Center for Wisdom and Compassion
About Us
The Center
Welcome to Center for Wisdom and Compassion - a place for authentic Tibetan Buddhist studies, meditation and practice.
The Center for Wisdom and Compassion is open to all those who are interested in developing mental clarity and compassion. We offer classes, courses and retreats with world-renowned practitioners and scholars. Explore our program here.
“In Buddhism, we are not particularly interested in the quest for intellectual knowledge alone. We are much more interested in understanding what’s happening here and now, in comprehending our present experience, what we are at this very moment, our fundamental nature.”
- Lama Zopa Rinpoche
A Brief History
The Center was founded by Lise Lotte Brooks and Maria Damsholt in 1996 after meeting with Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Jamyang Center in London that year. Rinpoche liked the idea of a Center in Copenhagen, Denmark and gave the burgeoning group a name: Tong-nyi Nying-je Ling, the Center for Wisdom and Compassion.
From the very beginning, the center started a volunteer hospice service, “Pure Land of Medicine Buddha”, which has been very active and helped numerous people to a peaceful passing. The center also includes a small publishing house, Dharma Wisdom, with six books translated and published in Danish.
Our Mission
The Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) is an organization devoted to preserving and spreading Mahayana Buddhism worldwide by creating opportunities to listen, reflect, meditate, practice, and actualize the unmistaken teachings of the Buddha and based on that experience spreading the Dharma to sentient beings.
We provide integrated education through which people’s minds and hearts can be transformed into their highest potential for the benefit of others, inspired by an attitude of universal responsibility and service. We are committed to creating harmonious environments and helping all beings develop their full potential of infinite wisdom and compassion.
Why Wisdom &
Compassion?
Wisdom and Compassion are at the core of the Buddhist teachings and are likened to the two wings of a bird. Just like a bird cannot fly with just one wing, so can someone who wishes to live a happy and meaningful life not focus on just one aspect and leave out the other. Wisdom without compassion is just cold knowledge, whereas compassion without wisdom often is misguided sympathy.
“Just as a bird flying in space depends on two wings or it cannot fly, in order to cease the suffering realm of samsara and receive enlightenment, we depend on two wings. We depend on actualizing both of these paths—the path that is method and the path that is wisdom—and if one of these paths is missing, we can never receive enlightenment.”
- Lama Thubten Yeshe
Our Organization
Center for Wisdom and Compassion is affiliated with Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, an international not-for-profit organisation devoted to preserving and spreading Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Our organization is based on the Gelugpa tradition of Lama Tsongkhapa of Tibet. We take our spiritual guidance and protection from His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, from Lama Zopa Rinpoche the Spiritual Director of the FPMT, and from the teachings of Lama Thubten Yeshe.