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Norway holds some of the deepest Tibetan Buddhist roots in the Nordic countries, even though its Tibetan community is small. The story began not with a wave of refugees but with the spread of Tibetan Buddhism: in 1975 a group of practitioners in Oslo founded Karma Tashi Ling, today one of the oldest Tibetan Buddhist centres in Europe. Over the following decades a Tibetan community took shape around the capital, strengthened by Norway’s close connection to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo in 1989.
Today Tibetan life in Norway is carried by the community in and around Oslo together with the Norwegian Tibet Committee (Den norske Tibet-komité) and the sangha of Karma Tashi Ling. The community comes together for Losar, His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s birthday and the 10 March commemoration of the Tibetan National Uprising, while Karma Tashi Ling hosts teachings, pujas and visits by senior lamas. Though modest in number, the community enjoys a visibility in Norwegian public life that few diaspora communities of its size can claim.
Karma Tashi Ling Buddhist Centre (Karma Tashi Ling buddhistsamfunn) in Oslo is the spiritual heart of Tibetan Buddhism in Norway and one of the oldest Tibetan Buddhist centres in Europe. Founded on 13 June 1975 in the Karma Kagyu tradition — with the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa as its spiritual head — it has grown from a small meditation group into a thriving community at Bjørndal in southern Oslo, with the Karma Shedrup Ling retreat centre at Siggerud near Ski. In 2004 the community raised a peace stupa, the first stupa ever built in Norway, in honour of the Dalai Lama’s Nobel Peace Prize, and in 2015 it inaugurated a newly built temple — the first purpose-built Tibetan Buddhist temple in all of Scandinavia. Under head lama Lama Changchub Tsering, the centre offers daily meditation, teachings, pujas and retreats, and welcomes practitioners of all the main lineages of Tibetan Buddhism.
Norway hosts a small but meaningful calendar of Tibetan events, from Losar celebrations and 10 March commemorations to Buddhist teachings, pujas and retreats at Karma Tashi Ling in Oslo and its retreat centre near Ski. Whether you are looking for a teaching by a visiting lama, a community gathering or a quiet meditation evening, tibetanevents.com brings Norway’s Tibetan events together in one place — and as the community grows, this page will grow with it.