OUR HISTORY
In 2012 Ellen Marie Lauricella and Naomi Bloom moved to Iowa City from Ohio. Through the inspiration and encouragement of their teacher, Eminence Garchen Rinpoche, Ellen Marie and Naomi had established his center, Gar Drolma Buddhist Center in Dayton, Ohio. The two served as President and Vice-President at Gar Drolma from 2002 until 2010.
Our dear friend and teacher Khenpo Samdup visited Iowa City in 2014
On the basis of their experience in Dayton, Ellen Marie and Naomi invited Khenpo Samdup from Gar Drolma Buddhist Center to give teachings in Iowa City in 2014. At that time Khenpo Samdup inspired many people and planted the first seeds for the Milarepa Buddhist Center.
In 2016 Khenchen Rinpoche suggested we start a Dharma Center in Iowa City
Then, in the Spring of 2016 Ellen Marie and Naomi invited Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen Rinpoche to come to Iowa City. You may have been present at Khenchen’s teachings, held in the Art Building West on the UI campus. If you were, you will understand how inspiring it was for all those present. Attendance was high, and so were the spirits of everyone present.
Responding to both the warm reception he received and the receptive attention paid to his talks, Khenchen proposed to Ellen Marie and Naomi that the time was right to open a Buddhist center in Iowa City. Ellen Marie and Naomi acted on that suggestion. The Milarepa Buddhist Center of Iowa opened on October 1, 2016.
Garchen Rinpoche became Spiritual Director of Milarepa Center of Iowa
In June of 2017 His Eminence Garchen Rinpoche became Spiritual Director of Milarepa Center of Iowa. We are so happy and to have the spiritual blessing lineage from Rinpoche here.
It is our sincere hope that as many students as possible be able to meet Garchen Rinpoche in this lifetime. He is an embodiment of compassion and wisdom. You can read more about Garchen Rinpoche here.
It doesn’t matter whether one calls oneself a Buddhist or not a Buddhist. The Dharma is love. When you see how your love touches others, it will become your happiness to give your happiness away. What is called ‘blessings’ is nothing more than love. If you are self-centered, your mind becomes narrow, like a block of ice. But when you let go and send out love to others, you will notice how your mind expands. The mind becomes open and spacious, like a vast ocean or the sky. When you give rise to love for sentient beings, then we are exactly the same. Ultimately, self and other are just thoughts. When we see that, we are not separate from others, we begin to fathom the preciousness of compassion, of bodhicitta. Love is the only cause of happiness. Its nature is all-pervasive like space. Love is the sunlight of the mind.