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Nina and Jelena making the Lhagsam Tibetan Meditation Study Group altar beautiful, Zurich, Switzerland, January 2019. Photo by Jeff.
Lhagsam Tibetan Meditation Study Group, the FPMT study group in Zurich, Switzerland, opened their new location on October 1, 2018. Nina, Lhagsam Tibetan Meditation Study Group coordinator shares the story.
Lhagsam Tibetan Meditation Study Group started in Zurich in December 2015 due to the kind advice of Ven. Robina Courtin, an FPMT registered teacher. Some of the original students—who came to the very first teaching given by Geshe Thubten Sherab, an FPMT registered geshe—are still with the group today, meeting every week for the FPMT Discovering Buddhism course. We began looking for a more permanent location a few years ago so we could expand our program offerings.
Be courageous.
We quickly realized that it was not easy in a posh and expensive place like Zurich. After looking very intensely for months to no avail, we finally decided to give it a break. That’s exactly when the perfect place popped up. We went to look at it, even though the landlord told us that they already had an application from a consulting company. We thought, “If this is the place for Lhagsam, then somehow we will get it.” The rental market in Zurich is very tight and in order to get a place you have to win a competition for the best applicant, especially in the city center. We just applied and prayed.
Be professional.
We got a call a couple days later to let us know that the building owner decided to choose us over the consulting company. The owner wanted to have more spirituality and good energy for the building.
Since we wanted to have a beautiful place, we somehow managed to convince a great interior designer to help us design our gompa. Our group got so excited to have our own place that we worked day and night, even finishing our altar by hand. The energy and harmony was just incredible, and it stayed this way. We Lhagsamers are a circle of best friends.
The gompa is finished at this point, and our program offerings and our group are slowly expanding. We could already write books about the amazing teachers and teachings we were able to bring into the heart of Zurich so far in 2019. We are now working to furnish the second room upstairs, which will be our “Green Tara Lounge,” a place where we can sip tea, relax, and chat about Dharma.
Students with Ven. Robina Courtin at Lhagsam Tibetan Meditation Study Group, Zurich, Switzerland, January 2019. Photo by Stefania.
Trust the guru.
We heard that Lama Yeshe always advised FPMT study groups to be courageous and professional. We courageously followed our dream, and thanks to the blessing of Lama Zopa Rinpoche—who has inspired and blessed our group all along—we were able to realize that dream. Now we want to become “professional” in offering an oasis of peace and harmony as well as the most precious, profound teachings of Buddhadharma in the heart of Zurich.
May every tiniest virtuous activity done at Lhagsam be the cause for our most precious gurus His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Lama Zopa Rinpoche to have long lives, completely free of obstacles. May every being that ever enters Lhagsam be in the presence of Lama Zopa himself and quickly attain enlightenment. May every word uttered at Lhagsam be most powerful, as if it was coming from Lama Zopa himself, and may the Lhagsam Tibetan Meditation Study Group bring limitless benefit to all sentient beings.
For more information about Lhagsam Tibetan Meditation Study Group, visit their website:
https://lhagsam.ch
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