All About Geshe Rinchen Wangyal
Welcome to Geshe-la!
We’re delighted to announce that Jamyang Leeds has received approval for Geshe Rinchen Wangyal to be our first Tibetan resident Teacher. This is a significant milestone for our centre, Jamyang Leeds hasn’t had a resident Geshe in its 26 year history, so this is a big step and we hope you’ll join us as we enter this significant period in our history.
Geshe La will be teaching drop in classes each week. Monday evenings Buddhism for Beginners 7pm to 8:30pm, Wednesday evenings Buddhism for Intermediate Students 7pm to 8:30pm. Geshe-la also teaches our Discovering Buddhism course. He will also teach a series of How to Practice workshops monthly on Saturday mornings (details coming soon!).
As Geshe-la will be living at the Centre in the upstairs spaces, we ask that you respect his privacy when using the gompa area. If you would like a meeting with Geshe La to ask questions about your practice please email Emanuelle on spc@jamyangleeds.co.uk
A Lama Zopa Legacy
So how did Geshe-la come to us? That is a story worth telling. Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave to many projects and sangha around the world during his time, but this relativley unknown Geshe was given a special grant by Lama Zopa to study in the UK. Nobody really undestood why Lama Zopa took interest in this young Geshe. But Leeds took advantage of this opportunity and asked him to lead online teachings and meditations during his studies.
Then just last month, the Leeds team met with Khandro-la at her recent teachings in London, and the team explained that there was a wish for the community to be together more in person rather than online. Khandro-la’s first question was, “‘is there a resident teacher?” Our reply was, “no.” She then said, “It’s good if you have a person who can teach on a regular basis then you can gather a commuity over time and people develop, right?…There’s always a difference between coming to the Centre physically and then studying online…For those who are physically there, there’s more more inclination to have more faith the Dharma for example.”
Around the same time, Geshe Rinchen said he was finishing his studies and looking to offer service to the FPMT, and especially the UK to thank Lama Zopa for his kindness. He wrote to Jamyang Leeds and FPMT Inc. and after some discussions, Jamyang Leeds jumped at the chance to offer him a home in Leeds until his graduation this October. This gives Leeds and Geshe-la a chance to see how the relationship works and if we both want to enter into a resident teacher contract after that.
Did Lama Zopa Rinpcohe see all this before he left us? Quite possibly. Either way, we’ll do all we can to make Geshe-la feel welcome here in Leeds, and we hope you’ll be part of this journey with us. Come and chat with Geshe-la, listen and ask questions, and above all – let’s show Geshe-la that great Northern family feeling we’re so good at!
