Manjushri Institute
Encyclopedia
Manjushri Institute was a large Buddhist college situated at Conishead Priory in England from 1976 until its dissolution in 1991. In 1991 its assets, including Conishead Priory, were transferred to a new Centre, Manjushri Mahayana Buddhist Centre which was later re-named Manjushri Kadampa Meditation Centre.
founded the Manjushri Institute, a registered charitable company with Lama Yeshe as the Spiritual Director and purchased the assets of Conishead Priory, a sadly neglected Victorian mansion in Ulverston (Cumbria
), England for the price of £70,000. In the same year Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche visited Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
in India and invited him to teach at the Manjushri Institute, which was a part of their FPMT network. According to David Kay, they sought the advice of the 14th Dalai Lama when choosing Geshe Kelsang.. At first Geshe Kelsang appears to have been reluctant to accept this invitation, but "Lama Yeshe requested Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche
[Geshe Kelsang's Teacher] to ask Geshe Kelsang to become Resident Teacher of Manjushri Institute. Geshe Kelsang later recounted that Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche asked him to go to England, teach Shantideva
's Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, Chandrakirti's Guide to the Middle Way and Lamrim
, and then check whether there was any meaning in his continuing to stay."
Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
, a Tibetan Buddhist teacher, monk and scholar from the Gelug Tradition
, is a contemporary of Lama Yeshe's from the time they spent studying at Sera Monastery
.
Geshe Kelsang was requested by Lama Yeshe to lead the "General Program" of Buddhist study. In 1979 Lama Yeshe installed another Geshe at Manjushri Institute, Geshe Jampa Tekchok, to teach a parallel twelve-year Geshe Studies Programme, which was recognized and validated by the Dalai Lama and which was modeled on the traditional Geshe
degree. From 1982 to 1990 this program was led by Geshe Konchog Tsewang. According to a disciple of Lama Yeshe from this time, Lama Yeshe intended the institute "to become the central monastery of the FPMT... one of the early jewels of the FPMT crown" and "the pioneer among the western centers".
In the following years prior to 1990 Geshe Kelsang established 15 centres under his own direction in Great Britain and Spain.
The management committee of Manjushri Institute, also known as "the Priory Group", were deeply appreciative of Geshe Kelsang's teachings and example and were some of his closest students. According to Kay, "The Priory Group became dissatisfied with the FPMT's increasingly centralized organisation" and some of the FPMT's policies "were considered to be particularly unreasonable strains which threatened the Institute's existence." Moreover, some of Lama Yeshe's students were alleged to be engaging in illegal activities, which would cause embarrassment to Lama Yeshe and to the FPMT. Cozort states that different disagreements "led to a rift between Lama Yeshe and his students and Geshe Kelsang Gyatso and his, and eventually the Manjushri Board of directors (composed of Geshe Kelsang's students) severed the connection between the institute and the FPMT." According to Kay, Lama Yeshe tried at different times to reassert his authority over the Institute, but his attempts were unsuccessful. Kay goes on to describe an open conflict of authority which developed between the Priory Group and the FPMT administration in 1983. In February 1984 the conflict was mediated by the Office of the Dalai Lama
in London. Kay states that after the death of Lama Yeshe in March 1984, the FPMT lost interest because they saw it as a fruitless case. Since that time, Kay states, the Manjushri Institute has developed mainly under the guidance of Geshe Kelsang without further reference to the FPMT, but legally remained part of the FPMT until late 1990.
