Thekchen Choling

Thekchen Choling is a Tibetan Buddhist temple at 2 Beatty Lane, at the edge of Little India in the Jalan Besar area, founded by its spiritual director Singha Rinpoche and named after the monastery of the 14th Dalai Lama. Its first Dharma centre opened in 1999, the group registered as a society in 2001, and the temple moved to Beatty Lane in 2006. The temple describes itself as inspired by the lineage of the 14th Dalai Lama and has been a registered charity since 2021.

Inside are what the temple describes as Singapore's largest mani wheel at the time of its consecration in 2002, a large appliqué thangka of Shakyamuni Buddha unveiled in 2005, and a Guru Rinpoche thangka unveiled in 2011 that it calls the largest in Asia. The temple opens daily from 11am to 7pm and runs weekly teachings, Dharma courses and monthly pujas. Bendemeer and Lavender MRT stations are the nearest, and street parking on Foch, Tyrwhitt and Hamilton roads is limited. The temple is raising funds to renovate and enlarge its building, which dates from the 1930s, with construction targeted to start by 2027.

For Singapore readers preparing for a journey to Tibet or Bhutan, a visit offers a quiet first look at practices met there, from turning a mani wheel to the thangkas of Shakyamuni and Guru Rinpoche, a figure venerated across both countries.