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His Holiness 14th Dalai Lama
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.jpg) His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is both the head of state and the spiritual leader of Tibet. He was born on 6 July 1935, to a farming family, in a small hamlet located in Taktser, Amdo, northeastern Tibet. At the age of two the child, who was named Lhamo Dhondup at that time, was recognized as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso.
The Dalai Lamas are believed to be manifestations of Avalokiteshvara or Chenrezig, the Bodhisattva of Compassion and patron saint of Tibet. Bodhisattvas are enlightened beings who have postponed their own nirvana and chosen to take rebirth in order to serve humanity.
See www.dalailama.com
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Venerable Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche
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Lama Zopa Rinpoche was born in 1946 in Thami, in the Mount Everest region of Nepal, not far from the Lawudo cave where his predecessor had meditated for the last 20 years of his life.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the Spiritual Director of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) and oversees all of its activities.
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Geshe Tashi has been the main visiting teacher at Jamyang Buddhist Centre Leeds since 1996. He teaches in English and is renowned for the warmth, clarity and humour with which he makes complex subjects accessible. He regularly teaches at other centres in the UK, Europe and around the world. He is the creator and teacher of the Foundation of Buddhist Thought, the two-year FPMT correspondence and campus course on the basics of Tibetan Buddhism.
Geshe Tashi was born in Purang, Tibet in 1958, and with his parents he escaped to India in 1959. He entered Sera Mey Monastic University in South India when he was 13 years old, and graduated with a Lharampa (the highest possible level) Geshe degree 16 years later. Geshe Tashi then entered the Higher Tantric College (Gyuto) for a year of study. He taught in India and Nepal before coming to Europe: first to Nalanda Monastery in France for 2 years, and then, in 1994, he became the resident teacher at Jamyang Buddhist Centre in London.
Geshe Tashi is an exceptional teacher of Buddhism - modest, much-respected and sought-after worldwide. We count ourselves extremely fortunate that he continues to include Leeds in his busy teaching schedule. Geshe Tashi is so highly respected within the Tibetan community that when His Holiness the Dalai Lama was prevented by ill-health from attending a meeting with His Holiness Pope John Paul II, HH Dalai Lama asked Geshe Tashi to go to represent him.
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Spiritual Programme Co-ordinator (SPC) at Jamyang Buddhist Centre Leeds.
Venerable Mary Reavey is a Buddhist nun who teaches much of the spiritual programme at Jamyang Buddhist Centre Leeds. She was a Staff Nurse when she first encountered Buddhism at FPMT's mother monastery -Kopan -in Nepal in 1978. It was her love of adventure and trekking that led her to Kopan. She attended a month long course taught by Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa who emphasised the importance of meditation and taking complete responsibility for your own actions and their effects.
Between 1978 and 2001 Mary worked as a Ward Sister, Nurse Trainer and University Lecturer whilst continuing her Buddhist meditation and study. In 2001 she took ordination as a nun with Lama Zopa. Since then she has taught meditation and Buddhist philosophy at Jamyang Buddhist Centre Leeds, Buddhist centres in Preston, Liverpool, Armley Prison, Dumfries Prison, Leeds General Infirmary, St. James' Hospital and Wheatfields Hospice where she holds regular meditation sessions. She appeared on television in the series Jimmys (because of her role in the chaplaincy there) and was interviewed by Howard Pressman for the Sunday morning programme on Radio Leeds. She regularly hosts school visits and gives talks on Buddhism at schools and WI's.
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