Dear Dharma Friends,

As many of you know, I had the good fortune to participate in a small KTD audience with our Wish-Fulfilling Jewel, the Gyalwang Karmapa during the Kagyu Monlam in Bodhgaya this past December. Over the years, there has been great concern regarding the Karmapa’s ability to travel in order to perform his Dharma activites as the supreme holder of the lineage. More recently, he mentioned on several occasions that he had not been feeling well. After various medical examinations and tests, there is no certainty about the cause of his sickness. During our audience with the Gyalwang Karmapa, I asked him what we could do to help remove the obstacles to his buddha activity. He immediately replied, saying that the Seven-Line Prayer to Guru Rinpoche should be recited.

I began reciting the Seven-Line Prayer myself and asked some students at the Albany KTC recite the prayer as well. After consulting with Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche about how best to proceed, I am sending this request on to other Dharma students with shared karma and aspirations. As we are all followers of the peerless holder of the Black Crown, the Buddha Karmapa, I ask you to join me in accumulating many repetitions of the the Seven-Line Prayer. It would be excellent if we could recite a hundred thousand prayers. As this is the most renowned prayer to Guru Rinpoche as well as one of the shortest, most of you will know it by heart or will at least have it in among your prayers for personal practice. For that reason, I thought it unecessary to include a copy of it here. Please send weekly or monthly totals of the prayer to Mary Ann Duncan, edduncanfamily@aim.com assistant director of Albany KTC. It is fine to pass this prayer request along to other receptive Kagyu practitioners as appropriate.

Every single repetition of the Seven-Line Prayer is dedicated to the long life and unhindered buddha activity of our Yizhin Norbu, the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje. Specifically, we pray that he may travel throughout the world without impediment, especially to his monastic seats of Rumtek in Sikkim and Karma Triyana Dharmachakra (KTD) in Woodstock, New York. May he reside at ease at these seats for as for as long as he may wish, without the slightest difficulty. As Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche himself prayed:

The embodiment of the compassion of all buddhas is Karmapa

The unified activity of all buddhas is Karmapa

The one empowered as the regent of all buddhas is Karmapa

Ogyen Drodul Trinley, may your life be long!

Yours in Dharma,
Lama Zopa

From Left: Amy McCracken, Ani Jangchup, His Holiness Karmapa, Lama Zopa, Amy Schwartz. Sitting: Karen Lucic, Susan Thompson, Yeshe Wangmo

We recently traveled to India to attend the 30th Kagyu Monlam in Bodhgaya, and along the way, we made time for some pilgrimage travel as well.  We offer our photos and comments in the hopes that they might inspire others to venture forth!  Happy traveling!

Karen Lucic and Amy Schwartz

Amy Schwartz:

Sravasti: 
Sravasti, the capital of the kingdom of Kosala, was one of the wealthiest cities in ancient India, and the Buddha spent more time here than anywhere else — 25 rains retreats in all, and 19 of his last 20. He gave more discourses here than anywhere else, most of them from the main shrine hall, called the Mulagandhakuti.  In the Buddha’s day it was made of wood, but the subsequent monastery which grew up there was made of brick and stone, and the ruins over the exact spot of the original Mulagandhakuti are pictured here. On the day I visited, busloads of Thai and Taiwanese pilgrims had made gorgeous flower offerings.  The ruins of the Jetavana monastery are spacious, easily accommodating the many pilgrim groups and their leaders.  It was lovely overhearing their monks and teachers talking with them, and hearing them chant from the sutras.  I believe this is a Thai monk, and the ladies in the background are leaving flower offerings.

Vikramashila: 
I was crying while taking this photo, so it was one of the most powerful and memorable pilgrimage places for me.  Vikramashila, one of India’s greatest monastic universities, flourished from the 9th to the 12th century C.E.  It was an early center of Vajrayana Buddhism; Naropa was the northern gate keeper, and Atisha, who later re-introduced Buddhism to Tibet, was the abbot. Several great pandits and scholars here wrote commentaries on the Chakrasamvara tantra. Vikramashila also educated the great Tibetan translator Rinchen Zangpo.  The tears came when I contemplated the tremendous force that it must have taken to topple these heavy stone pillars in the main entryway.  The university was sacked sometime around 1200 C.E. by the Muslim fighter Bakhtiyar Khilji and his forces.  One can easily imagine fire licking its way rapidly along the wooden beams of the complex in the dry, dusty Indian heat, and hear the frightened calls of the fleeing monks. One can imagine soldiers hacking the beautiful statues to bits, convinced that they were doing Allah’s work and that graven images were an affront to god.  It was such a beautiful, sacred, precious place, but that could not save it from the religious wars of the time.

