Chenrezig Institute in Queensland, Australia, inaugurated a new Thousand-Arm Chenrezig statue on July 11, 2026, fulfilling a wish Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche first expressed more than two decades ago. It took the generous support of sister FPMT center Amitabha Buddhist Centre (ABC) in Singapore, along with a new 3D-printing technique never before used to create sacred Buddhist art — to bring the statue from China to Queensland. We rejoice in the fulfillment of Rinpoche’s vision. Here is the story of how it happened.

Consecration of Chenrezig statue. July 2026, Chenrezig Institute

Chenrezig Institute, established in 1974, is the first FPMT center. In year 2000 Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche suggested that its original Chenrezig statue be replaced with a larger one. Since then, CI community has continuously fundraised for the new statue over the last 20 years. In particular, Ven. Ailsa Cameron has been instrumental in fundraising each year during Nyung Na. More recent fundraising has also attracted strong support from overseas donors.

The original Chenrezig statue at mitabha Buddhist Center, Singapore. Photo courtesy of Amitabha Buddhist Center.

The whole story begins in 1995, when Rinpoche advised Amitabha Buddhist Centre (ABC) that a Thousand-Arm Chenrezig statue be made, envisioning it surrounded by a host of Nyung Na lineage lamas to inspire students and, in Rinpoche’s words, “purify eons of negative karma and collect skies of merit and be led to enlightenment quickly.” Rinpoche personally supervised every intricate detail of the statue, crafted by renowned Buddhist sculptors Denise and Peter Griffin beginning in 2013. The finished work — ten and eight-tenths feet (3.5 meters) tall — was completed in Singapore in 2016, just in time for Rinpoche’s visit to the new Amitabha Buddhist Center. Rinpoche shared that the statue could become a cause for the Dharma to flourish in this world for 10,000 years, as well as benefit FPMT — and, after thirty-one years, this is what is happening.

In 2023, wishing to support a sister center in need and fulfill Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s wishes, Tan Hup Cheng, ABC’s founder and president, began a collaboration with Calvin Yu, Chenrezig Institute board member, to create a replica of the Singapore statue. When the original plan to sculpt or mold a new statue proved impossible, Garrick Soon — an ABC member with extensive experience in industrial 3D printing — proposed an alternative: to 3D print the statue instead. What followed was a two-year undertaking that produced the world’s first life-size, 3D-printed Thousand-Arm Chenrezig statue.

Detail of the 3D printing Thousand-Arm Chenrezig statue. Photo courtesy of Amitabha Buddhist Center.

Garrick Soon led the technical process from start to finish. A professional scan of the original statue was followed by twelve months of digital redesigning and refining. The statue was then manufactured in China, where a computer sends electrical signals into a heated tank of liquid resin, causing the form to grow, layer by layer — the main body taking three days to complete, with the statue’s nine hundred and ninety hands and auras grown separately in the same resin bath. The pieces were then joined, and hand-painted in gold and vivid color to match the original.

The beautiful replica was installed at Chenrezig Institute and consecrated on July 11, 2026 — the same day the community gathered to celebrate His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama’s ninety-first birthday. It was, as Calvin Yu, CI board member, told the gathered crowd, a fitting coincidence: His Holiness is himself the embodiment of Chenrezig, the symbol of infinite compassion for all sentient beings. Distinguished guests, sangha members from a number of countries and Buddhist traditions, local councillors, longtime members of the Chenrezig Institute community, FPMT Inc. Board member Dale Davis, generous donors and volunteers joined the celebration, which was also supported by a grant from the Queensland government’s Ministry of Multicultural Affairs. The ceremony was livestreamed on YouTube.

Geshe Phuntsok Tsultrim, the Institute’s resident teacher, Colin Crosby, chairman of the Institute, and Ven. Ailsa Cameron, unveiled the Chenrezig statue together and opened the consecration practice. During this special day, five gold Chenrezig mementos were offered to those who had been pivotal to the project, and one thousand commemorative cards of the new statue were given to attendees.

