Our History
1982 – 1997
A one-woman operation
Inta Mckimm, a Latvian refugee from the second world war, started LTC (then known as Chenrezig city centre) in the early eighties, after first meeting Lama Zopa Rinpoche at the famous diamond valley course in QLD in 1972. She ran the centre from her lounge, and financed it with her pension. Her bright dyed hair, elegant clothes and wild jewellery attracted a diverse group of students who found an oasis and spiritual home.
1997 – 2007
From lounge room to the entire house
Rinpoche gave us a new name – Langri Tangpa Centre. Inta passed away from lung cancer, but it was a good death. She was genuinely curious about the experience, and her complete devotion to Rinpoche removed all fears. Her daughter Miffi left a costume business in Melbourne to run the centre and keep Inta’s life-work going. We went from running finances out of a biscuit tin, to an incorporated organisation. Geshe Tashi Tsering gave regular teachings, and the class sizes grew until we were bursting at the seams!
2007 – 2012
The bigger, better LTC!
After four intensive years of searching we finally found a bigger premises at Camp Hill. On the strength of our 1-inch thick business plan, and Rinpoche’s advice to recite the Diamond Cutter Sutra many times, we received a donation of $600,000 from one of our students! The centre secured a loan just a few months before the GFC dried up all credit worldwide, we signed the papers, and the building was blessed by the great stupa holy relics tour within the first six months.
2012 – 2017
Coming home to Buddhism
We celebrated our 30th anniversary in 2012, hosted by the youngest director within the FPMT, Jaimee Treloar. We received a new logo from Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and installed beautiful custom-made altar ready just one day before the anniversary celebrations. We catalogued our 2,700 library and put it online. We installed our life-size Buddha statue. Almost two decades later, and Eddie and Miffi are still leading classes at the centre! The program has steadily grown, thanks to an immense amount of help from LTC volunteers, LTC nuns, and visiting lamas from the FPMT. But most importantly, the centre has become the spiritual home of the students, the living embodiment of Lama Yeshe’s “pamily peeling”.
2018 – 2019
Puja parties and Dharma wheels
Our community expands, with well-attended pujas (up to 40 people), puja music, making our own traditional tormas, and exquisite tunes learned under the expert guidance of Geshe Zopa’s ritual training. Dharma Wheels sutra recitation road trips to bless animal sanctuaries, offering the donations on the day. We attended the Pride march with our rainbow Buddhist banner and held a Bodhi-Pride stall. Our sangha grew, with four more people becoming ordained and leading an ever-growing Sunday morning meditation. Nyung-ne’s reached capacity with 12 staying onsite for the 4-day “Buddhist Boot Camp” retreat and up to 18 people per session. And our foundations became even more secure when we fixed our water drainage issues, and succeeded in making water flow uphill!
2020 – 2023
The COVID silver lining
And then it all almost came to a shuddering stop! With the onset of the pandemic, Miffi made a mammoth effort to bring our entire program online, and we entered a virtual world of light and pixels. Pujas moved online with the offerings going to a community pantry. We hosted an online all-night Tara puja for new year’s eve, with Geshe Zopa and Ven. Robina as guest speakers at 2 am! With a thriving youtube channel, Miffi and Eddie taught and became known at centres around the world, sometimes teaching midnight Dharma due to the time differences! And we held our first ever online Nyung-Ne, with kits posted out, and 18 people attending, some for their very first time! In 2021 we won Australian street library of the year, with over 2,000 books donated and radiating out into people’s homes. Our Art exhibition was the first big event back in-person and brought both the local community and long-lost students back to the centre. Then, Lama Zopa Rinpoche passed away, but became ever more present in our hearts.
2024 and beyond…
Rebuilding the mandala
Holy Relics of the Buddha were donated and welcomed into our gompa. Our Lama Yeshe statue was completed by Denise Griffin, and the Kshitigharba statue for the garden is on its way! Miffi’s Christmas tree forest offered thousands of lights and countless fragile baubles! Senior students stepped up to lead 5 months of Lamrim Express, overcoming shyness and sharing their years of experience. Themed volunteer dinners were a special treat, with elaborate table decorations and Dharma activities over desert. Diving into A.I. brought us Eddie 2.0, with an EDipedia, and expert guidance in A.I. and Buddhist study. The Director and SPC went on pilgrimage with Geshe Zopa and brought back priceless thangkas of the merit field to bless the gompa. Future big art projects include the 12 Deeds of the Buddha, an auspicious sky, and the long anticipated installation of our 8 new chandeliers.