Indasala Cave: 
This cave lies at the base of a cliff partway up a mountain to the northeast of Rajgir.  It was extremely fun to venture out and look for it, and to climb up there.  It took a half an hour’s walking and some rock climbing, and the villagers were friendly and helpful in directing my path. I was also alone here, and as solitude is difficult to find when on pilgrimage, I really treasured it. A rock cave doesn’t change much, even over 2,600 years, so I really felt I was touching our teacher, the Buddha, as I sat in the cave and watched my breath. Other inhabitants of the cave included Shariputra, a small sangha at one point, and the great Buddhasrijnana, a commentator on the Guhyasamaja Tantra.  The Buddha delivered the Sakkapanha Sutra here, and also verses 206-208 of the Dhammapada.

Karen Lucic:

Buddha Relics, Patna Museum

Vaishali Stupa, with a Group of Monks and Pilgrims from Thailand

Patna is in the impoverished state of Bihar—surely one of India’s most dysfunctional cities.  It is an improbable location for extraordinary treasures.  Yet it is home to the best collection of Indian Buddhist art I have ever seen, and behind a huge metal door resembling a bank vault, the Patna Museum displays a tiny soapstone vessel that holds relics of the Buddha.  Indian museums do not normally feature innovative display techniques.  And in fact, elsewhere in the Patna Museum we strained to view exquisite statues in dusty, poorly lit cases.  But in the relic room, the designers did something really wonderful.  They placed the vessel in a model of the stupa where it was found.  Brilliant lighting made the tiny object (that contains a fragment of bone, some turquoise, an ancient coin, and the Buddha’s ashes) glow with supernatural radiance.  We were far from Vaishali where archeologists found these relics, yet this museum display case transmitted the same joyous calm characteristic of every site we visited during our post-Monlam pilgrimage.

After Shakyamuni Buddha’s cremation, a priest divided his remains into eight parts.  Vaishali, an ancient city that the Buddha loved and often visited, received a share.  Centuries later, King Ashoka excavated the original eight sites of the Buddha’s relics, exhumed them, and divided them further so that he could create more sites of veneration.  The remaining relics at Vaishali returned to the ground and rested there until 1958, when archeologists found the ancient stupa and the soapstone reliquary.  Officials transferred these precious remnants of the Buddha’s life to the Patna Museum.

Morning in Lumbini, Nepal

The road to Lumbini from India is long and rough; the border crossing at Nepal, chaotic and intimidating.  Our schedule allowed us a mere 20 hours in the land of the Buddha’s birth.  And yet I would not have missed it for the world.  In the first place, visiting Lumbini completed my goal of reaching the four pilgrimage sites actually prescribed by the Buddha:  his place of birth, enlightenment, first teaching, and death.  And secondly, Lumbini has an extraordinary natural setting.  Unique among the pilgrimage sites we visited, the site of Buddha’s incarnation is buffered by eight square kilometers of protected lands including wild woodland areas, gardens, temples, monasteries, waterways, but no commercial development.  This allows the pilgrim to imagine what it might have been like for the Buddha and his followers to walk through such a landscape in ancient times.  I think it was in Lumbini that I realized our post-Monlam pilgrimage was like a seal resting upon the experiences of Bodh Gaya.

Bola and Susan Thompson, Lumbini

Phurbu Stringing Prayer Flags

Phurbu Raising Prayer Flags, Rewalsar

We met solitary pilgrims, and also large groups from Asia on organized bus tours.  My group of KTD friends took a middle course, charting our own itineraries, hiring drivers and cars, and companioning together in twos and threes.  I sometimes traveled with Amy McCracken, sometimes with Susan Thompson and Charles Dawes, depending on schedules and desired destinations.  We all benefitted from our pathfinder, Amy Schwartz, who went before us and guided our pilgrimage routes by her fearless example.

