Interview by Kathleen Gregory

Atisha Centre

A gate near the fishpond leads you to a path taking you to the site of the Tse-Chen Cho-Kor Ling stupa - the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion. Under the tireless co-ordination of Ian Green, the stupa project continues to advance. Ian is leaving shortly for Kushinagar in India with a model of the stupa (1.6 metres square and nearly 1.6 metres high).

On the weekend we visited, Atisha Centre had a Tibet Festival in Bendigo on the Sunday with music, food, displays and stalls. After listening to some folk music, eating semolina cake and chai tea and perusing the stalls, we headed out to Atisha Centre to meet with the Venerable Tony Beaumont, who is the director of the Thubten Shedrup Ling Monastery.

Kathleen Gregory: Could you start with saying something about the origins of Atisha Centre?

Ven. Tony Beaumont: Ian Green's family, who owned this land, made contact with Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa around 1981, very much inspired by the idea of starting a centre. Quite early on, Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa said that this would be a very good place for a centre, stupa, monastery and a hospice. Ian, who is the director and has been the director of Atisha Centre for long periods of time, has always been aware of this vision of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa. Somehow, it is now coming quite clearly to fruition. The centre was established first, then the monastery was begun in 1995/1996. Now there is more energy going into the stupa project - the land has now been cleared and $50,000 worth of works were completed last year. There is Atisha Centre, which is the general centre where we hold courses and do retreats. Secondly, there is the monastery, and thirdly the stupa project. Each has its own director and there is a working relationship between all projects.

It works very well, with each project mutually benefiting the other, while retaining a separate organisation and area of responsibility. Part of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa's vision for Atisha Centre was also the development of a hospice. There is a Hospice group in Bendigo, which have Buddhist members involved in it. There is also the possibility of developing a hospice here. It would be a lot of work but people are mindful of Lama Yeshe's vision.

KG: How are these projects overseen in terms of the structure of the FPMT (Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition)?

VTB: FPMT now consists of something like 100 centres - some of which may be just a telephone. That also includes the Publishing House, hospices, study groups, Prison Projects. Then you have various regions. The Australian region has a National Body - FPMTA (Australia) - which meets three times a year. We are very connected to that. As there are more and more centres, it has become more difficult for Lama Zopa to oversee all the decisions. The decision making has therefore come back to a grassroots level, where the centre makes many of the decisions. When it comes to such things as the position of director however, that is still up to Lama Zopa. People will come up with suggestions, but he will make the decision. Lama Zopa also oversees the big decisions, such as the acquisition of land and so on. Otherwise, you can go through the International body to seek advice.

KG: How many monasteries would be in the West now, through the work of the FPMT?

VTB: The main one is really Nalanda Monastery in France, if we are talking about monasteries whose principal students are not Tibetan. If they are, we could then talk about Kopan Monastery in Nepal, where there are hundreds of monks. Kopan was really the centre from which all the other centres arose. Nalanda is the largest of the western monasteries. It has been a while since I lived there, but the numbers of monks and nuns there was around a dozen and sometimes would go to twenty or so. There is also a community of monks in Lama Tsong Khapa Monastery in Italy. That name is significant, because Tsong Khapa was the founder of the Gelugpa order. There maybe other groups as well. Then we have this monastery at Atisha Centre. In the last two or three years, there have been three to five monks as well as laymen living here. At Chenrezig Institute in Queensland, there is the nun's community that has around fifteen to seventeen nuns.

KG: What vision do you have for the role of the monastery and the monastics here at Atisha Centre?

VTB: It is because of Thubten Gyatso (Adrian Feldman) that the monastery came about. It was his incredible guru devotion to Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa, as well as his appreciation of the lamas and the whole Tibetan tradition, that energised him to build the monastery. He gave himself wholeheartedly to the actual building of the monastery - even the actual physical labour - and contributed the money, perseverance and planning. The main part of the building took place 1995-1997. One of the principal sponsors was Salim Lee, a Chinese architect based in Perth, who put the plans together with Thubten Gyatso and gave donations. It was through their work that the monastery got going. It has been functioning as a monastery for really only the last four years.

Most of the monks and teachers who have come through the monastery think that it is time for us to get a resident teacher; a geshe who will function like the Abbot of the monastery, the teacher for Atisha Centre and as a general guide for us all. If that were to happen, the monastery would naturally grow and attract more monks. There is a possibility of both a teacher and translator coming before the end of next year. Based on that, we will do more building. We will need to build a teacher's block at the monastery, as well as further accommodation and retreat cabins.

KG: Do you have a number of visiting teachers on the program?

VTB: Yes, we have various lamas who regularly give teachings. Geshe Dogan from Tara Institute comes here sometimes, but he has a very busy schedule and is very strongly committed to his students at Tara. As there is only a small population of students at Atisha, it is more difficult for him to come, although he does come. Geshe Tashi Tsering, from Chenrezig Institute, also comes down each year and Geshe Sonam, from Geelong, has been coming to give teachings. Kentsel Rinpoche, from Adelaide, is coming to give Vajrayogini initiation in November.

KG: How do the laymen living at the monastery fit into your activities?

VTB: At Atisha Centre, people can do retreats or stay, provided that they abide by the lay precepts. The monastery is for men - for monks and laymen. Lama Zopa suggested that laymen could stay at the monastery if they live within the eight Mahayana precepts while they are here. So, people do come through, some staying for a few months at a time.

