Our History
Barbara and Manfred Klell founded the Association for the Promotion of Buddhist Values on the occasion of the first visit of H. H. Dalai Lama in Graz in 1995 and the center at Südtiroler Platz, which received the name “She Drup Ling” from His Holiness, place of knowledge and experience. She Drup Ling Graz is associated with Tibetan Buddhism, but is open to Buddhists of all traditions and all those interested in spirituality.
In the following years, the association erected the first stupa on public land in Austria in the Volksgarten. During his second visit to Graz, H. H. Dalai Lama consecrated the Peace Stupa in 1998.
Read more about the Peace Stupa in Grazer Volksgarten Park
From 1995 to 1998, She Drup Ling was responsible for initiating and supervising the construction of the Peace Stupa in Volksgarten, Graz. It was inaugurated by His Holiness the Dalai Lama during his second visit in Graz in 1998.
Through the generosity of the City of Graz it was possible to build the first Stupa on public ground in Austria. The sacred architecture symbolizes the stages of development until full enlightenment is reached. To confer the beneficial power the stupa was ritually filled with blessed objects and relics of various Buddhist masters.
The stupa was completely renovated in 2021 with funds from the City of Graz and the Province of Styria and is once again a place of religious practice and interfaith encounters in its new splendor.
It is considered auspicious to offer gifts and to circle the Stupa clockwise.
At the invitation of the City of Graz and the Province of Styria, H. H. Dalai Lama celebrated the Kalachakra for World Peace Graz 2002. The Association was entrusted with the organization of this major event, during which 10,000 participants from 80 countries stayed in Graz for 14 days.
More about Kalachakra Graz 2002
In the course of the preparation of the Kalachakra initiation, the retreat center in Garanas could be acquired in 2000, which H. H. Dalai Lama named “Kalapa“, which is mainly dedicated to the practice of the Kalachakra Tantra. There, through generous private donations, a Kalachakra Stupa and a life-size Kalachakra Statue could also be built.
This center, primarily dedicated to Kalachakra practice, was donated in 2022 to the association “Dzokden Kalapa – Association for the Promotion of Peace and Harmony“, which now runs the center under the supervision of Khentrul Rinpoche.
Impressions Kalachakra Kalapa Retreat Centre
She Drup Ling Picture Gallery
