switch in the Beaufoy Institute building

Old electricity switch in the Beaufoy Institute building

From 23-27 January 2013, Lama Ole Nydahl visited London for a momentous and action-packed visit. Arriving at Heathrow Airport at lunchtime on Wednesday 23 January, fresh from his winter tour of Russia, Lama Ole with his travelling group including Tomek Lehnert were greeted by members of the London sangha as well as Caty Hartung, who had already arrived one day previously. The main focus of the visit was the London Diamond Way Buddhist Centre‘s new home at the Beaufoy Institute in Lambeth, the sale of which had completed on the auspicious day of 21 January (a Guru Rinpoche day). Caty had already spent quite a lot of time the previous day with friends in London, sharing her decades of experience in building up Diamond Way Buddhist Centres, and helping to answer many important practical questions about the big project ahead to transform the building.

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12-12-12: The Bardo Ends

Wednesday, December 12th, 2012

Lama Ole Nydahl, H.H. Karmapa, Lama Jigme Rinpoche and friends outside the Beaufoy Institute

Today, 12/12/12, marks the end of the three-month statutory waiting period or “intermediate state” (Tib. Bardo), after which final approval for planning permission for the Beaufoy Institute could be confirmed. During this time the opportunity was present for a judicial review to be launched into Lambeth Council’s decision to grant Diamond Way Buddhism UK planning permission to turn the Beaufoy into our new Buddhist centre. However, no such appeal was lodged, reconfirming the satisfaction of all parties with Lambeth’s decision.

We are therefore pleased to share the delightful news that there is now nothing holding us back from completing the sale of the Beaufoy Institute and moving into our new home and headquarters in Lambeth’s future London Diamond Way Buddhist Centre, a big and representative centre for the Karma Kagyu lineage in South London.

We would like to show our recognition of the enormous amount of meticulous planning, hard work, compromise and personal sacrifice made by people too numerous to name individually, both from within the Karma Kagyu Dharma family, and from Lambeth’s community. It was these people whose unrelenting efforts – particularly from March 2012 when the planning consultation opened – led us to this triumphant result.

On the international Diamond Way Buddhism website, there’s a new article where you can read more about our project for a new Diamond Way Buddhist centre in Lambeth.

H.H. 17th Karmapa in London – the Wish Fulfilling Jewel and the Victorious Banner

Monday, July 23rd, 2012
The Wish Fulfilling Jewel

The Wish Fulfilling Jewel

Victorious Banner

The “Victorious Banner” (Tib. Gyaltsen) was originally a military standard of ancient Indian warfare. Early Buddhism adopted the banner as a symbol of Buddha Shakyamuni’s triumph over the armies of Mara, the personification of obstacles on the path to enlightenment, whose demonic warriors bore it as an emblem. Legend says that this banner was placed at the summit of Mount Meru, the mythological centre of the cosmos, as a symbol of the Buddha’s victory over the entire universe. The top of the banner was surmounted by the “Wish Fulfilling Jewel” (Tib. Yidzhin Norbu), which is a famous epithet of the Karmapa…

July 2012 marked some of the most significant events in the history of the Karma Kagyu lineage in the United Kingdom: the Wish Fulfilling Jewel appeared once again in the UK, and a victorious banner was raised above the Beaufoy Institute in Lambeth. In the midst of the celebrations of the enormous success, after a long process of planning consultation, in planning permission being granted for Diamond Way Buddhism’s new London Centre at the Beaufoy Institute, H.H. 17th Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje arrived in the UK for a momentous 10 day visit.

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