Our History

Palri Pema Od Ling (Glorious Light of Lotus Copper Mountain Sanctuary) received its name in 2002 from His Holiness Pema Norbu Rinpoche the 11th Throneholder of the Palyul Lineage of Nyingma (March 27, 1932-March 27, 2009). He is considered one of the foremost masters of the Buddhist Tradition of Tibet.
Throughout the Buddhist community, H.H. Penor Rinpoche is respected for his vast knowledge and accomplishments and for the integrity and strength with which he upheld the Buddhist teachings. For a full list of PPOL’s Spiritual Directors, please click on “Teachers”.

PPOL actually began in the early 90’s as a small shrine room created in the basement of one of Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche’s devoted students. The basement, converted into a beautiful shrine room, was decorated in the fashion of an authentic Tibetan Buddhist Temple featuring thangkas, statues, texts and many other Tibetan Buddhist ritual items. For many years, this little shrine room provided a place for Dharma activity, visiting teachers, translators, artists, lamas, monks and students to come together. Students studied, practiced and received empowerments from the very Lamas we now refer to as our Precious Teachers. These early years in that basement shrine would eventually lay the foundation for what we now refer to as the Austin Tibetan Buddhist Center, Palri Pema Od Ling (PPOL).

Our new Resident Lama, Lama Pasang, will be arriving at PPOL October 29th! We are all very excited that Palri was fortunate enough to get Lama Pasang to serve as our Resident Lama for at least the next two years. Lama Pasang is from Nepal and is part of the same lineage (Palyul, Nyingma) as our Teachers and Spiritual Director, Khenchen Tsewang Gyatso Rinpoche. He has served as an umze (chant leader) and taught both Ngondro and Morning Practice at our annual Palyul retreats (250 plus people) for over ten years. Many of the current sangha at PPOL have received Ngondro training from Lama Pasang and are very excited about his pending arrival.

As always, please feel free to attend the regular Thursday evening meditation from 7:00-8:30 and Ngondro (preliminary dzochen practices) on Sunday from 10-12:00. All classes and events will be listed on the calendar on this website. Please stay tuned as we go forward into the Holiday Season and 2020 with a wonderful and inspiring teacher and a newly remodeled temple.

Finally, several folks have inquired as to when PPOL will resume a full practice schedule (Medicine Buddha, Dakini Day Practice and Guru Yoga Practice). We will be re-establishing a full practice schedule at the Temple following completion of the temple’s repairs and Lama Pasang’s arrival. The Board apologizes for any inconvenience. However, there were many repair issues at the Temple in need of attention. We hope you will appreciate the updated environment upon your return. Please read below to see the extent of the work completed and still underway and please stay tuned to Palri.org for the latest updates. Thank you!

Our mission is to uphold and preserve the teachings of the Buddha through study, practice and activity. Our goal is to make the teachings, particularly in the Palyul Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism available to all. PPOL is but one of the many temples and monastaries throughout the U.S. and around the globe established by H.H. Penor Rinpoche during his lifetime.

At the present time we are doing a complete overhaul of our Temple including adding wheelchair access. Below is a complete list of the repairs either completed or under way.

- leaks around the upstairs patio door which are beginning to encroach on the main temple ceiling

- upstairs tile needs to be cleaned and re-grouted

- exterior of Temple needs to be power washed and painted

- power wash, repair/paint Ipe wood on sidewalls of building and entire deck

- power wash fencing and repair damaged pieces, add new fence caps

- Enclose (frame, sheetrock, paint and air condition) downstairs kitchen area. Closing in the kitchen area (according to HVAC specialists) will help to eliminate many of the moisture issues that previously existed in the Lama apartment.

- new A/C split unit in the kitchen area to control moisture in lama apt and kitchen

- clean/paint/refurnish the Lama apartment

- remove old patio (which sloped toward the lama apartment), level the ground, and install a new flagstone patio behind the temple. This repair was primarily to mitigate flood issues.

- install temple security system

- landscape grounds behind Temple

- Paint Padmasambhava house and repair brick underlayment. Prayer wheels have become weathered over the years and will also be replaced when Lama Pasang arrives.

There are many pictures on Facebook showing the progress the new Board has made in restoring the PPOL temple over the last few months. Please visit our Facebook page to see the photos.

If you are interested in helping us with any of the above projects, please visit our “Donate” page. All donations are used precisely as specified. If you want your monies to go to a particular project, please state this in the “notes section”. The scope of the above work is approximately $75,000-100,000. We are a 501C3. Your generous donations allow us to provide authentic Tibetan Buddhist teachings, a beautiful Temple environment and to be able to support a Resident Lama.