You are here: Home » Participate » Samye Completion Project

Samye Project - "Beyond Concept"

"It is said that to build temples and places where wisdom, truth and compassion flourish will generate incalculable virtue which will continue to generate for as long as even one stone or brick of the building exists". Abbot Lama Yeshe Losal Rinpoche

Artist's impression of the completed project

Samye Ling Buddhist Monastery is now in its completion phase of its most ambitious project so far - the construction of the largest, most comprehensive Tibetan Buddhist-style temple in the West - envisioned by H.H. the 16th Karmapa and realized by volunteer work and donations.

The completed project will serve as a multi-purpose facility that will have significance to residents, local communities and on a wider level it is destined to be a major hub of exchange for students, scholars, historians, linguists, artists, inter-faith and cultural organizations worldwide. The facility will house a college, offering several programs in Mindfulness, as well as secular and non-secular courses in Shedra Studies, the arts, language, ecology, and others currently under development. Additionally, the facility will contain a museum filled with precious relics and artefacts, a Tibetan Buddhist library considered to be the most comprehensive in the world, a large multi-faith library with books in more than a dozen languages, several shrine rooms, a therapeutic facility, a state of the art audio and visual department, a translation department (several languages, including Braille and Sign), a theatre and lecture hall seating 600 people, plus accommodations for up to 40 people.

The structure for this building consists of two L-shaped wings that meet to form a ceremonial entrance into a quadrangle in front of the temple, as is traditional in Tibet. Today, one half of the quadrangle is complete (the temple and south wing) and the other half is currently under construction. The building will be two stories high, measures 4,000 square meters on ground, and is the biggest development of its kind in the valley and surrounding areas. We are currently working to make it wind and watertight, subject to continued funding.

"The Temple and college at Samye Ling will be a precious repository for Lord Buddha's teachings - and when one considers how many people will be helped in the future by those teachings coming through centers like this one, the number will certainly be hundreds of thousands. Now is a special time, the beginning is the beginning and here we are beginning a temple and college that will last for hundreds or perhaps even thousands of years."
Khentin Tai Situpa

We urgently need funds
to make the college wing wind & watertight
Click here to make a donation online

If you wish to volunteer - with skills, labour, equipment or advice - please contact George Briggs at admin@samyeling.org or by phone at 0044 (0)13873 73232 ext 229.