It was our great good fortune to have several extraordinary guides and drivers:  on our journey to the sacred sites of the Buddha, we had young Bola, one of the most guileless and open-hearted individuals I’ve ever met.  And in Himachal Pradesh, there was my friend Phurbu, a stalwart former Tibetan army officer, whom I’ve known since my last trip to India in 2007.  Arriving desperately sick in India at the age of 4, he credits his survival to the intervention of HH 14^th Dalai Lama.  Now with five children of his own, Phurbu works tireless in Dharamasala (they live miles away and only see their father about four times a year) to give them the best education possible.  A devout Buddhist, Phurbu starts every day and every drive with a long supplication to Guru Rinpoche (which he knows by heart) and a prayer to Tara for protection.  Who better to lead us to the holy sites of Tibetan Buddhism?

Phurbu knew everything about the places we wanted to visit:  the best time to go, where to get superior prayer flags, who to see to get your prayer flags blessed, how much of a donation to make . . . At Rewalsar, where we visited a mountain top sacred to Guru Rinpoche, Phurbu not only led us to the main cave where Padmasambhava instructed his consort Mandarava in the Dharma, but also to his secret meditation cave, to the rock shelters of the many nuns who live at the site, to self-arisen footprints, to the field of prayer flags, and a woman who roasts and sells tsampa!  Following in Phurbu’s footsteps, I realized that pilgrimage is as much about people as it is about places.

All photos by Amy Schwartz

On the 8th day of the Tibetan new year, the Year of the Water Snake, His Holiness the Gyalwang Karmapa made a pilgrimage to the Dhamek stupa in Sarnath, one of the holiest sites for Buddhists. By 8:00 a.m., the monks, students, and foreign visitors staying at the Vajravidya Institute had made their way to the stupa, which sits amid a cluster of ruins on the site where the Buddha first turned the wheel of the dharma, teaching the Four Noble Truths.

Pilgrims from many countries were also present, despite the early hour.  Some touched the stupa reverently with their foreheads, while others circumambulated it.  Still others watched with curiosity as the Vajravidya monks readied a small shrine for the puja.  The stupa had been garlanded for the occasion with bright orange carnations and small streamers of white flowers. It looked majestic and festive.

Shortly after 8:00, the Tibetan gyalings sounded His Holiness’s arrival. Led by an escort of Khenpos wearing ceremonial yellow hats and carrying incense, he walked the long path to the stupa, stopping to accept khatas and greet people along the way. He completed one kora around the stupa and then offered three prostrations before settling onto a simple throne at the front of the assembly of monks and lay people.

For about half an hour, the assembly chanted aspiration prayers, many of them familiar to those who have attended the Kagyu Monlam either in India or abroad. The monks recalled the deeds of the Buddha and made prayers for auspiciousness and wellbeing during the coming year. They prayed for the Karma Kagyu lineage and for the lamas’ long lives. Delicious mango juice boxes were passed around.

Occasionally, the voices of pilgrim groups chanting from the sutras mingled with the chants of the Tibetan assembly. And in one lovely instance, a group of pilgrims, dressed in white as is customary for many Southeast Asian traditions, circumambulated the stupa while casting curious glances at His Holiness. Their leader, a monk robed in orange, was unabashedly filming the puja from his place at the head of the line.

It is said that making aspiration prayers at holy sites is one of the best ways to accumulate merit. In making this trip to the Dhamek stupa on the auspicious 8th day of the new year, His Holiness made this activity possible for many others, generating countless virtue for his students and for the many spectators and pilgrims who witnessed his activity. As Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche reminds us so often, we can all share in the vast merit of others’ virtuous actions, simply by rejoicing in them. On this simple yet profound occasion there was much reason to rejoice.

– Amy Schwartz

His Holiness the Gyalwang Karmapa arrived for a month-long stay in Sarnath, Varanasi, India, on February 8. The flight from Delhi was late, and the monks, Khenpos, and foreign students gathered at Thrangu Rinpoche’s beautiful Vajravidya Institute waited patiently in the street and in the monastery courtyard, holding their khatas and mingling with local people, street dogs, and the occasional motorcycle or auto rickshaw (“tuk-tuk,” in local parlance).  Finally, the Khenpos gave a signal and formed the traditional Tibetan procession in front of His Holiness’s motorcade. It progressed slowly up the street and turned in at the big gate in front of the monastery. His Holiness could be seen in the front seat of the lead car, appreciatively taking in the sights and, as always, finding ways to connect with locals and foreign devotees alike. He arrived and entered the shrine hall, and then went upstairs to his living quarters. As his entourage of security guards, translators, and attendants settled into their rooms, it felt as if the king had returned to his castle.

