Medicine Buddha Puja participants in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, with disabled disabled military, pilgrims and Tara Lanka community.

In September 2024, Sri Lankan-born, Australian-based nun Ven. Tenzin Lekdron led a pilgrimage tour in Sri Lanka to raise funds for the 5MB Project, a mission to build a five-story high Medicine Buddha statue in Sri Lanka, according to the instructions of Lama Zopa Rinpoche. The Medicine Buddha prototype of the statue is now cast, gilded, painted and will be filled with mantras. The preparation is being supervised by Gen Tenpa Choden from Kopan Monastery.

Ven. Tenzin Lekdron met Lama Zopa Rinpoche in 1998. After her ordination in 2016, she founded Tara Lanka Study Group in Sri Lanka and initiated dialogues, social services projects, translations of Mahayana sutras and Dharma texts into Singhalese, and organized group recitations of sutras by local monks and lay people around the country to create harmony and understanding between Theradava and Mahayana traditions in Sri Lanka. 

Medicine Buddha statue prototype,

“When Lama Zopa Rinpoche asked for a five-story Medicine Buddha statue to be built in Sri Lanka it seemed such a fantastical idea as people in Sri Lanka have no knowledge of Medicine Buddha or the healing power of the practices,” Ven. Lekdron reflects.  “At the time of Rinpoche’s passing, I felt it was time to attempt this huge task. Rinpoche’s advice must be followed. At that time I had a strong feeling that a prototype of the Medicine Buddha statue according to Rinpoche’s design has to be seen by as many people as possible. A strong feeling came that Gangarama temple, a prominent temple in Colombo would be a suitable location. An appointment was sought for me to meet with the chief monk to seek if there would be any interest. I asked to do a Great Medicine Buddha puja at his temple and if he would consider the prototype of Medicine Buddha to be displayed with public access. While he was very concerned about possible public outrage that a Mahayana nun is permitted to do pujas at this well known Theravada temple in a prestigious suburb of Colombo, the Medicine Buddha puja was held with 80 people in attendance. We were amazed. A door was opening. 

“In the meantime the awareness about Medicine Buddha and the healing power of it’s practices needed to be understood by the Sri Lankan people. The existence of Mahayana and highest yoga tantra is little known. I felt a pilgrimage was the perfect vehicle for this. In my mind the pilgrims would be witnesses and a participants in the healing of trauma. We would do Medicine Buddha pujas side by side with Sinhala language being the dominant language, thus allowing dignity to the locals. Our tour would be immersive without being overwhelming to the pilgrims. The result was phenomenal in the healing it provided to the wounded soldiers and a former refugee Tamil lady, Maureen, attending the puja. It exceeded my expectations in fulfilling Rinpoche’s wishes for healing people’s hearts, a process which began many years ago. Now it was reaching a different level with the witnessing by visitors.”

Sixteen pilgrims from Australia, Malaysia, and the USA, including four FPMT nuns, two Australian and two Tibetan, as well as Ven. Lekdron, participated in the journey. They visited the Sri Maha Bodhi tree, the sacred Tooth Temple and very importantly, rarely visited Mahayana sites such as Buduruwagala Temple.

Alan Marsh, who participated in the pilgrimage shared, “Over ten intense days and nights traveling together by bus we quickly bonded and became friends, sharing long bus rides, experiencing cultural and climate shock and dealing with the many surprising and unexpected events that happened each day.

“As well as the extraordinary efforts of Ven. Lekdron, the tour could not have been the success it was without the hard work of several other people. Our Australian tour leader Jason kept the show on the road by taking care of all the day-to-day details needing attention: buying tickets to the sites, booking restaurants, paying local guides, providing first aid when needed, keeping us updated with last minute changes and above all, boosting our morale at trying times with his unwavering patience and good humor.

“Also traveling with us and providing valuable information from the front seat of the bus via microphone, was Sanath, a professional local tour guide from the local tour company used for the tour, sharing his extensive knowledge of the geography and history of the sites we visited. Also with us was Sanjay, Ven. Lekdron’s brother, a professional photographer and filmmaker who documented all aspects of the trip in photos and video. He plans to make a documentary movie of the tour.”

While they were in Anuradhapura, pilgrims had a major highlight when they offered a Medicine Buddha puja, whose audience of 2,000 people included fifty wounded Sinhalese army soldiers and a Tamil refugee. Pilgrimage participant Vicki Swartz shared, “A young Tamil woman named Maureen Ernest read two very personal, touching poems about how she moved from being a fearful child growing up in the 30-year civil war of the Tamils vs. the Sinhalese Military. She converted from Christianity (most Tamils are Hindu, some are Christian) to Buddhism through a personal journey of counseling and help from Ven. Lekdron (who would stop and translate into English what she was saying). Maureen said that while she may not be able to represent every Tamil, that on behalf of Tamils, she wanted to apologize to the military men and their families for the pain and suffering caused by the Tamils (the LTTE, the Tamil Tigers, the militant group fighting for the rights of Tamils, who felt oppressed, wanted their language to be recognized and taught in schools, and to have fair hiring practices for the coveted government positions, etc.) Then Sunil W., the author of a book on conflict resolution/social justice work, took the microphone, and modeled a reconciliation process; on behalf of the military men and the Singhalese, he accepted her apology, and offered her an apology for the pain and suffering she’d endured as a result of the actions of the military in the civil war. Many of us wept; it was so powerful.” 

We invite you to read a recent report on the various stops made during the pilgrimage, with a very moving, more extended testimony of the Medicine Buddha puja and a summary of some of the other Dharma activities conducted by Tara Lanka Study Group in 2025. Please rejoice in this powerful and healing activity happening in Sri Lanka, thanks to the inspiration from Lama Zopa Rinpoche. 

To learn more about the 5MB Project: 5mbsrilanka.org/5mb-project

Please learn more about Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for the FPMT organization to have hundreds of thousands of holy objects around the world: fpmt.org/fpmt/vast-vision/#hobjects