A detailed history of early Manjushri Institute and the its relationship to the FPMT and the NKT is given by three reliable witnesses who were involved in the proceedings. They explain:
, Scotland
and asked Geshe Losang Pende from Ganden Shartse monastery to lead the General Programme in his absence, whilst Geshe Konchog Tsewang continued to teach the Geshe Studies Programme at Conishead Priory (Manjushri Institute). Different Lamas, including Lama Zopa Rinpoche, were still invited. Especially the visit of Lama Zopa Rinpoche in 1988 "is significant, indicating the ongoing devotion of the students to this lama and their desire to leave the negativity of the schism with the FPMT in the past." In 1988 and 1990 the uncle of Geshe Kelsang, Ven. Choyang Duldzin Kuten Lama - the oracle of Dorje Shugden
- also visited Manjushri Institute. Before that time Song Rinpoche, Geshe Lhundup Sopa, Geshe Rabten, as well as other lamas such as Ajahn Sumedho
and Thich Nhat Hanh have taught at Manjushri Institute.
During Geshe Kelsang's period of retreat he wrote five books and established the foundations of the New Kadampa Tradition
. Kay states: "The first major development that took place during Geshe Kelsang's retreat was the introduction of the 'Teacher Training Programme' (TTP) at the Manjushri Institute."
In 1990 the Geshe Studies Programme at Manjushri Institute was cancelled, as it had been in most of the other FPMT Centres where it had been established. According to Cozort, "No one, to my knowledge, ever completed the FPMT Geshe Studies Programme. The program never ran its full course in any of the Centres where it was taught."
In 1991, Manjushri Institute was dissolved and its assets turned over to a new corporation, Manjushri Mahayana Buddhist Centre, located on the same premises at Conishead Priory. The Centre was later re-named Manjushri Kadampa Meditation Centre, which is still active as the "Mother Centre" of the NKT-IKBU
.
The Founding of Manjushri Institute
In 1976 the students of Lama Thubten YesheThubten Yeshe
Thubten Yeshe was a Tibetan lama who, while exiled in Nepal, co-founded Kopan Monastery and the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition...
founded the Manjushri Institute, a registered charitable company with Lama Yeshe as the Spiritual Director and purchased the assets of Conishead Priory, a sadly neglected Victorian mansion in Ulverston (Cumbria
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
), England for the price of £70,000. In the same year Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche visited Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
Kelsang Gyatso
Kelsang Gyatso is a Buddhist monk, "meditation master, scholar, and author" of 22 books based on the teachings of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism...
in India and invited him to teach at the Manjushri Institute, which was a part of their FPMT network. According to David Kay, they sought the advice of the 14th Dalai Lama when choosing Geshe Kelsang.. At first Geshe Kelsang appears to have been reluctant to accept this invitation, but "Lama Yeshe requested Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche
Trijang Rinpoche
Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche was a Gelug Lama and a direct disciple of Je Pabongka. He was the junior tutor and spiritual guide of the 14th Dalai Lama for forty years. He is also the root lama of many Gelug Lamas who teach in the West including Zong Rinpoche, Geshe Rabten, Lama Yeshe, Lama Gangchen...
[Geshe Kelsang's Teacher] to ask Geshe Kelsang to become Resident Teacher of Manjushri Institute. Geshe Kelsang later recounted that Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche asked him to go to England, teach Shantideva
Shantideva
Shantideva was an 8th-century Indian Buddhist scholar at Nalanda University and an adherent of the Madhyamaka philosophy of Nagarjuna....
's Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, Chandrakirti's Guide to the Middle Way and Lamrim
Lamrim
Lamrim is a Tibetan Buddhist textual form for presenting the stages in the complete path to enlightenment as taught by Buddha. In Tibetan Buddhist history there have been many different versions of lamrim, presented by different teachers of the Nyingma, Kagyu and Gelug schools...
, and then check whether there was any meaning in his continuing to stay."
Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
Kelsang Gyatso
Kelsang Gyatso is a Buddhist monk, "meditation master, scholar, and author" of 22 books based on the teachings of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism...
, a Tibetan Buddhist teacher, monk and scholar from the Gelug Tradition
Gelug
The Gelug or Gelug-pa , also known as the Yellow Hat sect, is a school of Buddhism founded by Je Tsongkhapa , a philosopher and Tibetan religious leader...
