Thubten Gyatso (born Adrian Feldmann) is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

monk and was ordained by Lama

Thubten Yeshe Thubten Yeshe (1935–1984) was a Tibetan lama who, while exiled in Nepal, co-founded Kopan Monastery (1969) and the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (1975). He followed the Gelug tradition, and was considered unconvention ...

in the 1970s and was one of the first Westerners to become a monk in the

Gelug file:DalaiLama0054 tiny.jpg, 240px, 14th Dalai Lama, The 14th Dalai Lama (center), the most influential figure of the contemporary Gelug tradition, at the 2003 Kalachakra ceremony, Bodh Gaya, Bodhgaya (India). The Gelug (, also Geluk; "virtuous ...

school of

Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...

. He is a

Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition The Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) was founded in 1975 by Lamas Thubten Yeshe and Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, who began teaching Mahayana Buddhism to Western students in Nepal. The FPMT has grown to encompass over 1 ...

veteran who has been instrumental in establishing a number of Dharma centres in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, and

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

. Born in Melbourne in 1943, Adrian Feldmann graduated from the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

with a degree in medicine. After practising medicine in Australia and overseas, he travelled for several years through Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, eventually finding his way to a Tibetan monastery in Nepal. After much study and soul-searching, he became ordained as the Buddhist monk, Venerable Thubten Gyatso. Since then he has run a free medical practice in Nepal, taught Buddhism and meditation in Nepal and in France, establishing monasteries in France and in Bendigo, Victoria, Australia. In the late nineties, Gyatso lectured extensively in the USA. He then spent some years in Mongolia, where he was well regarded, and his teachings were presented on radio and television and published in the local newspapers.

Books

Gyatso's most recent book, ''A Leaf in the Wind'', is a personal account of one man's search for happiness which is often humorous and sometimes shocking. Venerable Gyatso doesn't shirk revealing the mistakes and failings which help to highlight his personal message of hope. He wants us to know that the ego undermines our happiness and fortifies our habitual destructive emotions. His spiritual path is a quest to slay the ego and his life story is a parable for modern times. ''The Perfect Mirror: Reflections on Truth and Illusion '' explains the principal teachings of the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was ...

and reflects on the search for a truthful way of life, the pursuit of happiness, birth, death, love, friendship, sex, marriage and raising children. Peppered throughout are entertaining and astounding true stories from his life: stories of ghosts in the Nepalese mountains, the mysterious appearance of Western-style breakfasts in a remote monastery in the Himalayas and how his first parachute jump was an excellent preparation for realizing the sky-like nature of the emptiness of all things.''The perfect mirror: reflections on truth and illusion''
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References

External links

''A Leaf in the Wind: A Life's Journey''
(2005), Lothian Books.
''Thubten Shedrup Ling'' Monastery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gyatso, Thubten Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Australian scholars of Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism writers Tibetan Buddhist spiritual teachers Tibetan Buddhists from Australia Medical doctors from Melbourne Australian Buddhist monks

Books

See also

References

External links