History of Tara Institute in Melbourne

Tara Institute is named after the female Buddha, Tara, who represents the enlightened and liberating activities of all the Buddhas.  Tara was born from the tears of compassion of Avalokiteshvara, the Great Compassionate One and puts Avalokiteshvara’s wishes into practice, caring for each and every sentient being as a mother would her precious child. Tara Institute is one of 142 Centres and study groups belonging to the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a worldwide network of Buddhist Centres.

The beginning of Tara Institute dates back to 1972 when Nick Ribush and Marie Obst (now Ven. Yeshe Khadro, Director of FPMT’s Karuna Hospice Centre in Queensland) attended an intensive thirty-day meditation course at Kopan Monastery in Nepal, taught by Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Lama Thubten Yeshe.  Nick and Marie encouraged many of their friends, a large number of whom came from Melbourne, to come to Kopan and do the course.  On returning home, this group continued the practices they learned there.  A student from Queensland, Tom Vichta, invited the Lamas to come to Australia and teach. They arrived in Sydney on 15 August 1974 and flew immediately to Melbourne. As the first Tibetan lamas to ever set foot in Australia, they received extensive media coverage.

The Lamas returned to Australia in 1975 and 1976. At this time there were no Tibetan Buddhist centres in Melbourne, thus from 1975 onwards a number of people who based their practice on the teachings they had received from Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche began to meet on Wednesday nights at the Fitzroy home of a student, Inta McKimm.  Gradually, others joined them and the group began to search for larger premises.  In 1976, a new student, Uldis Balodis, rented an old hotel in Palmerston Street Carlton and advertised for ‘vegetarian spiritually inclined’ residents. In organizational terms this group was not yet Tara Institute.

In November 1976, after another month-long course at Chenrezig Institute in Queensland, Uldis asked Lama Yeshe if the Carlton group could start a Centre with Lama as Spiritual Director. Lama Yeshe agreed, gave the name Tara House for Wisdom Culture, and appointed Ven. Konchog Donma (New Yorker, Bonnie Rothenberg) as the Spiritual Program Coordinator. In 1977, the Centre moved to a rented house in Miller Grove, Kew. In the same year Tara House bought a property near remote Noojee in Victoria, to use as a country retreat.  However, that project was later abandoned and the property sold.

In Kew the Centre grew rapidly. After spending three years at Chenrezig Institute, Ven. Geshe Loden and Ven. Zazep Tulku accepted positions as teachers in residence and offered a regular schedule of teachings on Tibetan Buddhism.  The Centre also ran language classes, thangka painting and yoga classes.  A health food shop, which operated for a year in Glenferrie Road, made sufficient profit to buy a statue of Guru Shakyamuni and some good furniture for the library, which still grace Tara Institute today.

By 1980, Geshe Loden and Zasep Tulku had left Tara House and in the same year Ven.Geshe Thubten Dawo arrived as the new resident teacher, with his translator, Ven. Kelsang Tsering. They stayed on until 1984, when Geshe Dawo returned to India. By this time the Centre had grown considerably, with about one hundred people regularly attending weekly teachings.  In November 1984, Ven. Geshe Lobsang Doga arrived at Tara Institute as resident teacher, with his translator Ven Samdup Tsering.

Tara House explanded its activities and membership grew.   Many people put a great deal of energy into a number of fund-raising activities ranging from selling flowers, clothing, electronics and used cars to renovating houses.  One old student described this time as “incredibly energetic.  The energy for fundraising at that time was very dynamic and heartfelt. People gave so much of themselves because it was all so grass roots back then. When you have nothing you work very hard.”

As the number of people attending Tara House increased, the need for a larger Centre became apparent. In 1981 the group purchased an old mansion in Crimea St, St.Kilda.  However, by 1987 the community had also outgrown that property, the confirmation of which did not include a room big enough for a Gompa. The Centre moved to its current location in Mavis Avenue East Brighton and the name was changed from Tara House for Wisdom Culture to Tara Institute.

The current premises, formerly a Catholic residential school for disabled girls, is a large heritage building with offices, a bookshop, library and a large dining room with fully-equipped commercial kitchen providing vegetarian meals to the resident community and the general public. The Gompa, originally the school chapel, can accommodate up to 300 people.  The Centre includes Geshe Doga’s private apartment, a large hall and residential area providing accommodation for a lay community of around twenty-five students. (For further information about the history of the house, please click on A History of the Property.

Currently, Tara Institute has a large membership base that supports the Centre and its activities, as well as a floating population of about 400 who visit the centre on a weekly basis. Members are primarily Anglo-Australian with some Chinese, Malaysian and Vietnamese students.

Sister centres in Australia

To date there are around 25 other FPMT centres/projects in Australia.

See http://www.fpmt.org/centers/australia.asp for more information.