The Very Venerable Thrangu Rinpoche on the first day of the Mahakala puja, before Losar.

For three days before Tibetan New Year on February 11, Thrangu Rinpoche’s sangha conducted an elaborate Mahakala puja to ready everything for the Year of the Female Water Snake. His Holiness and Thrangu Rinpoche sometimes joined the puja, lending it a special grandeur and offering prayers, incense, and lamps at the beautiful Mahakala shrine in the shrine room. On the morning of February 11, the ceremony began before 4 a.m. The thrones in the shrine hall had been readied with large stacks of decorative kapse, the Tibetan fried cookie that is a traditional New Year’s treat. His Holiness entered and made offerings to the Mahakala shrine and to the throne set aside for His Holiness Dalai Lama before climbing onto his own high seat at the front of the shrine room, just under the golden Buddha statue. Thrangu Rinpoche did the same, adding an offering to His Holiness before settling onto a smaller throne to His Holiness’s left.

His Holiness Karmapa and the Very Venerable Thrangu Rinpoche attend the Grand Mahakala Puja at Vajravidya Institute.

His Holiness’s empty robes on the throne at the Vajravidya Insititute. Photo, Amy Schwartz.

There is a beautiful jeweled cape, made of golden brocade, traditionally left on His Holiness’s throne at the Vajravidya Insititute. On this special morning, His Holiness solemnly put it around his shoulders and sat motionless for a time, apparently deep in meditation. Wearing the Karmapas’ activity hat and the cape, he looked awesome and regal, yet serene and kind. The monks began chanting prayers for the new year, and the traditional ceremonial foods of saffron rice and butter tea were served for breakfast as the dawn lit the sky outside the windows. Many people made special offerings on this auspicious day, and at the end, everyone in the packed shrine hall had the chance to offer a khata to His Holiness and Thrangu Rinpoche.

Tenzin Chonyi, president of KTD, and the Very Venerable Thrangu Rinpoche’s sister, sporting blessing cords from His Holiness Karmapa. KTD’s Jacek Rosa can be spotted on the left. Photo, Amy Schwartz.

Later that morning, a crowd of devotees, mostly Tibetan, arrived  and formed a long line to go up to His Holiness’s quarters above the shrine hall. Many lamas and foreign students could also be seen on their way to or from Thrangu Rinpoche’s house next to the temple, with khatas and big smiles, happy to have the chance to offer their greetings and best wishes for the new year to one of the Karma Kagyu lineage’s greatest living masters. However, there was also a somber note to the day, as the traditional lama dances were cancelled in remembrance of the deaths this past year of Kyabje Tenga Rinpoche and Traleg Rinpoche. The Vajravidya Institute officially requested that all in attendance remember these great lamas in their prayers and pray for their swift return.

Monks enjoying the Losar holiday. Photo, Amy Schwartz

The monks enjoyed a three day Losar holiday, including one morning with the traditional Tibetan breakfast of kapse! The older monks enjoyed soccer, basketball and board games, while the small monks played with new toys. Special meals were enjoyed by all. His Holiness occasionally made an appearance to do kora (clockwise circumambulation of the temple) or to walk to Thrangu Rinpoche’s house for a visit.

Practice and study of the dharma are emphasized during the first two weeks after Losar. On the morning of February 18th, the 8th day of the Tibetan new year, His Holiness went to the Dhamek stupa in Sarnath for a puja of offering (see related story), and the monks also commenced a 3-day ceremony, called Yangkyap, to pray for the wellbeing of the monastery. On this same auspicious day, Thrangu Rinpoche began his first public teaching in well over a year, offering his commentary on Atisha’s text, “A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment,”  to more than 100 students. In a sign of the growing internationalism of Tibetan Buddhism, the shrine room featured a Chinese section, with many students listening to the expert Mandarin translation of Khenpo Tengye on FM radios.  David Karma Choephel, well known to many KTD’ers, translated for the English speakers. The joy in the shrine room was palpable as this precious master offered his characteristic brilliant smile to his happy students.

The Very Venerable Thrangu Rinpoche’s teaching begins; David Karma Choephel translates.

The Chinese protector Guan Gong.