KG: What role do the monks play in relation to Atisha Centre itself?

VTB: As Thubten Gyatso initiated right from the beginning, we make ourselves available for the spiritual support of the Atisha Centre program. That means leading meditations, giving teachings, retreats or courses. It also means that if people who are having some difficulties in their lives contact Atisha Centre - whether it be personal or spiritual - we make ourselves available to them as much as possible. It is a very important to provide service in these ways.

It seems to be that if the monastic system is to survive in the west - monks and nuns do worry about how they will survive - we need to be thinking 'what can I give back to others', rather than 'what can I get from others'. People really appreciate this and this is what is most important. We try to do that as much as possible. This is like dharma in action; you feel good about yourself and you feel good that the monastery is doing something of value. Somehow then, the monastery gets cared for if we care for Atisha Centre as much as we can.

There is a Sangha Support Fund that is administered by Atisha Centre, which provides support for me. It is also available as a pool of money for other people that may need monetary support. However, at this point in time, most of the other monks who have stayed here have had their own sponsors. We certainly would not just give money out freely, we have a responsibility in how we use this money. Monks need to set a good example.

KG: Is what you are saying about the role of the monastics, in relation to the community, opposed to a more traditional role?

VTB: As opposed to just being reflective? Hopefully, we can have a balance of both. It seems to me that our culture is such that if you can be observed doing something - like being of service - then people respond in a more positive way. Traditions, such as Thailand, may have ordained people simply keeping their vows and not doing anything else. People only really go up to them to give them food. It is a little bit more difficult here to do that. We have to think about what Buddhism can offer Christianity and what Christianity can offer Buddhism. Meditative techniques can certainly be of benefit to Christianity, and the Christian idea of service can be beneficial for Buddhists to incorporate.

KG: What impact do you think that Atisha Centre has had on Bendigo and Bendigo has had on Atisha Centre?

VTB: We had an Open Day here in May, which the local newspaper covered it and reported that about 1000 people attended. We were very surprised at the number of people who came through - it was probably twice as many as the previous year. People, it strikes me, are very interested and usually very positive towards the Buddhist community in general. I go into schools in the area and we have had schools out here, and the response has been very supportive and interested. It is only going to improve, because it looks like Buddhism is maturing in people's eyes, in terms of the services we provide. What do we do? We do such things as the hospice work, we visit the prisons, we listen to people's problems and provide some kind of support. Somehow the community as a whole - or at least increasing numbers of people - have an openness to such things as meditation and spiritual traditions. There is probably movement both ways.

KG: Would most of the people who attend the centre come from the local area or travel up from Melbourne?

VTB: Every Sunday morning we have meditation and a discussion and most of the people who would attend that would be local. Likewise, the discussion group on Monday nights would be attended by local people, some of who travel from as far as Castlemaine, Kyneton and further. It is quite possible that more people travel from Melbourne to attend courses, but that would depend on who the teacher is as well. Because of the nature of our organisation, with centres throughout Australia and the world, it is possible for someone who is visiting Victoria from overseas or interstate to come and stay and as well. Being a country centre, people may chose to come and do their own retreat.

KG: How many people would be actively involved in Atisha Centre?

VTB: Probably around thirty people come regularly to Sunday morning meditations and so on. Numbers come and go. We also have a large mailing list.

KG: What are the regular activities of Atisha Centre?

VTB: On a weekly basis there is Sunday morning meditation and a talk, Monday night study group, Tuesday morning meditation and a yoga group on Wednesday. We also have a community lunch here at Atisha Centre once a month and community lunches at the monastery. Then we have puja's on the 8th, 10th and 25th of the Tibetan month. Those are the main regular activities. Two to three times a year we have what we call Animal Liberation Days, where we release yabbies that would have been used for bait. Here, we recite mantras, make prayers, circumambulate the stupa and then release the yabbies into the dam.

KG: Could you say something about the stupa project?

VTB: Ian Green is the director of both Atisha Centre and the stupa project. He is the one with a strong energy to build it, to bring Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa's vision into fruition. Quite a lot of people - architects, engineers, artists and so on - are very interested in seeing that development. It is a massive project and provides great scope for Buddhadharma practice. The idea is to build something that is going to last for a thousand years. It is a big investment in terms of money, but the long-term cultivation of generosity comes from the fact that people will make contact with the stupa over the next thousand years, and they will be generating generosity in turn. So, it has enormous potential for people to express their Dharma practice.
At the moment, preparations are underway for the model of the stupa to be transported to Kushinagar, the place where the Buddha died. This model was built by Dennis Kenny, one of the monks here. The model was recently put on display in the shopping centre in Bendigo for ten days, so that people could view it. We are now at the point where the land has been cleared and prepared and are in the process of continuing to fundraise.

KG: What future plans are there for Atisha Centre?

VTB: We are in the process of looking at buying more land and subdividing that for lease or for people to buy. This makes it possible for people to consider moving to the country. When we have a resident teacher, this may really attract people to do this. The land is towards the old Sandhurst Town. There are possibly fifty acres that may become available.

It is hard to know how all these plans will evolve. Once we get a teacher, he may have ideas of his own. Already, with Lama Zopa, you never know what ideas are going to come up. There is also the possibility of a nun's community being established here. that has yet to be organised and that will probably not happen until we have a teacher. There have been nuns who have lived here at different times and who have been quite interested in starting a community here. There is always the possibility of new people coming and bringing new ideas; it will be interesting to see what evolves.