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Indiana Buddhist Center

History

The Indiana Buddhist Center was established in early 2003. Geshe Lharampha Jinpa Sonam is our Spiritual Director and resident teacher. We are very grateful to have him as our precious teacher and pray he remains for many years. His kindness and generosity in providing teachings, ceremonies, answering questions and requests for blessings and advice are far beyond what we may ever repay.

In 2007, through the generosity of our members and supporters, we purchased our current, modest residence for our Geshe La. It is used as a meeting place for weekly teachings, meditations, offerings, prayer, retreats, gatherings, and other Buddhist observances.

His Holiness, The 14th Dalai Lama honored the center with a visit and private teaching before giving a talk to a large audience at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in 2016.  This visit was a testament to Geshe La's dedication to His Holiness, and His Holiness' respect for him.

 

The center closed to in-person teaching during the 2020-2022 Covid Pandemic.  Teaching continued online.  In 2022, the center was shocked by the news that while in India Geshe La had emergency medical issues.  He briefly returned to America, and received a terminal cancer diagnosis.  None the less, he still provided one last teaching before his passing just a few months later.  He reminded us "For many years I have taught impermanence, now I will demonstrate it."

With the little time Geshe La had left, he took steps to ensure the center would be in good hands.  Geshe La was granted an audience with The Dalai Lama, who honored his request to ask the Ngari Khangtsen to accept responsibility for the center and ensure we have a future spiritual directors.  We are very grateful for the kindness of His Holiness and the Ngari Khangtsen accepting the request.   Geshe La's compassion for all of us was demonstrated by this act that ensures we still have access to the Dharma after his passing.

Beginning April 2023, we welcome Geshe Lharampa, Tenzin Khechok, as our spiritual director for the upcoming year, and possibly beyond. 

Vision

IBC is the only Tibetan Buddhist Dharma Center in His Holiness' lineage in the Indianapolis metropolitan area of over 1 million people. Our vision for the future is to continue to expand the teaching and understanding of Tibetan Buddhist Dharma and the teachings of His Holiness by:

 

  • Promoting interfaith harmony, cooperation and understanding among different religions

  • Providing teachings to interested people on the benefits of generating loving-kindness and compassion in our society, regardless of apparent differences

  • Encouraging our Dharma community to attain and promote inner peace according to Buddhist philosophy

  • Providing classes that teach compassion, loving-kindness and introduce the Buddha's teachings

  • Continuing to provide Buddhist teachings to Buddhist practitioners of all levels, from introductory Buddhist philosophy to more extensive teaching on Buddhist texts

  • Continuing to serve as a source of accurate information to anyone interested in learning more about Buddhism

  • We hope to construct a permanent Teaching Hall on our property, so that we may be able to accommodate a larger audience for teachings and events, and so that we will not be reliant upon other organizations to donate or rent space for our larger events

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