Geshe Doga portrait. Photo courtesy of Tara Institute.

Tara Institute, Melbourne, Australia, is extremely honored that Venerable Geshe Doga has been serving as their resident teacher for forty years. Please read their recent report about his kindness, guidance and invaluable teachings spanning four decades: 

Staying an astonishing forty years at one FPMT center is an extraordinary accomplishment for any geshe. We at Tara Institute are so grateful to Geshe Doga for his priceless teachings, constant kindness, encouragement, guidance, holding us in his mandala, and putting up with our delusions and petty squabbles for four decades!

Geshe Doga teaching at Kopan Monastery, 1980. Photo courtesy of the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

Lama Yeshe and Geshe Doga at Kopan Monastery, 1979. Photo by Jeff Nye, courtesy of the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

It all began in 1980 when Lama Yeshe “poached” Geshe Doga from Sera Je monastery in South India, in order for Geshe Doga to teach young monks in Kopan. Geshe Doga first met Lama Yeshe under the harsh conditions of the Buxa Duar Tibetan refugee camp in India, after escaping Chinese occupied Tibet in 1959.

After a couple of years at Kopan, Lama Yeshe asked Geshe Doga to teach in the West. He kept refusing Lama’s requests because he was happy at Kopan and had no interest in moving to the West. Finally relenting, Geshe Doga came out to Australia on January 1, 1983 to teach in the heat at Atisha Centre in Bendigo (way before the Great Stupa was built).

In late 1983, Geshe-la became the resident teacher of Tara Institute. Uprooted from his culture a second time (first when he escaped Tibet), away from his friends and his monastic traditions—he has steadfastly remained at Tara Institute all these years.

Lama Zopa and Geshe Doga, Bodhgaya, India, 2022. Photo by Cynthia Karena.

From Geshe Doga’s rural beginnings in 1935 in Khanze, a small village in the remote Kham region of northeast Tibet; to dangerous adventures on horseback at 16 years old riding to Lhasa to further his monastic studies; to living in basic conditions in the early days at Sera Je and Kopan monasteries (although far better than Buxa!)—Geshe Doga suddenly found himself living in Australia with all its material wealth and comforts, but also with plenty of untamed minds to work with.

Every time Lama Zopa Rinpoche visited Tara Institute, he asked us to treasure Geshe Doga and to heed his advice. Over the decades, TI has grown enormously, thanks to Geshe-la’s teachings, kindness and patient guidance.

Geshe Doga’s first, and again current, translator at Tara Institute, Sandup Tsering, says Geshe Doga’s friendship with both the late lamas—Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche—is “very deep, personal and goes a long way. Both the lamas had shown special affection for Geshe-la, and wanted and trusted Geshe-la in their work for flourishing Dharma and benefiting migrating beings through FPMT. Geshe-la has never made any fuss, demands or complaints about his personal needs but wholeheartedly dedicated himself towards the success of the center and FPMT. Geshe Doga was well known in the monasteries in his time as a great debater and a scholar.” 

When Geshe Doga first arrived at Tara Institute, we offered long-life pujas for his long and healthy life. Then Lama Zopa specifically instructed us to do five long life pujas for Geshe Doga, and we’ve just kept going, doing them each year for the past twenty-five years, increasing the number of flower garlands and tables with offerings—at least 500 offering bowls resplendent with saffron water, incense, flowers, candles, etc. The community comes together, both as volunteers and attendees, to thank our kind and venerable teacher Geshe Doga for his unwavering commitment and kindness to the students and friends of Tara Institute.

We are also currently fulfilling Lama Zopa’s advice to recite the Sutra of Golden Light 3,000 times for Geshe Doga’s long life. We have had numerous large group recitations at Tara institute and continue to do so, and students continue to recite the sutra at home. The tally at the time of writing is 2,342.

“Geshe Doga is much loved and much admired. There is a genuine equanimity in Geshe-la’s behavior toward others,” says Damien Busby, Monday night teacher and former director, who has been one of the people driving Geshe-la to the various teaching venues around Victoria for many years.

