Kadampa Meditation Centre Brisbane is a not-for-profit organisation. Our Centre in Spring Hill provides a comfortable and relaxed environment in which people can discover the benefits of meditation and modern Buddhism for themselves. Everyone is welcome!
About Us
The Centre
Kadampa Meditation Centre Brisbane is a modern meditation space located in the heart of Spring Hill. Our meditation room is carpeted and soundproofed, with air conditioning and purified air. Seating is available on comfortable chairs, and we maintain social distancing with our Centre. The meditation room has a hearing loop and the Centre is wheelchair accessible. We hold weekly meditation classes, beginners courses, special events, urban retreats and regular day courses which are suitable for everyone; as well as in-depth study programs for people who want to deepen their understanding of Buddha’s teachings.
The Shop
We sell a complete range of meditation and Buddhism books written by Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche as well as meditation CDs, audio books and Buddhist images. Our gift shop also stocks statues, ritual implements, greeting cards, candles, meditation cushions and other gift items. All profits are donated to the International Temples Project, which is dedicated to public benefit.
Gift Vouchers are available to purchase
OPENING HOURS
Mon – Thurs 10am – 4pm
*Sat 11am – 4pm
*Please note on Saturdays when there is a scheduled workshop or retreat we will be closed to the public. Please check our calendar.
Getting There
Kadampa Meditation Centre Brisbane is located at 109 Leichhardt Street in Spring Hill. We are a short walk from Central Station. You can also catch the Spring Hill Loop Bus from the city up to the Centre. The bus runs approximately every 10 minutes from Monday to Friday from 8.10am to 6.05pm.
Parking is available on the surrounding streets:
- Weekdays – on-street parking is metered during the day. Free on-street parking is available from 6pm on Boundary St between Little Edward and Turbot St and from 6.45pm elsewhere (signs say 7pm, but the first 15 minutes is free).
- Saturdays – on-street parking is free of charge on Boundary St between Little Edward and Turbot St. On other streets it is metered until 12pm.
- Sundays – on-street parking is free of charge, we suggest parking along Leichhardt St, Upper Edward St, Little Edward St or Boundary St.
There is a disabled parking bay at 132 Leichhardt Street, which is just a few meters from the Centre on the opposite side of the road.
There are also a number of paid secure carpark options nearby including:
- Wilson Parking – 55 Little Edward Street
- Secure Parking – 1 Fortescue Street
- Astor Terrace Car Park – 28 Astor Terrace
The meditation room has a hearing loop and the Centre is wheelchair accessible.
The Resident Teacher
Gen Kelsang Ani is Resident Teacher of Kadampa Meditation Centre Brisbane and teaches all the main classes and courses at the Centre. Gen Ani has been studying and practising Modern Kadampa Buddhism with Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche for over 20 years. Gen Ani teaches with warmth and compassion, making modern Buddhism accessible and applicable to all.
Other Teachers
Belinda Read has been studying Kadampa Buddhism for many years. She is known for her kindness, warmth and enthusiasm in sharing Buddha’s teachings.
Andrew Monaghan has been practising Kadampa Buddhism for many years. He has received extensive teachings and shows a wonderful example of applying the teachings and practices of Kadampa Buddhism in his daily life. Andrew is known for his great sincerity, loving kindness and wisdom.
School Visits
We welcome visits from schools and other groups in the community to Kadampa Meditation Centre Brisbane. Visiting our meditation centre gives your students the chance to experience what Buddhism and meditation mean firsthand. They can see our beautiful shrine with different Buddhas and offerings, meet a Buddhist teacher, hear a talk on Buddhism and meditation, and try meditating in our serene meditation room.
What to expect for your visit
Visits normally last for one hour and include:
A talk from a practicing Buddhist: This can be tailored to suit your students’ learning needs, but typically includes the story of the life of Buddha, information on how Buddhists live and work today and an explanation of the essence of Buddha’s teachings.
A chance to ask questions: As every group is different, we leave ample time for questions, so that the students have the chance to find out about the things which really interest them.
An opportunity to try meditation: Meditation can have a beneficial effect on all aspects of a student’s life. We will explain a simple meditation and give them the opportunity to try this.
Prices
We ask that a donation of $8 is made for each student who visits. If you are interested in visiting our centre, please email us at education@meditateinbrisbane.org
Workplace Wellbeing
Looking to integrate meditation and mindfulness into your workplace wellbeing or employee engagement program? We can help support your staff with simple meditation techniques to:
- Reduce stress
- Improve productivity
- Enjoy more harmonious relationships
Two delivery options:
- Customised corporate meditation and workplace wellbeing classes at our Centre in Spring Hill.
Our modern and professional Centre in Spring Hill provides a comfortable and relaxed environment for people to discover the benefits of meditation for themselves, supported by guided meditation from experienced teachers.
- Meditation and employee wellbeing workshops at your workplace
One of our qualified meditation teachers with corporate experience can come to your premises to run a one-off meditation and mental peace workshop or short series of sessions with guided meditation and advice for juggling competing demands, building resilience and improving mindfulness.
Get Involved
We are dedicated to bringing inner peace and happiness to the people of Brisbane and beyond. To fulfil this aim our Centre relies entirely upon volunteers – from those who drop in to the Centre to help out on occasion through to our dedicated managers and teachers. If you have the wish to help out in any way please let us know. You don’t need to have any particular skills or make any regular commitment. Our volunteers are from all walks of life and help us with a vast range of tasks. Any help is welcome. Email info@meditateinbrisbane.org if you would like to help.
