Our Teachers - Buddha House, Centre For Buddhist Teachings.

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

Inspiration and Guide of the FPMT

His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people. He was born Lhamo Dhondrub on 6 July 1935, in the small village of Taktser in northeastern Tibet. Born to a peasant family, His Holiness was recognized at the age of two, in accordance with Tibetan tradition, as the reincarnation of his predecessor the 13th Dalai Lama, and thus an incarnation of Avalokitesvara, the Buddha of Compassion (also known as Chenrezig).

The 14th Dalai Lama is the Spiritual Leader of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, but not of the many other Mahayana schools, Zen schools, or Theravada.

The 14th Dalai Lama is the Head of the dominant school of Tibetan Buddhism, the Gelugpa school (also known as the Yellow Hats).

Lama Thubten Yeshe

Spiritual Founder of the FPMT

Lama Thubten Yeshe was born in Tibet in 1935. At the age of six, he entered Sera Monastic University in Tibet where he studied until 1959 when, as Lama Yeshe himself has said, “In that year the Chinese kindly told us that it was time to leave Tibet and meet the outside world.” Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, together as teacher and disciple since their exile in India, met their first Western students in 1965. By 1971 they settled at Kopan, a small hamlet near Kathmandu in Nepal. In 1974, the Lamas began touring and teaching in the West, which would eventually result in the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT). Lama Yeshe died in 1984, his reincarnation Tenzin Osel Hita was born to Spanish parents in 1985.

Kyabje Thubten Zopa Rinpoche

Spiritual Director of the FPMT

Kyabje Zopa Rinpoche is the reincarnation of the Sherpa Nyingma yogi Kunsang Yeshe, known as the Lawudo Lama.

Rinpoche was born in 1946 in Thami, not far from the cave Lawudo, in the Mount Everest region of Nepal, where his predecessor meditated for the last twenty years of his life. From time to time, whilst giving teachings at various centres around the world, Rinpoche would tell stories of his childhood: in Thami, then in Tibet, where he went when he was ten, and finally India, where he first met Lama Thubten Yeshe, with whom he would remain as heart disciple until Lama passed a way in 1984.

Osel Hita

The reincarnation of the FPMT’s founder, Lama Thubten Yeshe

In 1984, Lama Yeshe passed away on the first day of The Tibetan New Year. In 1985, Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche assumed leadership of the FPMT organization and began a search for Lama’s reincarnation. A western child was born on 12 February 1985 in Bubion, Spain, at O Sel Ling Dharma Center in the beautiful mountains of Granada, Spain.

In 1986, after a series of tests and divinations, young Tenzin Osel Torres was recognized by His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama to be the reincarnation of Lama Thubten Yeshe. He was then named Tenzin Osel; today he prefers to be known as Osel Hita. Click here to visit the web site for Osel.

Resident Teacher

Venerable Thubten Dondrub

Venerable Thubten Dondrub is a well qualified, popular teacher with the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT).

Buddha House students will know him as the leader of Lam Rim Retreats at De-Tong Ling on Kangaroo Island, and from the month long November course at Kopan Monastery, Kathmandu, Nepal, which he has led eight times.

Buddha House is privileged to have Venerable Thubten Dondrub resident at Buddha House. As many may know, he was born here in Adelaide and after graduating with Honours in History from Flinders University, he met Buddhism in Australia in 1976. He attended teachings by Lama Yeshe and Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche at Chenrezig Institute, Queensland, received rabjung ordination from Geshe Thubten Loden in March 1977 and gelong ordination from Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche in October 1979.

From 1978 to 1980 Venerable Dondrub was Assistant Director at Chenrezig Institute; in 1981 he travelled as attendant to Sera Je Abbot, Geshe Ngawang Legden, to the FPMT Centres throughout Europe. In 1982 he lived at Sera Je Monastery in India and from 1983 to 1986 he was attendant to Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche. From 1988 to 1991 Venerable Dondrub lived in Taiwan, teaching and establishing the FPMT Centre in Taipei. From 1991 to 2000 he was resident at Nalanda Monastery in France and was director from 1992-1993. In June 2002 to 2012 he was the resident teacher at Hayagriva Buddhist Centre, Perth, prior to our welcoming him here as Resident Teacher at Buddha House.

Over the years Venerable Dondrub has taught in Australia, New Zealand, India, Nepal, Spain, Italy, France, Holland, Germany, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, the US and Mexico.

On numerous occasions he has taught the One Month Lam Rim Meditation Course held each November at Kopan Monastery, Nepal. Venerable Dondrub is well known for his lucid and in-depth explanations of the Lam Rim, based on more than 30 years experience as a monk and teacher.

The course at Kopan was established in 1971 by Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, the founders of Kopan Monastery. It follows the Tibetan Gelug Tradition of Buddhism, and is based on Lama Tsong Khapa’s Graduated Path to Enlightenment (Lam Rim), one of the most important texts of the Gelug Tradition. The course has been held every year since 1971, and has been attended by thousands of people looking for meaning and happiness in their lives.

Venerable Dondrub was the Education Officer of the International Mahayana Institute (IMI), the association of monks and nuns connected to the FPMT. He was the editor of the book “Spiritual Friends: Meditations by Monks and Nuns of the International Mahayana Institute”, a collection of the favorite guided meditations of senior monks and nuns of the IMI. These meditations centre on different Buddhist themes and provide a good resource for the practising meditator. Copies are available in the Buddha House Book Shop.

Venerable Dondrub is renowned as one of the best meditation leaders in the FPMT and highly sought after by centres around the world. How fortunate we are here at Buddha House to have Venerable Dondrub as our resident teacher.