Root Institute thirtieth anniversary celebration, Bodhgaya, India, January 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

On January 14, 2018, FPMT center Root Institute for Wisdom Culture celebrated its thirtieth anniversary, which occurred on May 27, 2017.

Over 150 guests attended the event, including Ling Rinpoche, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Khadro-la (Rangjung Neljorma Khandro Namsel Drönme), Dagri Rinpoche, Serkong Tsenshab Rinpoche, Ribur Rinpoche’s reincarnation, and Geshe Sengye’s reincarnation. Also in attendance were visiting dignitaries including Richard Gere, Root Institute’s resident geshe Geshe Ngawang Rabga, other visiting geshes and lamas, the FPMT Sangha and lay community, as well as a group of pilgrims who had recently completed Root Institute’s first meditative pilgrimage to the eight holy sites of the Buddha.

During the event, Ven. Kabir Saxena, Root Institute’s first director, recalled when Lama Zopa Rinpoche came to Root Institute in 1989 to give his first teaching there:

“When we first brought Rinpoche to the land, we were walking down the path and Rinpoche looked in the distance. It was all fields in those days and Rinpoche said, ‘Oh, it’s like the beach here, it’s like the beach. You know, it’s kind of very relaxed.’ But then immediately Rinpoche said, ‘But we don’t come with the attitude of going to the beach.’ And as soon as Rinpoche came to the gates (well, there weren’t gates there in those days), Rinpoche blew a conch shell very loudly. I think that that Dharma is still reverberating now.”

Ven. Kabir Saxena continued, “I remember once when His Holiness the Karmapa came, he said, ‘So many blessings on this land. This land has so many blessings, you don’t realize it.’ By then, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and many of the great lamas had already been here.”

Current director Ven. Tenzin Paldron thanked Root Institute’s local Indian staff for their tireless years of service and reminded guests of the contributions of the Indian people to the center. “As Sahid our foreman, who has worked at Root for over twenty years, said to me, ‘Madam, directors come and go, but it is the Indian staff that have been the main branches of Root.’”

Lama Zopa Rinpoche during Root Institute’s thirtieth anniversary celebration, Bodhgaya, India, January 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche spoke on Root Institute’s contributions to sentient beings. “By teaching lamrim and so forth, they liberate sentient beings from samsara.”

“Because we have been in samsara, the lower realms have been our resident home from beginningless rebirths. This time we have received a perfect human rebirth and an opportunity to no longer be in samsara and suffer. Dharma centers are so important; there are many teachers in the center teaching the philosophy, lamrim. Basically, all to subdue the mind.”

He added, “Not only that, but they teach the Mahayana teachings, bodhichitta, the Mayahana path to peerless happiness, liberation, cessation, and the completion of realizations, causing sentient beings to acheive enlightenment. That’s what the center does; that’s what Root Institute does.”

Filmmaker Marc Israel documented Root Institute’s rich history and ongoing activites—including service projects Shakyamuni Buddha Health Care Clinic, Maitreya School, Tara Children’s Project, and spiritual programs—and its vision for the future in a seventeen-minute film premiered at the celebration.

Watch “ROOT INSTITUTE: From The Ground Up” on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/g9ipm09qXLs

To read more about the Root Institute’s history and spiritual programs offerings, visit the center’s website:
http://www.rootinstitute.ngo/

To watch the thirtieth anniversary celebration, including remarks by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, you can watch Bill Kane’s recording of the event:
https://youtu.be/QxIfNF2H9KQ

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