A desolate house stood empty in County Cavan many years ago, until Ani La stumbled upon the property by chance. It wasn’t so much the house, but the walled garden that captivated her. The garden didn’t deserve such neglect, Ani La believed.
She told her husband of her discovery. At the time, he was living in the UK while she was staying with her daughter near Cavan. He rejected her idea to fix up the house, insisting this was a project he could not undertake. However, after visiting the lot, his mind was changed. They decided they would buy the property and convert it to a guesthouse.
Now, how did a guesthouse turn into a Buddhist centre in Cavan of all places? Though it was never her intention to use the house for anything other than a lodging space, Ani La’s history as a Buddhist practitioner came into play.
Ani La’s journey as a Buddhist begins
While living in Belfast in the 1980s, Ani La had found herself going to many workshops led by doctors, psychologists, and other professionals sharing their knowledge on their respective specialities. A Zen Buddhist led one of the workshops. “I had not been looking for another religion,” she shared, as she was a Christian at the time.
Yet she couldn’t ignore an inexplicable pull she was feeling towards Buddhism. She found herself visiting a Buddhist centre soon after the workshop, which led her to studying Buddhist philosophy. “I felt for the very first time that, without realising I was looking for anything… I had found what I was looking for.”
The idea that there was no overarching God in the Buddhist teachings enticed her.
“There was a great sense of ethical behaviour, how to behave, that wasn’t imposed on you by anything or anyone. But that is, if you behave correctly in a certain way towards other people and your surroundings, it will be returned in full. It made sense. Life began to make sense.”
Thus, Ani La’s journey as a Buddhist began. She was practising under a teacher for some time, who unfortunately passed away. She was left bereaved. “I didn’t want to look for another teacher, and I was content to just settle here and quietly practise Buddhism on my own.”
The Origins of Jampa Ling Meditation Centre
All the while, the guesthouse renovation project was making great progress and nearing completion. With many empty rooms available, Ani La’s friend, Angela, asked if a monk who was teaching interfaith dialogue in the UK could stay in the guesthouse for ten days. Ani La agreed. The monk’s name is Venerable Panchen Ötrul Rinpoche, or just Rinpoche, which means ‘precious one’ in Tibetan.
During his visit, Rinpoche decided that he would teach some Buddhist principles to the local people while he was staying with Ani La. “To my horror,” she added. Ani La was unsure if anyone would show up. “People heard about it, and people came. I think then he realised maybe there would be people in Ireland who he could teach if he came [to live there].”
Not long after Rinpoche’s first visit, Ani La’s husband passed away from a heart attack. “I had gone into retreat… here in the house with no intention of doing anything, except not selling the house. And all of a sudden, after sitting quietly, a thought just comes into my head.
“‘Ask Rinpoche if he would like to come here as a teacher, and maybe we could start a meditation centre in Cavan.’
“So you see, I wasn’t contemplating anything. It just came up out of nowhere… I was delighted because it wasn’t something I had thought about before.”
Ani La wrote a letter to Rinpoche, telling him of her idea and inviting him to live there as the teacher of the Centre.
She recalls, “he just wrote a small letter back, saying, ‘Thank you very much, I would.’ And that was it.”
Over the Easter holiday of 1990, they named the centre Jampa Ling, meaning ‘Place of Loving-Kindness’. Rinpoche has been living on site at Jampa Ling ever since. The Centre welcomes all, regardless of their views or beliefs.
Jampa Ling holds several retreats each month and daily meditation sessions as well. More information can be found on their website using this link.
After all these years, Ani La still lives in the Meditation Centre. She honours that originally, her late husband brought the once abandoned home back to life. Ani La became an ordained nun after her husband’s passing, despite feeling unsure if the red colour of the robes really complements her complexion. In my opinion, they do.