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Spiritual Founder
Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
Spiritual Founder of the New Kadampa Tradition
The Spiritual Founder of Avalokiteshvara and Heruka Buddhist Centers is Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. He is the inspiration behind the revival of Kadampa Buddhism in our time.
Geshe-la as he is affectionately called by his students, is a fully accomplished meditation master and internationally renowned teacher of Buddhism.
Out of loving kindness and compassion he has devoted his life to making Buddha's pure teachings accessible to the modern world.
From the age of eight Geshe-la studied extensively in the great monastic universities of Tibet and earned the title 'Geshe', which literally means 'spiritual friend'. Under the guidance of Trijang Rinpoche, his Spiritual Guide he then spent the next eighteen years in meditation retreats in the Himalayas.
In 1977 he was invited to teach in England. Since arriving in the West, Geshe-la has given immaculate teachings on Kadampa Buddhism in Europe and North America, and published a series of remarkable books on Buddhist thought and meditation.
He has established three unique study programs and over 1100 centers and branches around the world, trained qualified western teachers and a flourishing ordained community, and created a project to build Buddhist temples in every major city in the world.
In his teachings Geshe Kelsang emphasizes the importance of meditation and how to apply it in daily life, the need to develop inner peace if we are to be truly happy, and how to cultivate a good heart to help others. He demonstrates perfectly these qualities in his own life.
This remarkable teacher inspires so many people from so many different countries because he teaches from example.
He is a humble Buddhist monk dedicated to helping people throughout the world find true happiness in their hearts.