by sharpa tulku

In honor of Prof. Geshe Sopa's retirement, the Department of South Asian Studies will host a series of special events at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on May 3, 1997. Over one hundred friends and students will gather to honor Geshe-la's retirement.

Geshe Lhundup Sopa was born in Tsang province of Tibet in 1923. He studied at Serajey Monastic University in Lhasa where within the monastic community he acquired the reputation of one of the outstanding scholars of his generation. He was an examiner at the final examinations of H.H. the Dalai Lama. In 1959 he fled Tibet into India.

In 1962 His Holiness sent him together with three young Lamas whose teacher he became , to a Tibeto-Mongolian monastery in Farmingdale, New Jersey. Later in 1967 he was invited by Professor Richard Robinson, the founder of a pioneer Buddhist Studies Program initiated by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, to the UW where he was later tenured and promoted to a full- professorship in the Department of South Asian Studies. He has produced quite a number of PhDs in Buddhist Studies, many of whom are teachers in various Universities and Colleges in the United States and Canada.

In order to meet the needs of a wider circle of persons interested in Tibetan Buddhism, Geshe Sopa founded the Deer Park Buddhist Monastery and Center just outside Madison. H.H. the Dalai Lama has visited Deer Park on three occasions, most notably in 1981 when His Holiness offered the first Kalachakra Initiation in the West.

The events on Saturday, May 3rd include the following:

3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Open-to-the-public round table: "The Future of Tibetan Language, Culture, and Buddhist Studies"

5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Social Hour/Cash bar

6:00 p.m. - 7:00

Dinner in honor of Geshe Sopa

At the After-Dinner Program there will be shared recollections from some of those present and a reading of recollections from some of those unable to attend. This event will also include a dance of Snow Lion and variety of Tibetan folk dances which will be presented by the Tibetan community of Madison as a show of appreciation and gratitude to Geshe-la's dedication in the cause of Tibetan studies and in recent times his efforts for the Tibetan Settlement Project in Madison.