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About Us
Our guides & volunteers
Our small team and dedicated volunteers share Tibetan Buddhist wisdom and compassion in the Mittagong community through Lotus Hearts Buddhist Institute, a women-led Dharma centre.
Our history
Established March 2025
As a Not-For-Profit incorporated association
Currently seeking charity status
Meet Our Guides
Resident Teacher: Geshe-ma Rinchen Pal
Geshe-ma Rinchen Pal is a distinguished Tibetan Buddhist nun from Stara Village in Zanskar, northern India.
She embraced monastic life at the age of 11, initially residing in a Bhutanese nunnery where opportunities for advanced Buddhist studies were limited.
In 1993, she joined Jamyang Choling Institute in Dharamsala, India, to pursue in-depth studies in Buddhist philosophy and Tibetan grammar, English and science. Over 17 years, she mastered the Five Great Canonical Texts of the Gelugpa tradition: Prajnaparamita, Madhyamika, Logic, Abhidharma-kosa, and Vinaya.
In 2016, after completing a rigorous four-year examination process, Geshe-ma Rinchen Pal was among the pioneering group of nuns to be awarded the Geshe-ma degree, the highest academic qualification in Tibetan Buddhism, equivalent to a doctorate.
Currently, Geshe-ma Rinchen Pal imparts teachings on meditation and Buddhist philosophy at the Lotus Hearts Buddhist Institute in Braemar, Southern Highlands, Australia when she is not travelling internationally.
She also collaborates with the Samadhi Centre Contemplative Practices, contributing to projects such as the Tibetan Emporium and the Natural Therapies Expo and Festival.
A significant focus of her work involves supporting the development of a nunnery and retreat centre in her home town area, Zanskar, aimed at providing education and spiritual resources to the local community.
Senior Group Facilitator : Jen
Jen is the co-founder of Lotus Hearts Buddhist Institute and Initiatives Inc. in the Southern Highlands — the first Geshe-ma led Buddhist centre in Australia, and one of the first of its kind in the West.
Established as a not-for-profit association, Lotus Hearts is dedicated to Tibetan Buddhist education, spiritual connection, and compassionate community action — and stands as the most meaningful project of Jen’s life.
The Institute will be seeking full charity status in the near future.
Ordained by Geshe Thubten Dawa in the Blue Mountains in 2004, Jen first travelled to Dharamsala, India in 2005 with the heartfelt wish to learn the Tibetan language in an immersive environment.
Her journey led her through dedicated study at Sarah College for Higher Tibetan Studies and Thosamling Nunnery & Institute, and to serving as an interpreter for a Nyingma Lama.
In 2010, she entered Jamyang Choling Institute, where she undertook four years of intensive Buddhist philosophy training and formed a deep spiritual bond with Geshe-ma Rinchen Pal — a connection that continues to inspire their shared vision.
Jen returned to Australia in 2014, settling in the Southern Highlands — about 1.5 hours south of Sydney — where she married, became a mother of two, and established a life grounded in service and Dharma.
Alongside Lotus Hearts, Jen also leads Tibetan Emporium, Samadhi Centre for Contemplative Practices, and the annual Natural Therapies Expo and Festival in Mittagong.
At the heart of all her work is a commitment to inner transformation, sacred tradition, and cross-cultural compassion.
A central aim of Lotus Hearts is to support Geshe-ma Rinchen Pal’s vision to build a Tibetan Buddhist nunnery and retreat centre in Zanskar, Ladakh — her remote Himalayan homeland.
This project is rooted in the advice of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who encouraged the first generation of Geshe-mas to return to their home regions after completing their studies, and to share authentic Dharma teachings with their communities.
This nunnery is a living expression of that sacred guidance.
