TARA INSTITUTE
Centre for Buddhist Study and Meditation
HIS HOLINESS DALAI LAMA
Small Title
WELCOME TO TARA INSTITUTE
Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Centre in Brighton, Melbourne Australia
Welcome to everyone who aspires to gain happiness and inner peace, through the study,
meditation and practice of Mahayana Buddhism.
Our programmes suit beginners and more advanced students in the quest for a more meaningful life.
BUDDHIST TEACHINGS & PROGRAMMES
WEDNESDAYS
Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life
with Geshe Lobsang Dorjee
4,11, 18 & 25 March at 8pm
Geshe Lobsang Dorjee will continue his teachings on Chapter 6: Patience, from Shantideva’s text, Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life.
Venerable Geshe Lobsang will teach on Shantideva’s text The Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life.
Dharma Club for Children
One Sunday a Month
SUNDAY 15 MARCH, 10:15am
Sunday 15 March; 19 April; 17 May; 14 June.
The Dharma Club offers Buddhist teachings for children aged between 4 and 15, understanding of how to be happy through listening to stories, learning meditation, acting in plays and joining discussions.
The Healing Group
With Kathi Melnic, William Liew and Kerry Whitlock
Held fortnightly on Thursdays, from 11am to 12.30pm
5 & 19 March at 11am
Healing has a great deal to do with the mind. In each session this year the Healing Group invites us to acknowledge what is currently undermining our health and well-being, including the challenges of disturbing emotions, and while benefitting from the mutual support and shared experience of the group, examine ways to create the conditions to restore balance.
School Program
Introduction to Meditation for Students
This session is available for students to experience an Introduction to Buddhism meditation class at Tara Institute, or at your school if that is your preference. The session can follow a secular presentation of mindfulness and meditation if that is more suitable.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Tuesday 3rd March 2026 | 6am - 7pm | Brighton East
Opportunity to accumulate merit and purify negativities
2026 March- Special Practice Day (Merit Multiplying)
Merit Multiplying Day is a rare and powerful opportunity in the Buddhist calendar where all virtuous actions are multiplied many times over.
What exactly is the meaning of merit?
Merit is a force that results from good deeds done; it is capable of attracting good circumstances in a person's life, as well as improving the person's mind and inner well-being. In general, merit means everything which is virtuous. And you can have all kinds of virtue.
What are the benefits?
Because this is a Merit Multiplying Day, participants have the opportunity to:
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Accumulate an enormous amount of merits
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Purify negativities more powerfully than on ordinary days
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Strengthen Dharma practice and positive intentions
Join us for a full day of precepts, meditation, prayers, sutra recitation and group practice to accumulate vast merits, purify negativities, and deepen your spiritual path.
Sunday 29th March | 9am - 5pm | Brighton East
EXPLANATION ON TWELVE LINKS OF DEPENDENT ORIGIONATION - UNDERSTANDING KARMA
2026 March One Day Course
In this course, Venerable Geshe Lobsang Dorjee, will give a general explanation of the meaning of dependent links in understanding Karma, but it is very important, as we must know what dependent links in the form of defilements means, (created from actions/karmas of our three doors (body, speech and mind)). The defilements that cause us suffering, and remain in samsara. All beings are alike in wanting happiness, liberation from samsara. To fulfil this wish we have to know how we are born again and again in this cyclic existence.
The purpose of learning about the twelve links of dependent origination is to achieve the goal of reaching the highest states of samsaric existence, and also to gain freedom from this samsaric realm. Through understanding these twelve links we will understand how we are reborn time and time again, and this understanding will help us to avoid being reborn in the lower, or suffering realms.
Friday 3rd April - Sunday 5th April 2026. | 9am - 5pm | Brighton East
COMMENTARY ON FOUNDATIONS OF ALL GOOD QUAILITES
2026 Easter Course
This year’s Easter Course, Geshe Lobsang Dorjee will teach the Foundation of All Good Qualities, which we usually recite in prayers.
This famous precious prayer was composed by Lama Tsongkhapa’s, is the most concise and stirring outline available of the Lam-Rim teachings. In only fourteen stanzas, Tsongkhapa offers us a prayer that covers the entire graduated path to enlightenment, short enough to recite every day, profound enough to study for a lifetime. (Source: MANDALA magazine, August/ September 2007
“The short text by Lama Tsongkhapa that we’re going to talk about here, the Foundation of All Good Qualities, is rooted in the Madhyamaka teachings and it is therefore very important that you understand it”. (quote: The great bodhisattva Khunu Lama Rinpoche).
Cost includes lunch, tea and coffee.
