Over the weekend of July 13 and 14, Dzogchen Beara’s new Temple opened to the public and hosted its first retreat led by Ringu Tulku Rinpoche. The event, which was fully booked, drew a large crowd of over 260 participants, including monastics, Rigpa students as well as retreatants from various spiritual traditions from Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, France, Germany, UK, US, …

The temple, with its stunning Tibetan architecture, ocean views and peaceful atmosphere, provided the perfect setting for Ringu Tulku’s Rinpoche’s profound and compassionate teachings. It was a special time for Dzogchen Beara and the Rigpa Sangha community to finally be able to practise meditation and receive dharma teachings in the new Temple. Entirely built on donations from the sangha and the public, its construction took eight years.

Rinpoche’s teaching, which focused on the three topics of Samsara, Bodhichitta and Nature of Mind was characterised by his usual clarity, humour, and kindness. Rinpoche gave his time generously and always made sure to make time for questions and answers from the audience. Ringu Tulku is a long time friend of Dzogchen Beara where he has been coming to teach each year for more than 30 years.

Throughout the retreat, Rinpoche emphasised the importance of understanding the sufferings of Samsara, cultivating love, compassion, joy and equanimity and recognising our true nature. He also highlighted the importance of non-sectarianism in Tibetan Buddhism.

It was always Peter Cornish (founder of Dzogchen Beara)’s dream to have a temple built onsite to welcome spiritual seekers and dharma practitioners and this vision was very much supported by Sogyal Rinpoche who invited many masters to advise on the architecture and geomancy of the building and bless the Temple throughout the construction process.

The temple is now open to the public and offers daily guided meditation, mini-retreats, dharma talks and visits : https://www.dzogchenbeara.org/temple-summer-programme/