Geshe Phuntsok Tsultrim with a gold Chenrezig memento during the consecration of Chenrezig statue. July 11, 2026, Chenrezig Institute. Photo courtesy of CI.

“Since 1974 the center has undergone a massive transformation and it was all materialized due to the kindness of so many people that have contributed in so many different ways to the emerging of this center and culminating today first of all in the consecration of this amazing Thousand-Arm Chenrezig statue,” Geshe Phuntsok Tsultrim shared, closing with warm thanks to the CI board member, Calvin Yu, for his dedication and talents — essential to making this and many other projects happen — and wishing him well in this role, now and in future lives.

Consecration practice of the Chenrezig statue. Chenrezig Institute, July 2026. Photo courtesy of CI.

Chenrezig Institute was also blessed with a very auspicious message from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, sent especially for the consecration and read by Ven. Ailsa Cameron, encouraging the community’s continued commitment to kindness and compassion, and to making the practice better known throughout the world.

Ven. Ailsa Cameron reading a message from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, at Chenrezig Institute July 2026. Photo courtesy of CI.

This is not the first time ABC has turned to modern techniques to help replicate sacred Buddhist artwork. In the past two years alone, the center has completed several such projects, making the process more accessible in both cost and time — the original, handcrafted ABC Chenrezig statue took three years to complete, while the 3D-printed version took only one month, at eighty-one percent of the cost. In August 2018, ABC printed a large Amitabha Buddha ceiling mandala in a single day. In May 2017, a local artist hand-carved a forty-two and sixty-five hundredths-foot (13-meter) Maitreya statue from polystyrene foam blocks, refurbished ahead of Vesak celebrations in Singapore this past June.

Geshe Phuntsok Tsultrim during the consecration of Chenrezig statue. July 11, 2026, Chenrezig Institute. Photo courtesy of CI

In 2023, laser-cutting technology was used to machine-cut two-millimeter aluminum plating for twenty-one auras for the Twenty-One Taras at Nagarjuna Center, Bilbao; the software, developed directly by Peter Griffin, was based on the auras he had originally handcrafted for ABC’s own Tara. That same technique helped Sravasti Abbey create a large aura for its ninety-centimeter Tara statue in May 2026, and ABC is now supporting Nagarjuna C.E.T. Alicante in Spain with a set of Tara statues, including a Green Tara to be installed within six months, followed by the accompanying auras. ABC has also used large-scale printing to produce a ten and thirty-three hundredths by fifteen and seventy-five hundredths-foot (3.15 x 4.80-meter) thangka of the Guru Shakyamuni Buddha statue in Bodhgaya, since offered to Chenrezig Institute and Nalanda Monastery in France, and a Thousand-Arm Chenrezig thangka offered to Nagarjuna Center, Alicante (ESP) and Tara Lanka Study Group in Sri Lanka, donated by ABC members. In December 2025, ABC shared a high-resolution image of the Chenrezig statue with FPMT’s sister center in Malaysia, which used it to print a thirty-nine and three-tenths-foot (12-meter) Chenrezig thangka of its own.

Geshe Phuntsok Tsultrim, residente teacher of Chenrezig Institute. Photo courtesy of CI

This is the first time 3D printing technology has been used in this way in the history of Buddhism, making the creation of sacred images more accessible to centers everywhere. We rejoice in this remarkable milestone, and in the merit accumulated through the collaboration of the ABC and Chenrezig Institute communities — and their steady, shared commitment to practice. May such projects continue to benefit all beings.

With grateful thanks to Tan Hup Cheng and Calvin Yu for the valuable information about this holy object project. 

We welcome the submission of news stories from those within the FPMT community. This can be a story about something you have personally completed or accomplished, about someone else who has done so, or about the FPMT center, project, or service of which you are a part. Ideal submissions will give readers reasons to rejoice, share ideas, and create connections between those in the international community. Have something to share? Please let us know!

The high-resolution image of the Thousand-Arm Chenrezig statue has been generously shared by Amitabha Buddhist Center for FPMT centers wishing to reprint it for distribution. Please credit “Courtesy of Amitabha Buddhist Center” when using this image, you can download it here.

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.