, is a contemporary of Lama Yeshe's from the time they spent studying at Sera Monastery
Sera Monastery
Sera Monastery is one of the 'great three' Gelukpa university monasteries of Tibet, located north of Lhasa. The other two are Ganden Monastery and Drepung Monastery. The origin of the name 'Sera' is attributed to a fact that the site where the monastery was built was surrounded by wild roses in...
.
Geshe Kelsang was requested by Lama Yeshe to lead the "General Program" of Buddhist study. In 1979 Lama Yeshe installed another Geshe at Manjushri Institute, Geshe Jampa Tekchok, to teach a parallel twelve-year Geshe Studies Programme, which was recognized and validated by the Dalai Lama and which was modeled on the traditional Geshe
Geshe
Geshe is a Tibetan Buddhist academic degree for monks...
degree. From 1982 to 1990 this program was led by Geshe Konchog Tsewang. According to a disciple of Lama Yeshe from this time, Lama Yeshe intended the institute "to become the central monastery of the FPMT... one of the early jewels of the FPMT crown" and "the pioneer among the western centers".
Separation from the FPMT
In the late 1970s, Geshe Kelsang received a request to give a teaching in York, at which he met Ron Lister. Ron later invited Geshe Kelsang to stay with him in York, since the winters in the drafty Conishead Priory were difficult for Geshe Kelsang's health. While in York, Geshe Kelsang was requested repeatedly to teach. Acting in accordance with his Bodhisattva vow not to withhold teachings from those who request them, he offered a number of teachings there. Eventually this led to a new Buddhist Centre, Madhyamaka Centre, being established in York under Geshe Kelsang's guidance. Kay sees this as the beginning of a conflict between Lama Yeshe and Geshe Kelsang. However, according to Geshe Kelsang, "the opening of the Centre in York caused not one moment of confusion or disharmony". Geshe Kelsang was asked to resign so that another Geshe, described by Kay as "more devoted to FPMT objectives", could take over as a resident teacher of Manjushri Institute. Many students of Geshe Kelsang petitioned him to stay and teach them, and on this basis he decided to remain. As Geshe Kelsang said in Santa Barbara USA, February 2, 1996:
"Soon after I arrived I started to teach Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, which took almost one year. Then I gave extensive Lamrim teachings, and after that I taught Guide to the Middle Way. So altogether it took almost three years to complete my commitment and I was very happy to return to India. My root Guru Trijang RinpocheTrijang RinpocheKyabje Trijang Rinpoche was a Gelug Lama and a direct disciple of Je Pabongka. He was the junior tutor and spiritual guide of the 14th Dalai Lama for forty years. He is also the root lama of many Gelug Lamas who teach in the West including Zong Rinpoche, Geshe Rabten, Lama Yeshe, Lama Gangchen...
was there and he was very old; my mother and my many spiritual friends were there. Lama Yeshe also accepted my returning to India, so I nearly returned to India. But then the Manjushri Institute community people strongly requested me to stay."
In the following years prior to 1990 Geshe Kelsang established 15 centres under his own direction in Great Britain and Spain.
The management committee of Manjushri Institute, also known as "the Priory Group", were deeply appreciative of Geshe Kelsang's teachings and example and were some of his closest students. According to Kay, "The Priory Group became dissatisfied with the FPMT's increasingly centralized organisation" and some of the FPMT's policies "were considered to be particularly unreasonable strains which threatened the Institute's existence." Moreover, some of Lama Yeshe's students were alleged to be engaging in illegal activities, which would cause embarrassment to Lama Yeshe and to the FPMT. Cozort states that different disagreements "led to a rift between Lama Yeshe and his students and Geshe Kelsang Gyatso and his, and eventually the Manjushri Board of directors (composed of Geshe Kelsang's students) severed the connection between the institute and the FPMT." According to Kay, Lama Yeshe tried at different times to reassert his authority over the Institute, but his attempts were unsuccessful. Kay goes on to describe an open conflict of authority which developed between the Priory Group and the FPMT administration in 1983. In February 1984 the conflict was mediated by the Office of the Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word далай meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning "teacher"...
in London. Kay states that after the death of Lama Yeshe in March 1984, the FPMT lost interest because they saw it as a fruitless case. Since that time, Kay states, the Manjushri Institute has developed mainly under the guidance of Geshe Kelsang without further reference to the FPMT, but legally remained part of the FPMT until late 1990.
