The revered master of the Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism Ringu Tulku Rinpoche last month gave his inaugural teachings at the new Dzogchen Beara Buddhist temple in County Cork, southwestern Ireland. Construction of the Tibetan temple began some eight years ago at the Dzogchen Beara retreat and meditation center on the tip of the Beara Peninsula in West Cork. The new temple opened its doors to the public for the first time on 17 July.
“Ringu Tulku Rinpoche has taught at Dzogchen Beara every year since 1990, so it was fitting that he was invited to present the inaugural teachings on 12–14th July 2024, launching the temple into its new role as the first purpose-built Tibetan temple in Ireland,” Bodhicharya said in an announcement shared with BDG.
“With 280 people in attendance, many of whom had traveled from the US and different parts of Europe, Rinpoche began by teaching on the Four Noble Truths. . . . Over the following days, he taught on the foundation and meaning of Buddhist practice based on three words: samsara, bodhicitta and buddha-nature, one theme building on the next at each session across the weekend.”
Bodhicharya is a non-profit educational and cultural association founded by Ringu Tulku Rinpoche in 1997.
The temple, surrounded by carefully landscaped grounds, occupies a dramatic vantage point overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The new building features a meditation room above the main shrine room, as well as facilities for torma making and tsok preparation.
“Designed according to the Tibetan science of geomancy, the placement and orientation is intended to have a positive influence on its surroundings, as well as being a source of healing and harmony for the people who visit it,” Bodhicharya noted.
“Unusually for a traditional temple, the walls of the main shrine room are made of glass allowing a view of the ocean, which gives a sense it has magically materialized from some realm of air and light. Yet, rounding the headland by boat, the temple appears settled into the cliff as if it was always there, standing high above the Atlantic, its copper roofs reflecting sunlight to passing sailors, dolphins and whales.”
The site was first acquired in 1973 by Peter and Harriet Cornish, who bought 150 acres (61 hectares) of clifftop farmland, aspiring to create a place that would offer refuge to people of all spiritual traditions. In 1992, they gifted the land and buildings to a charitable trust under the spiritual guidance of Sogyal Rinpoche, founder of the Rigpa international Buddhist community. Harriet Cornish died of cancer at the age of 44 in 1993. Her death inspired the establishment of the Spiritual Care Centre at the site, which provides support to those facing long-term or life-limiting illnesses. Peter Cornish died in October 2023 after a short illness.
“Peter Cornish spent his last years in private retreat at Dzogchen Beara, passing away only a few months before the temple was finished,” Bodhicharya related. “His last rites were observed in the shrine room, where his body, in a sky blue coffin, was placed in front of the statues of Buddha, Green Tara, and Guru Rinpoche. He died knowing that his and Harriet’s vision of bringing great benefit to the world was finally realized.”
Ringu Tulku Rinpoche is a master of the Kagyu school of Vajrayana Buddhism. Born in 1952 in the traditional region of Kham in eastern Tibet, Rinpoche was recognized by His Holiness the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa as the incarnation of a tulku of Ringu Monastery. Over the course of his formal education, he studied with some of the most revered and distinguished masters of the Nyingma and Kagyu traditions, among them: Thrangu Rinpoche; Dodrupchen Rinpoche; Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche; and the Gyalwang Karmapa.
In 1997, he founded the international Dharma organization Bodhicharya to preserve, transcribe, translate, and transmit the Buddhist teachings, and to promote intercultural dialogues as well as educational and social projects.
Rinpoche is the author of a number of books in Tibetan and European languages, including: Path to Buddhahood: Teachings on Gampopa’s Jewel Ornament of Liberation (Shambhala Publications, 2003); The Ri-me Philosophy of Jamgön Kongtrul the Great (Shambhala Publications, 2006); and Daring Steps Towards Fearlessness: The Three Vehicles of Buddhism (Snow Lion Publications, 2005).
The Tibetan word for buddha is sangye and this word is very evocative. It means “awakened and blossoming.” What awakens and grows within us is not a new or different intelligence. It is not something that we have never known before. It is the realization of what we already know, our true nature. — Ringu Tulku Rinpoche
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Bodhicharya
Dzogchen Beara – Buddhist Meditation Centre
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