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Community |
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Since the
founding of the Institute, many changes have
taken place in terms of the activities, courses,
types of residents and guests, accommodations,
and administration, as activities have gradually
expanded and become more organized. The original
community consisted largely of young people
who had met dharma while traveling in India
and Nepal in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Inspired by the teachings and by Lama Yeshe
and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, some of these early
students opened a Buddhist center completely
unprepared for the various legal, administrational
and organizational problems they would have
to face. They learned through firsthand experience,
working together and with the lamas to solve
the seemingly endless problems. The administration
now runs much more smoothly, with members
of the community and guests coming from a
wide variety of backgrounds, ages, interests
and professions. Accommodations, originally
for the young and hardy, are clean and comfortable,
although still fairly simple. People no longer
feel that they have to give up the normal
comforts of a western lifestyle in order to
hear Dharma teachings.
Although the proportion of lay to ordained
sangha residents changes continuously, there
is generally a substantial community of monks
and nuns, along with lay students and workers
who reside in the Institute. In return for
accommodation and food, the monks and nuns
engage in work in various sectors of the Institute,
including administration, the spiritual program,
teaching, leading retreats, translating, managing
the library and multimedia resources, producing
Siddhi magazine, taking care of the facilities,
and attending to resident teachers and visiting
lamas. Many of the sangha also take part in
the resident study programs. In addition,
many families and single laypeople living
in the surrounding villages come to the Institute
regularly for teachings, initiations and pujas.
People come for Dharma courses from all around
Italy and from abroad.
IMI
The Italian International Mahayana Institute
(IMI) [still valid?] was founded by five monks
and a nun in June 1984. It was constituted
as a Buddhist cultural association, with two
categories of members. The first includes
monks and nuns and the second, all lay people
who have taken refuge as Buddhists in the
Three Jewels.
Tagden Shedrub Dhargye Ling Monastery
“Place Where Study and Practice Proliferate
Uninterruptedly”
The history of the founding of Tagden Shedrub
Dhargye Ling, the first Gelugpa monastery
in Italy, is inseparable from that of ILTK.
Two of the founders of the Institute, Piero
Cerri and Claudio Cipullo, were monks. In
1978, Kyabje Song Rinpoche conducted the first
monastic ordination in Pomaia, in which five
people received novice (getsul) ordination
and the sangha community began to grow. With
the number of monks steadily increasing, the
Institute began to designate neighboring rooms
in the Institute for the growing community.
In 1979, a separate sangha kitchen was organized,
allowing the monks to exist more as a group,
with separate management and a certain amount
of autonomy. The Institute also lessened the
number of hours that monks and nuns needed
to work in return for being sponsored, allowing
more time for study and personal practice.
In 1986, the monks were given their own apartment
in the west wing. This is the site of their
monastery – Tagden Shedrub Dhargye Ling
– with five rooms, a kitchen, and a
bathroom. The monastery was inaugurated by
Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche during his visit
to Pomaia in September 1986, and Rinpoche
appointed Geshe Jampa Gyatso as abbot.
Since 1977, the monks have consistently been
involved in the activities of the Institute,
working in administration, teaching, leading
retreats, translating, managing the library
and audio/video facilities, taking care of
the gompa, and attending to Geshe Jampa Gyatso.
Some of the monks also take part in the residential
study programs. A number of monks also give
courses in other Italian and European FPMT
centers as well as other Buddhist centers
and have been invited to participate in various
conferences and inter-religious dialogues.
As well as attending and practicing regular
pujas, the monks participate in sojong, a
ceremony for restoring and purifying the vows
of monks and nuns, which is held twice a month.
Additionally, the summer rains retreat occurs
each year, during which the monks make a special
effort to remain in the Institute except for
the purpose of participating in external dharma
activities.
Shenpen Samten Ling Nunnery
“Place of Concentration Benefiting Others”
During his visit to Pomaia in the autumn of
1989, Lama Zopa Rinpoche met with the large
group of nuns who were present to discuss
the establishment of a nunnery in Italy. Rinpoche
gave the future nunnery its name—Shenpen
Samten Ling (“Place of Concentration
Benefiting Others”)—and appointed
Geshe Jampa Gyatso as its abbot. The nunnery
recently moved to the hillside behind the
main building of the Institute, where a number
of lovely wooden houses were built for the
nuns and other students of the Institute. |
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