Manjushri Institute was a large Buddhist college situated at Conishead Priory in Cumbria, England from 1976 until its dissolution in 1991.
In 1976 the students of Lama Thubten Yeshe founded the Manjushri Institute, a registered charitable company[1] with Lama Yeshe as the spiritual director and purchased the assets of Conishead Priory, a neglected Victorian mansion in Ulverston, Cumbria, England for the price of £70,000.
"[4] Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, a Tibetan Buddhist teacher, monk and scholar from the Gelug tradition, is a contemporary of Lama Yeshe's from the time they spent studying at Sera Monastery.
[3] In the late 1970s, Geshe Kelsang received a request to give a teaching in York, at which he met Ron Lister.
[7] As Geshe Kelsang said in Santa Barbara USA, 2 February 1996:[9] "Soon after I arrived I started to teach Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, which took almost one year.
[10] The management committee of Manjushri Institute, also known as "the Priory Group", were deeply appreciative of Geshe Kelsang's teachings and example and were some of his closest students.
[7] Kay states that after the death of Lama Yeshe in March 1984, the FPMT lost interest because they saw it as a fruitless case.
[13] A detailed history of early Manjushri Institute and its relationship to the FPMT and the NKT is given by three reliable witnesses who were involved in the proceedings.
[14] They explain: The community of Manjushri Institute wished to save their building, Conishead Priory, from being sold to make funds available for suspect business dealings in Hong Kong.
Choyang Duldzin Kuten Lama - the oracle of Dorje Shugden - also visited Manjushri Institute.
Kay states: "The first major development that took place during Geshe Kelsang's retreat was the introduction of the 'Teacher Training Programme' (TTP) at the Manjushri Institute.