Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

The Spiritual Guide of the Florida Kadampa Buddhist Centers is Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. Geshe Kelsang is the founder of the New Kadampa Tradition (NKT), a network of over 1100 Kadampa Buddhist Centers and groups throughout the world.

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 21 remarkable books on Buddhist thought and meditation.

He has established three unique study programs and over 1000 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 the ability 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. He currently divides his time between Europe and the US, where he continues to teach and guide thousands of followers.

SPECIAL EVENTS

Shelter from the Storm
Refuge Ceremony
and Teachings
May 17, Fort Myers

International Spring
Festival 2008
May 23-26,
Ulverston UK

Je Tsongkhapa
Empowerment and
Teachings on
Mahamudra Tantra
June 13-14, Fort Myers

Shelter from the Storm
Refuge Ceremony
and Teachings
June 21, Fort Lauderdale
June 21, Orlando
June 22, Tampa Bay
June 28, Jacksonville
June 28, Sarasota

International Summer
Festival 2008
July 25-August 9,
Ulverston UK

PHOTOS

View the US 2008
Kadampa Spring Festival
Photo Album