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Lama Tzong Khapa Institute is a Tibetan Buddhist center located in the heart of Tuscany. We offer regular courses on Buddhism, meditation, and many other topics, all aimed at the development of the human qualities of kindness, compassion, and wisdom. The Institute community consists of a sangha of Buddhist monks and nuns, an international body of lay students and visitors, and a large group of staff and volunteers. Since its founding in 1977, Lama Tzong Khapa Institute has grown into one of the largest Tibetan Buddhist centers in Europe

The building, inside which the Institute carries out its activities, was purchased in 1977 by the Corona family of Milan. It consists of a manor house, at the crumbling era now completely restored. After the first restructuring, some Tibetan Masters of passage and western monks began to hold short courses of Dharma (teachings of the Buddha) and since then the Institute's activities have gradually increased. In November 1982 the community received the highest consecration of the place with the visit of His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama, becoming an International School for the study and practice of Buddhism. The teachings given at Lama Tzong Khapa Institute stem from the original teachings of Buddha Shakyamuni, preserved by the scholars and practitioners of Nalanda Monastery in ancient India and later in Tibet. Lama Tzong Khapa was a renowned Buddhist scholar and practitioner in Tibet in the XIV Century. His legacy is a lineage of highly realized Buddhist practitioners of the Gelug School, one of four Tibetan Buddhist traditions, all of which are a form of Mahayana Buddhism that include the study and practice of both sutra and tantra.

Starting from the assumption of His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama who recites: "The true purpose of faith is to practice love, in all religions" the monks of the Lama Tzong Khapa Institute organize their own and participate in moments of interreligious and intercultural reflection. The Center collaborates with the Municipality of Florence for the organization of the Festival of Religions, to which, over the years, high-value personalities such as the Patriarch of Jerusalem H.B. Fouad Twal, Pope Copt Tawadros II, His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama, but also prominent names in the cultural scene such as Zygmunt Bauman and Ennio Morricone. This year, on the occasion of the 85th birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Institute organized a three-day retreat in which they participated, as teachers, religious belonging to different traditions, united by the universal values of Compassion. As stated by the ven. Geshe Tenzin Tenphel, Resident Master of the Institute, "If we consider ourselves all brothers and sisters, in this great family that is humanity, then a meaningful dialogue can exist". The authenticity and depth of these meetings between Tibetan monks and faithful of other religions open new horizons for interreligious dialogue.

After the Vatican Council II, the Catholic Church looks with respect to believers of all religions, appreciating their spiritual and moral commitment. At the same time, Tibetan Buddhists in exile have opened up to dialogue, respect and collaboration with other religions, especially with the Catholic Church. All this has favored the relationship between the faithful Catholics and Buddhists also in the diocese of Pisa, where the Lama Tzong Khapa Institute enjoys esteem and appreciation also from the Catholic hierarchy.

Organization of a meeting with monks of different religious traditions on the values of compassion, tolerance and forgiveness