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LTC then-director Maureen McIntyre, Councillor Fiona Cunningham, Helene Holland, Ven. Trin-la, and MP Joe Kelly opened the Street Library in a small ceremony, Langri Tangpa Centre, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, November 2020. Photo by Carolyn Mason.
Langri Tanga Centre (LTC), the FPMT center in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, used a US$300 International Merit Box Project grant they received in 2019 to create a “Street Library” on the center’s outside property. The International Merit Box Project was created in 2001 to cultivate generosity as part of a daily practice. The offerings made by students, centers, projects and services are annually disbursed as grants supporting a wide range of Dharma activity. Street Libraries, also known as Little Free Libraries, are part of a worldwide movement to create places for books to be read and shared in local communities.
LTC’s US$300 grant used to pay for the creation of the library box, including mounting and shipping it to the center, as well as materials for the design of the library box itself. Some money was put in by the center, and then an amount equivalent to approximately US$600 was provided in donations of time, money, and resources to create the space for the Street Library, with seating and landscaping around it. Carolyn Mason, a member of the LTC management committee, shares the story.
Street Library, Langri Tangpa Centre, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, November 2020. Photo by Carolyn Mason.
The amazing biography Big Love: The Life and Teachings of Lama Yeshe, written by Adele Hulse and published by Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, tells the following story on page 663. It took place in 1978, during the first Council for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition at the then Manjushri Institute in England:
“Stepping outside after one meeting session, Lama Yeshe looked up at the Priory’s soaring Gothic spires and said to Nick Ribush, ‘You know, dear, I think we should buy every Christian church in the world!’ Surprised, ‘Er, yes Lama,‘ was all Nick could offer. Just one more example of Lama thinking big.”
In 2007, the Management Committee of Langri Tangpa Centre together with benefactors did just that—we bought a church in Brisbane. In 2020, we built a mini one with the creation of a Street Library, our Buddhist Book Box, opening it to the public in a small ceremony held on November 4.
The LTC Street Library:
- Spreads the Dharma further into our community through providing free books.
- Contains appropriate Dharma books, books donated by students, old library books, and postcards about LTC.
- Library and seated area are skillful means to bring people to the center.
- Encourages those people curious about Buddhism but not yet ready to come into the center.
- Prior to COVID-19, many new attendees heard about LTC by walking or driving by, so we hope the Street Library will generate more interest for this group.
Street Library, Langri Tangpa Centre, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, November 2020. Photo by Carolyn Mason.
Created by our wonderful volunteer artist Helene Holland, it’s the most beautiful exquisitely detailed mini-LTC you ever did see! It has bricks and tiles, and the tip of the roof has a stupa instead of a spire.
Helene spent many hours decorating it with paint and hundreds of hand-made tiles (complete with moss!). The back of the Street Library is decorated with windows that “look” into LTC’s library. The sides of it have the church building’s brick pattern and are decorated with auspicious symbols. Prayer flags are on the front of the Street Library.
Helene is a skilled artist. She has regularly completed workshops with Andy Weber and conducts art classes herself, as well as painting stupas, molding and painting auspicious symbols for the center, and completing repairs on holy objects.
Our Street Library has a solar powered mini-chandelier inside, and the blue-painted interior and row of books draw the eye, especially in the dark. So far over 80 books have been borrowed! We just keep filling it up with books donated to the center.
We are now literally on the (Street Library) map in Australia, becoming the 2,500th Street Library in the country. We dedicate that this becomes a welcoming bridge from our passersby to the Buddhadharma.
To learn more about Langri Tangpa Centre, visit their website:
https://langritangpa.org.au/
If you would like start accumulating offerings with your own Merit Box practice, you can order a free Merit Box for your home or office altar from the FPMT Foundation Store:
https://shop.fpmt.org/Merit-Box-_p_619.html
FPMT.org and Mandala Publications brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings, and events from over 160 FPMT centers, projects, and services around the globe. If you like what you read, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.