November community meeting
The Tibetan Buddhist Society (TBS) community meeting held last November was a wonderful reflection of just how busy and fruitful 2025 had been for the Melbourne centre. Alongside our regular classes and a full calendar of inspiring retreats, the meeting heard updates on Loden Rinpoche’s activities, reflected on the richness of Ling Rinpoche’s week‑long visit, explored proposals for the Spring Open Day and discussed plans for upcoming temple renovations.
A new defibrillator has been purchased for the Centre and will be installed at the rear of the temple: an important addition to support everyone’s safety.
All members and friends of TBS are warmly invited to the next community meeting to be held at 2.00 pm on 30 May.
Spring Open Day
A magnificent Spring Open Day was held on Sunday 30 November, welcoming visitors to relax and wander through serene 10‑acre gardens. Highlights included a temple tour with Venerable Cathy Evans, popular garden tours with Tim McKibben (see picture), delicious vegetarian food from the cafe, and delights to explore in the Enjoyment Shop.
Rosie McKew, Deb Di Meo, and Angela Scherma offered inspiring Dharma talks and guided meditations, each attracting warm, engaged audiences. The day was characterised by a joyful, welcoming community atmosphere.
Christmas dinner and NY picnic
Our annual Tibetan Buddhist Society Christmas dinner for members and friends, was held on Saturday 6 December. It featured a beautiful Sri Lankan feast, lovingly prepared and generously donated by our kind sponsor, Ishi. We felt blessed.
On 1 January 2026, about 50 people welcomed in the new year with a picnic featuring a magnificent spread of dishes beneath the redwood trees on the TBS temple lawn. Great company was accompanied by a feast including falafel with mint hummus, beetroot with peanut dressing, roast vegetables, quinoa and almond salad, and potato salad with avocado and asparagus. Yum!
Stimulating summer retreats
In January, Les Sheehy (pictured left), director of the TBS Perth centre, led a one-week lam rim (path to enlightenment) retreat that participants found both inspiring and energising. An exceptionally knowledgeable yet down-to-earth, caring, and practical teacher, Les created a wonderful opportunity for new and experienced students alike to contemplate these precious teachings in depth.
The first of our one-day retreats was also held on 7 March, on the theme of ‘Unlocking Our Human Potential’. Led by Michael Joseph, the retreat was well attended and provided an enriching and enjoyable experience for participants.
Guests welcomed to the centre
Visit by Our Lady’s Primary School staff: We were delighted to welcome 85 teaching and administrative staff from Our Lady’s Primary School in Craigieburn, who visited in November to learn about Buddhist culture and tradition. Quynh Tram Trinh generously shared her personal journey and insights as an educator and advocate for social cohesion, Chris M spoke about the background of the centre, and Anna Goldstein led a short, guided meditation (see picture below left).
Visit by Basem Abdo, Federal MP: In February, the new Federal Member for Calwell, Basem Abdo MP, (pictured centre, below right) met with centre representatives Cathy Evans, Michael Joseph, Tim McKibben, Anna Goldstein, Martin Horan and Christine M. As the first new Member for Calwell in 20 years, following the resignation of Maria Vamvakinou, Basem warmly welcomed the opportunity to connect with centre representatives and to recognise and celebrate its longstanding contributions to the local community.
Visit by members of Sakyadhita Australia: We welcomed members of a pilgrimage commemorating 10 years of Sakyadhita Australia in mid-March. During the visit 12 members of the group including Venerable Chokyi and our long-time friend Helen Richardson enjoyed a garden tour with Tim McKibben, sharing centre history and experiences in the traditional Tibetan temple and afternoon tea.
Temple renovations
It is about 25 years since the traditional Tibetan temple was constructed at Yuroke. Unfortunately, the roof suffered quite a bit of corrosion in recent years, and it could not be repaired.
As a result, over the month of March ’26 the TBS temple has had a new gold ColorBond roof fitted in line with the tradition for Tibetan temples and Geshe Loden’s wishes.
This was also an opportunity to check, repair and repaint fascia boards and remove and clean the gold ornaments.
The work was carried out with minimal disruption to regular classes except the weekday meditation classes which needed to be moved to the old meditation room. This work was kindly sponsored by TBS supporters.
Future maintenance activities will include the renewal of upper deck waterproofing.