Where it all started. 

The Start.

The Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) was founded in 1975 by Gelugpa Lamas Thubten Yeshe and Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, who began teaching Tibetan Buddhism to Western students in Nepal. The FPMT has grown to encompass over 138 dharma centers, projects, and services in 34 countries. Lama Yeshe led the organization until his death in 1984, followed by Lama Zopa until his death in 2023.

The name and structure of the FPMT date to 1975, in the wake of an international teaching tour by Lamas Yeshe and Zopa. However, the two had been teaching Western travelers since at least 1965, when they met Zina Rachevsky, their student and patron, in Darjeeling. In 1969, the three of them founded the Nepal Mahayana Gompa Centre (now Kopan Monastery). 

In December 1973, Lama Yeshe ordained fourteen Western monks and nuns under the name of the International Mahayana Institute. Around this time, Lama Yeshe's students began returning to their own countries. The result was the founding of an ever-increasing number of dharma centers in those countries. In his description of the FPMT

Which brought about.

One of the Buddhist centres that arose as a result of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa's students returning  back to Australia was Atisha Centre, an FPMT Centre, founded in late 1981, near Bendigo, Victoria on land donated by the Green family.

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Atisha Centre is a peaceful retreat centre and hub of Buddhist education, nestled in the quiet native bushland of central Victoria

It was the first of four entities planned for the 220 acres of Land, including TSL Monastery, The Great Stupa of Universal Compassion and Machig Labdron Nunnery, as well as a small village which Lama Yeshe wanted in his grand vision which is yet to get underway.

Ven. Thubten Gyatso and the birth of TSL Monastery

Thubten Shedrup Ling is the first Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Australia. It is located near Bendigo, Victoria, and is a member of the International Mahayana Institute of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT).

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In 1994 Lama Zopa Rinpoche asked Australian Buddhist monk Ven. Thubten Gyatso to establish a monastery on land near Bendigo donated by the family of Mr. Ian Green. Tenzin Gyatso, the XIVth Dalai Lama of Tibet endorsed the name: Thubten Shedrup Ling, An Oasis for Study and Practice of the Buddha's Teachings. With the architectural and financial support of Mr. Salim Lee and many individual donors, construction began in 1996.

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The first monks moved into Thubten Shedrup Ling in 1997.

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Thubten Shedrup Ling Monastery has grown in size with an additional accommodation block built in 2011, allowing for comfortable accommodation for up to eighteen resident monks.

In 2016, a large two story building was completed.

The building houses  the main meditation hall on the ground floor.

While upstairs contains two  en-suite rooms,  and extra accommodation  for the use of our resident abbot, visiting lama's and attendants.