His Holiness’s devotion to Thrangu Rinpoche, his senior tutor, was constantly evident throughout these days. One of the funniest and most heart-warming moments came during an evening puja for the Chinese protector Guan Gong, on February 12th, the second day of Losar. The puja, written by His Holiness, was conducted outside the temple, in the marble entryway, with all the spectators assembled in the garden to watch. Thrangu Rinpoche was seated to His Holiness’s right, chanting from his text, when suddenly the power went out, plunging the foyer in darkness. Nearly instantaneously, His Holiness clicked on a powerful flashlight and aimed it, not at his own text, but at Rinpoche’s! He beat the security people and attendants by several seconds, as if he had known the power was about to go. And it was so touching that his first thought was for his tutor.

Another high point came on the evening of February 18th, when the monks from Namo Buddha, Thrangu Rinpoche’s Nepal monastery, performed a play on the Life of Gampopa. His Holiness had given the monks a book about Gampopa some time ago and asked them to study it, and this was their response. An arched tent, draped with multicolored fabrics, formed the stage on the soccer field. Sitting under a smaller tent on a large, gilded seat, with Thrangu Rinpoche, Tulku Damcho, and other special guests, His Holiness appeared to enjoy the evening thoroughly, as did the assembly of monks and foreign students.

On February 21st, His Holiness is scheduled to begin seven days of teaching on the text “100 Short Instructions,” by the 8th Karmapa, Mikyo Dorje, with a one-day break on February 25, which is Chotrul Duchen, the Display of Miracles, one of the four special  “wheel days” in the Tibetan calendar. The monks will conduct a full day puja on that day. The live webcast of His Holiness’s teaching will proceed at 5:30 a.m., East Coast time, and if you are an early riser, you can find additional information and the link at www.kagyuoffice.org.

– Amy Schwartz

If not attributed otherwise, the photo is from the Vajravidya facebook site.

KTD Publications has a new release, with a most auspicious release party, timed to coincide with the Mikyo Dorjee Guru Yoga Retreat at KTD that will end on February the 20th. Click on any photo to view at full size.

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Four-Session Guru Yoga by the Eighth Gyalwang Karmapa Mikyö Dorje
Commentary by Karma Chakme Rinpoche, taught by Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, translated by Lama Yeshe Gyamtso

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Thangka on front cover: The Eighth Gyalwang Karmapa Mikyö Dorje, Karma Kagyu Lineage, Karma Gadri Painting School, Eastern Tibet 1800 – 1899, ground mineral pigment on cotton, from the collection of the Rubin Museum of Art, courtesy of the Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation.

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“The Four-Session Guru Yoga that we practice, composed by the Eighth Karmapa Mikyö Dorje, was based on an earlier guru yoga found in the writings of Lama Shangtsalpa’s (Lord Gampopa’s disciple) secret teachings that were sealed by command seal. Mikyö Dorje used this as the basis for his composition, altered slightly by adding a little bit to it.

There is a commentary on this practice written by the Ninth Gyalwang Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje that is impracticably long. Chakme Rinpoche wrote his commentary because until that time there was no easily accessible commentary for doing Four-Session Guru Yoga. Chakme Rinpoche’s commentary presents the meditations and visualizations to be done at the various sections of the text. I will go through Chakme Rinpoche’s explanation of the visualizations first, and then go through the text word by word.”

– Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche

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Teaching, sadhana, CD Paperback,7 x 10 February 2012 ISBN: 978-1-934608-36-4

Part 1: Commentary by Karma Chakme Rinpoche (focusing on the visualization).
Part 2: A line-by-line commentary on the sadhana, by Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche
Part 3: The sadhana in pecha format with Tibetan, English, and transliteration.
Sadhana CD: Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche

Available through Namse Bangdzo Bookstore

Khenpo Rinpoche in his workshop at Karme Ling. Photo by Lama Karma Drodhul.

From the time of his boyhood in Tibet, Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche had an eye for beautiful things and the ability to create them with remarkable precision.

“He is someone who was very creative even when he was little,” says Lama Karma Drodhul, Rinpoche’s primary attendant and assistant (as well as his nephew). “He was always sewing different brocades or had a knife with him for shaving wood, he was always building something. He was very, very good, even when he was a child.”

After completing his advanced dharma training, that same sharp eye for detail and beauty proved useful to him. He became Thrangu Rinpoche’s Chöpön (Shrine Master), caring for the shrines of Thrangu Monastery and traveling to build others around Tibet.

