Activity
From his base in Kathmandu, Nepal Lopon Tsechu was a key figure in nurturing the development of Buddhism in Nepal following the occupation of Tibet by China. He exerted a formidable influence throughout the diverse Buddhist community in Nepal and was respected both as a great lama and also a skilled politician. In the 1980s the Nepalese king, and government appointed Rinpoche as responsible for the Buddhist activity in Nepal. Thereby Rinpoche sought to share the government donations between 2,000 monasteries in Nepal. Further Rinpoche used much time and energy to help the existing monasteries and giving advice on new projects. Rinpoche had this position for more than 20 years. Lopon Tsechu Rinpoche first came to the West in 1988 to give teachings and transmissions to many students. Over the next fifteen years Lopon Tsechu ministered to thousands of people in Europe, Russia and America.
In 1997 Rinpoche established the Buddha Dharma Centre, a monastery near the Swayambhunath in Kathmandu.
Lopon Tsechu built many stupas, monuments symbolising the Enlightened mind of the Buddha, in both the East and the West. The crown jewel of his career, and one of his greatest legacies, is Benalmádena Stupa, located in Benalmádena, Spain. Inaugurated in 2003, it stands at 33 metres (or 108 feet) tall, making it the largest stupa in the Western world.
Lopon Tsechu became the first teacher of Ole Nydahl, the founder and leader of Diamond Way Buddhism in the West.
Lopon Tsechu Rinpoche died on on June 10, 2003. He was one of the last of his generation of Lamas trained in the old Tibet.
Read more about this topic: Lopon Tsechu
Famous quotes containing the word activity:
“With two sons born eighteen months apart, I operated mainly on automatic pilot through the ceaseless activity of their early childhood. I remember opening the refrigerator late one night and finding a roll of aluminum foil next to a pair of small red tennies. Certain that I was responsible for the refrigerated shoes, I quickly closed the door and ran upstairs to make sure I had put the babies in their cribs instead of the linen closet.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)
“You must learn to be still in the midst of activity and to be vibrantly alive in repose.”
—Indira Gandhi (1917–1984)
“Who shall set a limit to the influence of a human being? There are men, who, by their sympathetic attractions, carry nations with them, and lead the activity of the human race. And if there be such a tie, that, wherever the mind of man goes, nature will accompany him, perhaps there are men whose magnetisms are of that force to draw material and elemental powers, and, where they appear, immense instrumentalities organize around them.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)