Donations
The Centre is part of the International Temples Project (ITP) which was founded by Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, with the aim to introduce the Buddhist faith and practice of the New Kadampa Tradition publicly, and to exemplify contemporary Buddhist practice through service to the public. Every donation regardless of size, is a significant contribution to the activities of the ITP and to the development of a world of peaceful people – world peace. If you would like to make a donation directly into our bank account, please email admin@meditateinbrisbane.org. Alternatively, you can donate now:
About Kadampa Buddhism
This center is a member of the New Kadampa Tradition – International Kadampa Buddhist Union (NKT-IKBU). This is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition founded by Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso that is derived from the Buddhist meditators and scholars Atisha and Je Tsongkhapa.
NKT is an association of study and meditation centres dedicated to helping people everywhere find meaning and purpose in their lives, and to the developing of genuine inner peace and happiness.By putting Buddha’s teachings into practice in the context of our family and work commitments, we discover they are unsurpassed methods to resolve daily difficulties and problems.
Rapidly growing, our Kadampa community is an international family, offering support, inspiration and encouragement for this joyful and profound spiritual path at centres around the world. For more information please see the main Kadampa website.
Our Founder
Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche is a fully accomplished meditation master and internationally renowned teacher of Buddhism. Geshe-la, as he is affectionately called by his students, is primarily responsible for the worldwide revival of Kadampa Buddhism in our time.
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 accepted an invitation to teach at Manjushri Kadampa Meditation Centre in England, where he lived for many years giving teachings and guidance to an ever-growing group of disciples.
Geshe-la has continued to teach on Kadampa Buddhism in many countries around the world, and published a series of remarkable books on Buddhist thought and meditation.
He has established three unique study programmes and over 1200 meditation centres around the world, trained qualified 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-la emphasizes the importance of meditation and how to apply it in daily life, the need to be truly happy, and how to cultivate a good heart to help others and he demonstrates these qualities perfectly 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.
Our Spiritual Directors
Gen-la Kelsang Dekyong is the General Spiritual Director of the NKT-IKBU and Resident Teacher at Manjushri Kadampa Meditation Centre, UK.
Gen-la Kelsang Jampa is the Deputy Spiritual Director of the NKT-IKBU and the Resident Teacher at International Retreat Centre Grand Canyon.
Gen Kelsang Rabten is the Resident Teacher of KMC Australia and KMC Melbourne and is the NKT-IKBU National Spiritual Director for Australia & New Zealand.
About Buddhism
The founder of Buddhism in this world was Buddha Shakyamuni who lived and taught in India some two and a half thousand years ago. Since then millions of people around the world have followed the pure spiritual path he revealed.
Buddha explained that all our problems and suffering arise from confused and negative states of mind, and all our happiness and good fortune arise from peaceful and positive states of mind.
He taught methods for gradually overcoming minds such as anger, jealousy and ignorance, and developing positive minds such as love, compassion and wisdom. Through this we will come to experience lasting peace and happiness.
These methods work for anyone, in any country, of any age. Once we have gained experience of them for ourselves we can pass them on to others so they, too, can enjoy the same benefits.
The Buddhist way of life – peace, loving kindness and wisdom – is just as relevant today as it was when Buddha appeared in ancient India.
The Lineage of Modern Kadampa Buddhism
Kadampa Buddhism is a time-honoured Buddhist tradition that for centuries has made Buddha’s teachings and meditation practices available to people throughout the world.
Kadampa Buddhism is a Mahayana Buddhist school founded by the great Indian Buddhist Master Atisha (AD 982-1054). ‘Ka’ refers to Buddha’s teachings, and ‘dam’ to Atisha’s special Lamrim instructions known as ‘the stages of the path to enlightenment’. Kadampas learn to use Buddha’s teachings as practical methods for transforming all their daily activities into the path to enlightenment.
The Kadampa tradition was later promoted widely in Tibet by Je Tsongkhapa and his followers, known as the ‘New Kadampas’, who were not only great scholars but also spiritual practitioners of immense purity and sincerity.
Buddha Shakyamuni
Buddha Shakyamuni is the founder of Buddhism who demonstrated the attainment of full enlightenment and how to awaken from the sleep of ignorance and cyclic rebirth. He then passed the teachings, or Dharma, in an unbroken lineage through the ancient Kadampa teachers Atisha and Je Tsongkhapa.
Venerable Atisha
The great Indian Buddhist Master Atisha (982-1054 AD) was responsible for reintroducing pure Buddhism into Tibet. He was asked to present a Dharma that everybody could follow and show how all paths of Sutra and Tantra could be practised together. Atisha wrote Lamp for the Path, the original Lamrim text that served as the basis for all subsequent Lamrim instructions.
Je Tsonghkapa
Je Tsongkhapa was a great 14th century Tibetan Buddhist Master who promoted and developed the Kadampa Buddhism that Atisha had introduced three centuries earlier. His followers became known as the ‘New Kadampas’, and to this day New Kadampas worldwide study his teachings and strive to emulate his pure example.
After Je Tsongkhapa, the New Kadampa lineage flourished for hundreds of years, down to the present day. In recent years, it has been promoted widely throughout the world by the contemporary Buddhist Master, Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche, who founded the New Kadampa Tradition – International Kadampa Buddhist Union (NKT-IKBU). The New Kadampa Tradition is an association of over 1200 Buddhist Centres and groups that derive their inspiration from the ancient Kadampa Buddhist Masters and aim to preserve Kadampa Buddhism for the future.
Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche
Venerable Geshe-la has devoted his entire life to the learning and then flourishing of Buddhist teachings throughout the world. After coming to the West in 1977, he worked very hard to establish a modern presentation of the Kadampa lineage of teachings. His presentation retains all the meanings and insights of Buddha’s original teachings, in a format that is accessible and suitable for modern-day practitioners. Through his great kindness everyone – regardless of nationality, culture, age or gender – now has the opportunity to practise scientifically proven methods for solving the problems of daily life that ultimately lead to true and lasting happiness.