His Holiness Karmapa visits the Shrine of the Columbarium in 2010. Photo by Michael Erlewine.

“A few years he traveled with Thrangu Rinpoche, performing pujas in nomadic areas and we always have to lot of things to carry, including all the shrine stuff on horseback,” says Lama Karma.  “He tells stories sometimes that the other monks would say “oh Khenpo, you should pack, because you have a miraculous power to fit everything in that little suitcase.”

When Rinpoche was given the task of helping to establish a North American seat for the Sixteenth Karmapa in 1974, his work as a shrine-builder continued.

As he traveled around the country, teaching the dharma and helping to establish new KTC centers, shrines were created under his careful supervision.

“Rinpoche is an individual who doesn’t want us to see us do something sloppy,” says Lama Karma. “When we pack, he’s sitting right there and he wants to make sure everything packs well.”

The shrine room of Karma Triyana Dharmachakra. Photo by Robert Hansen-Sturm.

Special Amitabha Shrine. Photo by Lama Kathy Wesley.

His role as a shrine-builder has been virtually unceasing and continually precise. He created KTD’s main shrine, the Stupa shrine, the North American Kagyu Monlam Shrine, the Karme Ling Columbarium Shrine and the annual Winter Amitabha Retreat shrine.

As he has continued to travel to various KTCs to teach, he has always answered his student’s questions and offered insights and instruction into the building of a shrine, much like his days on horseback in Tibet.

Winter Amitabha Retreat Shrine at KTD. Photo, Stephanie Colvey.

“It’s different transportation but the packing and building is actually the same,” says Lama Karma. “We always have to set up and pack and then set up something – this is the way you put the ribbons on the vase, etc., there’s a unique style. And every time he shows you this kind of detail, he’s basically giving you a very special teaching.”

Shrine for the North American Kagyu Monlam. Photo by Lama Yeshe Wangmo.

This story is part of a series leading up to the celebration of Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche’s 90th birthday celebration, which will take place during the 2013 Ten-Day Teaching.  There will be a large shrine created for a three-day White Tara, with beautiful statues consecrated by Rinpoche.  Proceeds from the purchase or sponsorship of these statues will benefit KTD.

Find out more.

Catalogue here

The Tashi Gomang Stupa

The benefits of stupas (also known as “choten,” or “dharma support” in Tibetan) are well-known. They are symbolic representations of the body, speech, and mind of a Buddha; they contain relics of awakened beings, providing a place for dharma students to pray, make offerings, and accumulate merit; and they have the power to transmit the essence of awakened mind, on the spot, to anyone ready to receive it.

Stupas were built in India after the death of Buddha Shakyamuni to house his relics, and have been built in every nation and on every continent where Buddhism has journeyed.

In the 1970s, the first Tibetan Buddhist stupas were constructed in the United States. A fair number of stupas – nearly a dozen – were built in the Southwest. This includes stupas in Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Taos and Questa, New Mexico; as well as in Red Feather Lakes, Colorado and Crestone, Colorado.

The Karma Thegsum Tashi Gomang Stupa at Crestone is of special interest to students of His Holiness Karmapa. It was built at the direction of His Holiness the 16th Karmapa for the purpose of blessing and protecting America and taming its energies with the dharma.

We have all admired these stupas from afar for years. This year, for the first time, Karma Triyana Dharmachakra will host a Stupa Pilgrimage of the Southwest.

Scheduled from June 3-6, 2013, the pilgrimage will include visits to the three stupas in Colorado’s Crestone Valley, as well as visits to the Kagyu Shenpen Kunchab Bodhi Stupa in Santa Fe, the Kagyu Deki Stupa in Tres Orejas, NM, the Kagyu Mila Guru Stupa in El Rito, NM, and the Khang Tsag Choten in Santa Fe – reputed to be the first Tibetan stupa built in North America.

Lama Kathy Wesley will lead the pilgrimage, which will include pujas and prayers at all stupa sites, circumambulation rituals, and mantra practices.

The $555 fee for participation will include four nights’ lodging and meals at inns near the stupa sites, and bus transit from our starting city of Albuquerque, NM to all the stupa sites and back. Participants will need to provide their own transportation to and from Albuquerque.

