One day in August 1981, Ian Green OAM went for a walk with his Buddhist teacher, Lama Yeshe. On that walk, Lama Yeshe told Ian and a companion about a vision he’d had. In the vision, he’d seen the land transformed into a Buddhist retreat. At the heart of the retreat stood a stupa – a spectacular monument that provides a place to meditate and pray. From that day, Ian’s work on The Great Stupa of Universal Compassion began.
The Great Stupa was modelled on Tibet’s Gyantse Stupa. In 1995, Ian travelled to Tibet to measure every nook and cranny of one of the Buddhist world’s most treasured buildings. ‘In a sense, we’ve taken this incredible stupa from Tibet and we’re taking it to the Western world,’ said Ian. Year by year, Ian and his team have made Lama Yeshe’s vision a reality. The Great Stupa of Universal Compassion was completed in 2020. It is now the largest Stupa outside of Asia.
