Turning Inward: The First Step to Universal Compassion
Schedule
Sat Mar 14 2026 at 03:00 am to 05:00 am
UTC+11:00Location
Ground, 264 Pitt St, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia | Sydney, NS
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Join us for an insightful talk with Geshe Lhakdor, Director of The Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, Dharamsala, India followed by a conversation with Rev Dr Rod Benson, General Secretary of NSW Ecumenical Council - moderated by Nadya Hutagalung, founder of Svara Mandala.This is a fundraiser for The Library of Tibetan Works and Archives (LTWA) with all proceeds to be sent to the LTWA.
Geshe Lhakdor, the director of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives [https://tibetanlibrary.org/] in Dharamsala, is renowned not only for his knowledge and warmth, but also for his very practical and humorous teaching style.
Geshe Lhakdor was born in Yakra, Western Tibet in 1956 and left Tibet in 1962 following the communist Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1959. Geshe received his novice monk ordination in 1964, attended the Central School for Tibetans, in Dalhousie, India from 1972 to 1976 and studied specialized Buddhist Philosophy in the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics in Dharamsala, India until 1986.
From December, 1986 to May, 1989 he served as translator and research assistant in Tibet House, the Cultural Centre of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, in New Delhi. In August 1989, Geshe joined the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama where he has served as Religious Assistant and Translator and has accompanied His Holiness the Dalai Lama to over thirty countries in the Americas, Europe, Australia, Africa and Asia.
Beside the Master of Prajnaparamita in 1982, he also received the Master of Madhyamika in 1989 and the Master of Philosophy (MPhil) from the University of Delhi. In 1995 he received the Geshe Degree from Drepung Loseling Monastic University in South India. In 2008, he was also conferred Honorary Professorship by the University of Delhi, Department of Psychology.
Since 2005 he has been the director of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives [https://tibetanlibrary.org/] in Dharamsala, after serving as His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s official translator for 16 years (still occasionally travels with H.H. as translator).
Geshe Lhakdor has also co-translated and co-produced several books by His Holiness, including The Way to Freedom, The Joy of Living and Dying in Peace, Awakening the Mind and Lightening the Heart, and Stages of Meditation, among others.
Geshe Lhakdor is a trustee of the Foundation for Universal Responsibility, established by His Holiness, Director of the Central Archive of His Holiness, a member of the Advisory Board of the Institute of Tibetan Classics in Montreal, Canada, and Honorary Professor at the University of British Columbia, Canada.
Rev Dr Rod Benson is the General Secretary of the New South Wales Ecumenical Council, based in Sydney, and at North Rocks Community Church (a congregation of the Uniting Church in Australia).
Rod was born in Wollongong, NSW, and lived for six years as a child in Lae, Papua New Guinea, before returning to Australia to complete his education. As an adult, he has travelled widely, visiting six continents, and in his wilder moments hopes one day to set foot in Antarctica.
As an ordained Baptist minister, Rod served as minister of churches at Flinders View (Queensland), Blakehurst (Sydney), and Lithgow (Country NSW), and engaged in interim ministry at several other churches. From 2002 to 2004, he was Baptist Chaplain to Macquarie University. From 2004 to 2014, he was employed as an ethicist and public theologian at Morling College, Sydney. From 2017 to January 2025, he served as Research Support Officer at Moore Theological College, Sydney. Since February 2025, he has served the NSW Ecumenical Council.
Nadya Hutagalung is the founder of Svara Mandala, bringing three decades of environmental advocacy into direct confrontation with a simple truth: we cannot heal our relationship with the planet while remaining fractured within ourselves.
As UN Environment Goodwill Ambassador, she launched the global #CleanSeas campaign and founded "Let Elephants Be Elephants" to combat the ivory trade. She spoke at the World Economic Forum, addressed the UN General Assembly, and sat on Prince William's Earthshot Prize. But standing on those stages, advocating for external change while feeling internally disconnected, revealed the limitation of the approach.
In 2020, a major health scare forced her to stop. After two decades of Tibetan Buddhist study and facilitating meditation classes, she confronted what she'd been avoiding: she was busy fixing outside when she needed to look inside first. What emerged was Svara Mandala—a wellness company dedicated to restoring connections within ourselves, each other, and with nature through transformative experiences combining ancient wisdom, creative expression, and wellbeing practices.
Through immersive retreats in Bhutan, Bali, and Australia, Nadya facilitates the difficult work of coming home to ourselves. Because the most radical environmental action may be cultivating the inner coherence that allows us to show up whole in the world. When we restore our internal relationship with presence, the quality of everything we touch shifts—including how we relate to the living systems we're part of.
Currently based in Australia, creating spaces where inner transformation and ecological consciousness aren't separate—they're the same work.
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Where is it happening?
Ground, 264 Pitt St, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia, 262 Pitt St, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia, SydneyEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
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