A detailed history of early Manjushri Institute and the its relationship to the FPMT and the NKT is given by three reliable witnesses who were involved in the proceedings. They explain:
The Establishment of the NKT-IKBU
Geshe Kelsang made a 3-year retreat from 1987–1990 in DumfriesDumfries
Dumfries is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth. Dumfries was the county town of the former county of Dumfriesshire. Dumfries is nicknamed Queen of the South...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and asked Geshe Losang Pende from Ganden Shartse monastery to lead the General Programme in his absence, whilst Geshe Konchog Tsewang continued to teach the Geshe Studies Programme at Conishead Priory (Manjushri Institute). Different Lamas, including Lama Zopa Rinpoche, were still invited. Especially the visit of Lama Zopa Rinpoche in 1988 "is significant, indicating the ongoing devotion of the students to this lama and their desire to leave the negativity of the schism with the FPMT in the past." In 1988 and 1990 the uncle of Geshe Kelsang, Ven. Choyang Duldzin Kuten Lama - the oracle of Dorje Shugden
Dorje Shugden
Dorje Shugden , "Vajra Possessing Strength", or Dolgyal Shugden , "Shugden, King of Dhol" is a deity in Tibetan Buddhism, especially its Gelug school, who is regarded as a Dharma Protector or "guardian angel." The practice of Dharma Protectors is central to most religious Tibetans and...
- also visited Manjushri Institute. Before that time Song Rinpoche, Geshe Lhundup Sopa, Geshe Rabten, as well as other lamas such as Ajahn Sumedho
Ajahn Sumedho
Luang Por Ajahn Sumedho is the senior Western representative of the Thai forest tradition of Theravada Buddhism. He was abbot of Amaravati Buddhist Monastery just north of London from its consecration in 1984 until his retirement in 2010...
and Thich Nhat Hanh have taught at Manjushri Institute.
During Geshe Kelsang's period of retreat he wrote five books and established the foundations of the New Kadampa Tradition
New Kadampa Tradition
The New Kadampa Tradition ~ International Kadampa Buddhist Union is a global Buddhist organisation founded by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso in England in 1991. In 2003 the words "International Kadampa Buddhist Union" were added to the original name "New Kadampa Tradition"...
. Kay states: "The first major development that took place during Geshe Kelsang's retreat was the introduction of the 'Teacher Training Programme' (TTP) at the Manjushri Institute."
In 1990 the Geshe Studies Programme at Manjushri Institute was cancelled, as it had been in most of the other FPMT Centres where it had been established. According to Cozort, "No one, to my knowledge, ever completed the FPMT Geshe Studies Programme. The program never ran its full course in any of the Centres where it was taught."
In 1991, Manjushri Institute was dissolved and its assets turned over to a new corporation, Manjushri Mahayana Buddhist Centre, located on the same premises at Conishead Priory. The Centre was later re-named Manjushri Kadampa Meditation Centre, which is still active as the "Mother Centre" of the NKT-IKBU
New Kadampa Tradition
The New Kadampa Tradition ~ International Kadampa Buddhist Union is a global Buddhist organisation founded by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso in England in 1991. In 2003 the words "International Kadampa Buddhist Union" were added to the original name "New Kadampa Tradition"...
.
External links
- The History of Manjushri Institute
- Review of Manjushri Kadampa Meditation Centre by The Good Retreat Guide, retrieved 2009-12-20.