As accommodation is limited at TI, please book earlier.
Self-Practice Programme
White Tara Practice
At the completion of the 3000 recitations of the Golden Light Sutra in May 2025, the students at Tara Institute requested His Holiness the Dalai Lama to advise what practice to do for the long life and good health of both His Holiness the Dalai Lama
and Venerable Geshe Doga.
Rejoice, students of Geshe Doga can now practice the following:
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White Tara Long Life Sadhana at home or group practice days-
o The White Tara Sadhana group practice dates will be announced regularly throughout 2025 and will continue to be shared each year through 2028
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White Tara Mantra –
o Goal is 10 million mantras by July 2028
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
Volunteer Book and Gift Shop Manager
Love books, beautiful gifts, and community spirit? Tara Institute, a Tibetan Buddhist Centre in Brighton and part of the FPMT network, is looking for a warm and organised volunteer to manage our not-for-profit shop. This flexible role is perfect for someone passionate about service and meaningful impact.
Click the Job Description for more information.To apply, please submit your resume and a cover letter explaining your interest in working with Tara Institute and the FPMT to bookshop@tarainstitute.org.au. For all inquiries, please use the same email.
CENTRE UPDATES
Essential teachings by Geshe Doga
Two new books available at the TI Bookshop
If you’d like to arrange a house blessing, please reach out with your details
House Blessing Ceremony
We warmly invite you to experience a traditional house blessing, a sacred and meaningful ritual led by 2–3 Geshes from Tara institute (Tibetan Buddhist monks).
This ceremony brings spiritual clarity, harmony, and peace into your home — helping to remove obstacles and support the well-being of all who live there, both physically and mentally.
Tibetan Community Prayers
for the Tibet Earthquake
Organised by Geshe Lobsang on behalf of the Tibetan Community of Victoria and Tara Institute, a prayer session was held at Tara Institute on Sunday 12 January for over 200 Tibetans from our local community. This was for the recent earthquake that struck Eastern Tibet, particularly in the Tringri region, which has claimed the lives of at least 126 Tibetans, with 337 more injured so far. This devastating event brought immense sorrow to the Tibetan community.
The prayer session honored the memory of our Tibetan brothers and sisters who lost their lives and to send collective prayers for the speedy recovery of those who are injured.
Shopping at the
TI Bookshop
The TI Bookshop stocks a range books on Buddhism, from introductory to advanced, including children’s books and books by the Dalai Lama, Lama Yeshe, Lama Zopa, Geshe Doga, and our Monday night teachers. It also stocks gift items like incense, malas, singing bowls, cushions, Tibetan rugs and more. TI members enjoy a 10% discount on all purchases. End-of-year specials include Meditation for Modern Minds, Vol 3, an introduction to meditation and Buddhism by our Monday night teachers.
NOTE: Thank-you to all our wonderful hardworking bookshop volunteers!
Café Bliss: Great Coffee, Delicious Food on TI’s Doorstep
Next door to TI, Café Bliss is a great spot for a coffee, chai latte, or vegetarian meal or snack with friends. It’s open for eat-in (or take-away) breakfast, brunch, lunch and snacks. The Bliss menu is available for delivery through Uber Eats or online take-away. Bliss also offers a dinner service prior to teachings on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings from 5:30pm to 8:00pm, served in the TI dining room – available to all, no booking required.
For more information, visit.
Tara Institute is now a donation partner in the Victorian Container Deposit Scheme!
You can now exchange eligible drink containers for 10 cents.
Together we can make a positive difference to our community and our environment.
All eligible drink containers are worth a 10 cent refund that you can either keep, or donate to a community donation partner. If you would like to donate the refund to Tara Institute, you can use this barcode or Donation Partner ID at the refund point when you deposit your containers.
To find your nearest donation point, go to https://www.returnit.com.au/vic/recycling-locations-return-it-vic/
MEMBERSHIP & SUPPORT
This enables the Tara Institute community to support the dharma and allow us all to receive precious teachings from Venerable Geshe Doga and Geshe Lobsang
Lama Zopa said: My point here is for you to understand what we are doing and what you are helping with. This is so that you can rejoice. It really is unbelievable, incredible, what you are helping with, and this creates so much benefit for the world and for sentient beings. This actually creates the cause to liberate so many beings. This is an incredible opportunity for you to rejoice, and if you rejoice and then dedicate the merits, it is amazing.
Tara Institute is a Buddhist centre located in Melbourne, Australia. Tara Institute is a non-profit incorporated association that is affiliated with the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a group of over 150 meditation centres worldwide.