His Holiness the Dalai Lama's long-awaited end-of-year teachings in Bodhgaya were the occasion for some members of the Sangha Onlus to travel to India and meet Lama Zopa Rinpoche and later the Dalai Lama himself.
In this historical moment, the meeting with our spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche was particularly important and significant to evaluate the opportunity to proceed with the start of the works of the monastery within the times foreseen by the building permit, and to receive further advice for the development of the monastic community.
When asked explicitly whether it would be beneficial to start the work within this first semester, Rinpoche answered in the affirmative. Strengthened by this confirmation, we are starting with the fundraising campaign, which had been suspended in recent years for transparency, due to the procrastination of building permits.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche in our penultimate meeting in Nepal, had sent us to ask His Holiness the Dalai Lama for his precious advice and in the audience a few days ago there was an opportunity to formulate this request and receive his blessing for this new phase.
Seeing His Holiness the Dalai Lama in the presence again after the difficult years of the pandemic, grasping his great compassion live and admiring his great wisdom, filled our hearts with deep joy and determined to improve ourselves more and more.
The temple of the Monastery represents a magnificent eco-sustainable architectural project aimed at preserving a culture of peace, for which we monks and nuns of the Sangha Onlus Association really need everyone's support.
Even today, many of you ask us when the work will start. If we had to wait 18 years for the building permit, now, in accordance with Italian law, we have a few months to start the works which will necessarily have to start no later than mid-June 2023.
In Italy there are already a Zen and a Theravada monastery, while for our Tibetan Buddhist tradition, as indicated by our unforgettable first abbot Ghesce Ciampa Ghiatso, a place is needed where one can continue to study and practice the monastic discipline. An event of historic importance for Buddhism, as Lama Zopa Rinpoche often underlined to be an example and benefit to more and more sentient beings, contributing to the preservation of pure Dharma.
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