PRESS RELEASE
Saturday 8 March 2025 | 10.30 am
Conference Room Royal Palace Milan – Piazza Duomo, 14 (3rd floor)
Free entry, subject to availability
What can be the meaning of monasteries in today's society and why, today, are contemplative communities still important? Is it just an individual choice or a spiritual contribution that can benefit the entire society?
The desire of the starts from these questionsAssociazione Monastica Sangha Lhungtok Choekhorling and Sangha Foundation ETS to develop a comparison on the theme of inner peace and the contribution of spirituality in the contemporary social context.
Titled “Finding Peace”, the event was organised with the patronage of the Municipality of Milan, will be held at the Conference Hall of the Royal Palace, Saturday March 8 at 10 am and will start with the institutional greetings of the Deputy mayor of the Municipality of Milan Dr. Anna Scavuzzo and President of the Italian Buddhist Union Filippo Scianna.
In order to stimulate a reflection on the importance of choosing the contemplative and monastic life nowadays and on the opportunity for interior and social growth of the person and the communities, they will enter into dialogue Enzo Bianchi, founder of the monastic community of Bose e Madia's house, and Geshe Thubten Chonyi, Abbot of Lhungtok Choekhorling and the Monastery and Convent of Kopan in Nepali, with over seven hundred monks and nuns, and a member of the board of the FPMT (Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition), which has over 160 centers and social projects around the world.
If Buddhism has always intended to contribute to the message of universal peace and harmony, It is in the Monasteries that the Dharma, the teaching of the Buddha, is effectively preserved and spread by dedicating oneself to the study of the mind, to make it serene and balanced in service of the whole society.
The aim of the event is precisely to present the first Buddhist Monastery of the Tibetan tradition in Italy, an example of the virtuous union between spirituality and architecture that will soon see the light in Pomaia of Santa Luce, in the province of Pisa, built in an area of great beauty that has undergone in the past the environmental trauma of excavation. Built from scratch on the rock like the traditional monasteries of Tibet, the unique structure of the Temple will be immersed in a large Park of Contemplation and Peace, an important environmental redevelopment project that includes a network of trails with interreligious and environmental education installations.
Even the designer of the Monastery, theArchitect Gino Zavanella, famous for the construction of some of the main sports facilities in the country including the Juventus Stadium, will present the architectural project of the Temple, sensitive to both the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and the landscape context.
At the end of the event, which will be held on the occasion of the International Women's Day, Buddhist nun Ani Ciampa Tashi will be entrusted with accompanying the participants to a moment of guided meditation, aimed at strengthening the relational value of interreligious openness and enriching the initiative with a meditative experience.
"The first Buddhist monks of our tradition in Italy gathered in Milan in the 70s, and we believe that starting to present the project at a national level from this city is particularly significant. The event in progress represents for us the opportunity to strengthen interreligious dialogue and, at the same time, tell the importance of monastic communities nowadays.– anticipa Massimo Stordi, President of the Sangha Lhungtok Choekhorling Monastic Association. "With this meeting we would like to reach not only the people who already know us and have supported us over the years, but also those who adopt a different lifestyle, hoping to be able to transmit the social value of a monastic community that practices contemplation not as an individual choice, but as a promoter of peace, harmony and well-being for the entire country.”, concludes the President.
Information: info@sangha.it
“True happiness does not consist in having money or power, but in attaining inner peace. If you have peace of mind, you will be happy day and night.”
-His Holiness the Dalai Lama-
