History and Background of Khandro Ling
Lama Thubten Nyima and students at our first venue in Market Place. Macclesfield
Buddhism began in Northern India in the 6th century B.C. where it thrived, became very successful, and spread
outwards to China, Sri Lanka and elsewhere. By the 12th century A.D. it had become extinct in India and in due
course was completely forgotten about on its home soil. All of its monuments disappeared, to be rediscovered by
the British in the 19th century. However, the whole of Buddhism as it had developed in India was transmitted to
Tibet, beginning with the first major transmission in the 8th century and a second one in the late 10th and 11th
centuries A.D.
One of the most important figures in this process was Padmasambhava who became the spiritual guide to the Tibetan
king, and founder of the first Tibetan monastery. He was a great adept and powerful presence, seen as the second
Buddha. Many of his teachings and practices were hidden as 'terma' or treasures, to be discovered at later times
when they would be appropriate to that age.
Until 1959 Buddhism thrived in Tibet, presided over by the Dalai Lama. With the Chinese communist invasion,
occupation, and widespread and systematically brutal destruction of all things Buddhist in Tibet, Gyalwa Rinpoche,
the 14th Dalai Lama was forced to flee to India, followed by many monks, nuns, and lamas, where it was possible
to continue practicing and to preserve Buddhist teachings and culture. Increasingly westerners, visiting the
Tibetan refugee areas in India, met with lamas, and especially with the Dalai Lama. As a result, with support of
the Dalai Lama, lamas began to visit the west and so enabled the profound wisdom of Tibet to become available to
those of us living in the western world. The figure of the 14th Dalai Lama has been central to this process,
which has occurred on the basis of his wisdom and compassion. To him, we owe a great debt of kindness. The Dalai
Lama has also been very keen to learn about the west, and about western science, psychology and philosophy, and
has convened and hosted many conferences bringing east and west together, to their mutual enrichment and benefit.
One of the lamas who left Tibet (in his case actually before the Chinese invasion) and came to settle in India
and subsequently traveled to the West, was Chhimed Rigdzin Rinpoche, an incarnate lama of Khordong Monastery.
He was an incarnation of one of the principal disciples of Padmasambhava, who had more recently manifested as a
discoverer of hidden treasures called Nuden Dorje.
Having already visited Manchester in previous years, in May 2001, H.H.Khordong Terchen Tulku, Chhimed Rigdzin
Rinpoche visited Manchester again. While there he gave a number of empowerments, including that of Padmasambhava,
and the transmission for the practice of the Vidyadhara Guru Sadhana, the ‘Big Rigdzin’. Included among the
participants of this retreat were a group of four who subsequently went on to form a practice group, and out of
this grew a wider Buddhist study group made up of people who had attended the ‘Health, Meditation and Well-Being’
courses at the Wilmslow Guild in previous years.
In May 2002, Rinpoche was again due to visit Manchester, but was very ill and Jomo Gudrun came. Some more members
of the group attended this retreat and received teaching and transmissions from her.
Regular meetings were held, originally at a private house, with pujas (chanted meditation practice) taking place
there, or wherever else people requested.
Then, in August 2002 another lama, Lama Thubten Nyima, a Sakya Lama, visited what had become the ‘Diamond Heart
Foundation’. He gave refuge, empowerments, and teachings at a venue loaned to us for the occasion at 6-8 Market
Place. It was a very successful occasion and led, in November, to this room being donated for the foundation’s
use. This act of great generosity enabled a regular programme of practice and visiting speakers, including
Lama Nyima (who gave bodhisattva vows), James Low (the principal student and translator of Chhimed Rigdzin
Rinpoche), Jomo Gudrun (Rinpoche's regent in the west), Diana and Richard St Ruth (Zen teachers and practitioners),
Lama Karma Samten (a Kagyu lama, who also gave refuge), John Peacock(who trained in the Gelugpa Tibetan Buddhist
tradition as well as in the Theravardin, or southern, tradition in Sri Lanka, Keith Dowman (author and teacher of
dzogchen and mahamudra) and Martin Boord (another of Rinpoche's senior students). We have had a number of visits
from Lopon Ogyan Tanzin, whose has conferred empowerments, and given transmissions and teachings from the Dudjom
Tesar lineage. In hosting Buddhist teachers of international stature we attracted many visitors from elsewhere
in the U.K and from Europe. In this way the Foundation became established and began to develop. A trust was set
up, and charitable status obtained.
In 2005, a building was obtained thanks to the generosity of a very kind sponsor, and dedicated to dharma use.
This became Khandro Ling Centre, and enabled an expanded programme to be developed at the first Buddhist centre
in the Macclesfield area. Throughout we have been most fortunate to receive the generous support and sponsorship
of individuals who have enabled this development to happen. The Macclesfield Buddhist Centre, Khandro Ling, is a
manifestation of the kindness of others, a kindness in which all can participate and extend, and from which great
benefit can arise.
At a course during 2009
Khandro Ling Centre today at 17-27 Pierce Street, Macclesfield