Geshe Doga during a long life puja, 2017. Photo by Damien Busby.

“My own interactions with Geshe Doga feel very precious and valuable over the last forty years. This same care and concern has been extended to hundreds, if not thousands, of others. These interactions are all unique and individual and suited to the needs and personality of the person. This is a remarkable skill and devotion to the welfare of others. Geshe Doga’s devotion to teaching is another extraordinary aspect. Teaching so consistently for over forty years and going wherever he was asked to teach, without question, has seen Geshela teach at more than twenty different locations in Victoria, Tasmania, and New South Wales.”

Student Katrina Moxey says, “His love for teaching Dharma and his unbiased love and compassion for all beings are palpable to anyone who has the fortune to be in his presence. It is no exaggeration to say he has changed my life. Every happiness I experience is directly related to Geshe Doga’s compassionate heart teachings.”  

Another former director and long time student, Ross Moore remembers visiting Geshe Doga’s teacher Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey in Sydney in 1985. After asking Ross who his teacher is, Geshe Dhargyey whispered words Ross has never forgotten: “the kindest teacher of all is the one who lives amongst you.” 

“This was clearly a reference to Geshe Doga,” Ross explains, “whom I had first met during Kyabje Zopa Rinpoche’s visit to Atisha Centre in 1983, and who was Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey’s own close student.”

Students in procession during a long life puja for Geshe Doga, 2023. Photo courtesy of Tara Institute.

Over many years, Geshe Doga worked with Lama Zopa Rinpoche to guide Tara Institute, and as Ross says, “all the while quietly and patiently giving teachings of great profundity but also of immense practicality because, without a doubt, Geshe Doga is a real Kadampa master. Of that I have no doubt. It’s extraordinary that Geshe Doga deliberately and skillfully manifests as ordinary so that we can approach him. And he can reach us.”

When visiting Sera Je with Geshe Doga, the great respect for him was evident, says Ross. “But when invited to have his name included in a list of potential Abbots to be presented to His Holiness the Dalai Lama for divination and selection, Geshe Doga repeatedly said no. He would then calmly return to Australia and Tara Institute and continue his teachings from the exact point from where he had left off. It is a truly remarkable fact that Geshe Doga is not only the longest serving geshe in the FPMT organization but has stayed with us.”

Geshe Doga deliberately avoids any perception that he is extraordinary, says Ross. “He is perhaps mistaken by some as being – well – actually ordinary! Such a woeful misreading is a sign that in our own greedy quest for the extraordinary … we gloss over the most remarkable Guru of all – the one manifesting gently and unassumingly dwelling amongst us. A miraculous flower blooming unheralded in the public garden. This miscalculation on our part is surely the height of samsaric folly.” 

Although Geshe Doga attended Allys and Dave Andrews’ wedding at Kopan Monastery in 1979, they met Geshe Doga in 1984 when he came to TI. “When family problems arose, his advice would solve them,” remembers Allys. “In times of deep sorrow and great joy, Geshe-la has been there as a guide. One of the greatest gifts he has given me is to have found courage. Quite early on Geshe-la advised me to lead Monday night meditation classes. I was completely terrified for years. Gradually the fear lessened. He is a most precious friend. I have no doubt that Geshe-la is clairvoyant. His view is vast, his advice, whilst sometimes seeming counterintuitive, has solved the most difficult of problems. He has inspired many, many people; at the center, the beach, the swimming pool, in shopping centers. He is amazing. Everything good in my life is a result of following his suggestions.”

We at Tara Institute remain devoted and forever grateful to Geshe Doga. We all resonate with the words Allys shared: “I pray that I will never be separated from him in this and all future lives until enlightenment. Geshe Doga makes awakening seem possible.”

We thank Tara Institute for this moving account of Geshe Doga’s qualities and service, with special thanks to Cynthia Karena, Ross Moore, Damien Busby, Allys Andrews, Sandup Tsering, and Katrina Moxey.

Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.