Kagyu Samyé Ling Monastery and Tibetan Centre

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The main temple building at Samye Ling.

Kagyu Samyé Ling Monastery and Tibetan Centre is a Tibetan Buddhist complex associated with the Kagyu school located at Eskdalemuir, near Langholm, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.

[edit] History

The building that now houses Samyé Ling was originally a hunting lodge. The Johnstone House Contemplative Community was founded there by a Canadian Theravada monk named Anandabodhi. When the community declined, Anadabodhi returned to Canada; he was subsequently ordained in the Tibetan Mahayana tradition and enthroned as Namgyal Rinpoche by the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa.

In 1967, the Theravadins gave the centre to two Tibetan lamas and refugees named Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Akong Rinpoche, who renamed it Samyé Ling. Samye refers to the first Buddhist monastic university in Tibet, while Ling means a large house with grounds. Trungpa Rinpoche later left and founded further centres in the United States and elsewhere.

The centre flourished and developed under the guidance of Akong Rinpoche and his brother Lama Yeshe Losal, who served as Abbot and Retreat Master, respectively. The centre includes the first Tibetan temple to be constructed in Europe, a large stupa, and accommodation for those taking a range of courses on Buddhism, meditation, spiritual development and art.

[edit] Preservation of Tibetan art and crafts

The main stupa at Samye Ling.

Under the guidance of the celebrated Tibetan artist Sherab Palden Beru, Samyé Ling has also become a centre for the creation, repair and restoration of thangkas, principally in the Karma Gadri style. Since the 1970s Sherab has trained a number of western practitioners in the highly specialised techniques needed to create thangkas. The temple walls are decorated with many exquisite examples of the work of both Sherab Palden Beru and his western pupils.

Traditional deity and monumental sculpture and the creation of prayer-wheels are also carried out at the centre under the direction of resident and visiting Tibetan experts. The grounds of the centre feature many examples of their work, such as a statue of Nagarjuna.

[edit] Tourist attraction

Stupa and statue of Nagarjuna in the grounds of Samyé Ling

Listed as a tourist attraction by VisitScotland , the centre attracts visitors who come simply to see a spectacular gilded temple, stupas and gardens with statues of bodhisattvas and Buddhas.