Registration is now open. There will be a limit of 25 participants; those who cannot attend will be given an opportunity to “tag along” through a low-cost sponsorship program.

Interested? Contact Stupa Pilgrimage Organizer Lama Kathy Wesley at kmwesley@me.com.

Letter with more details here.

Read about the Karma Thegsum Tashi Gomang stupa here.

The Tashi Gomang Stupa

From the KTTG website:
The Tashi Gomang Stupa embodies His Holiness the XVIth Gyalwa Karmapa. In the words of H.H. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche: “Within the stupa the teacher remains unchanging. The Buddha said that whoever sees the stupa will be liberated by the sight of it. Feeling the breeze around the stupa liberates by its touch. Having thus seen or experienced the stupa, by thinking of one’s experience of it, one is liberated through recollection.”

Bardo is the Tibetan term referring to the intermediate state between the end of this life and the beginning of the next life. Additional bardos include this life and the process of death and dying. As such, bardo states encompass all possible experiences throughout life, death, and rebirth. They are times of transition, uncertainty, and difficulty which require special instructions to pass through without harm or fear. It is therefore crucial for all Dharma practitioners to know what to do at the time of death and afterward. Without proper instruction and training in the bardo states while we are alive now, we may experience disastrous consequences later on. Nonetheless, for a qualified practitioner with understanding and stable meditation, these states offer the possibility of liberation from the fearful ocean of samsara or at least a meaningful rebirth where we can continue on the path to liberation.

The bardo teachings found within the vajrayana are incredibly profound. Especially, the uncommon teachings of the great terma scripture called “Liberation through Hearing in the Bardo” offer the most detailed instructions on the stages of experience of the successive bardos and what we need to know and practice now as preparation.

Lama Tashi Dondup at KTD.

It is an extraordinary opportunity to receive these teachings directly from a lama as qualified and experienced as Lama Tashi Dondup. A gelong or fully ordained monk as well as a tantric ritual master and artist, Lama Tashi has received and practiced a vast array of vajrayana teachings over the course of many years. He now spends his life tirelessly imparting the Dharma to fortunate disciples throughout the world. His center in Toronto, Karma Tekchen Zabsal Ling, has a large, beautiful mandala dedicated to the Buddha of Compassion, the Eleven Faced, One Thousand Armed Chenrezik, that was created and designed by Lama Tashi.

– Lama Zopa Borodin

A one-day workshop on shamata taught by Lama Karma Drodhul at Luna Dorada in Bogota, Colombia, turned into an online workshop with wide participation across Latin America last weekend (March 3).

Lama Karma’s meditation instructions were webcast in their entirety, free-of-charge via facebuda.org, and approximately 160 more people participated online from countries including Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Spain, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Peru, United States and Brazil. This opened access to the workshop well beyond the 100 people attending the workshop in person at the center in Bogota. A chat forum was available throughout the all-day webcast to provide technical support, and served as well as a channel for remote participants to direct questions to Lama Karma during the question-and-answer session.

Over 100 people watched his evening talks, also translated into Spanish and webcast via facebuda.  Facebuda is a virtual space, inspired by His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, that offers access to the Buddhadharma to Spanish speakers free of charge through videos and videoconferences.

100 people attended the workshop in person at the center in Bogota.

El Taller de meditación shamata impartido por Lama Karma Drodhul, el 3 de Marzo organizado por Luna Dorada en Bogotá, Colombia se transmitió de forma continua con acceso libre por medio de la pagina de http://www.facebuda.org. Sintonizaron el taller alrededor de 160 personas. Los países en donde se vio la transmisión son, al menos, México, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, España, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Perú, Estados Unidos, y Brasil. Se habilitó un chat para dudas técnicas, que también sirvió como canal para formular algunas preguntas. Facebuda es un espacio virtual, inspirado por SS el Karmapa, para ofrecer el Budadharma en línea a la comunidad hispanoparlante, a través de videoconferencias abiertas a todo público.

SECOND in a Series

This story is part of a series leading up to the celebration of Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche’s 90th birthday in September, 2013.  At the conclusion of this year’s Ten-Day Teaching, a large shrine dedicated to White Tara, the protectress of health and longevity, will be assembled at KTD as part of a three-day White Tara Puja for the benefit of His Holiness Karmapa and all the teachers of the lineage, especially to celebrate Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche’s 90th birthday, long life and dharma activity. The White Tara Shrine will include beautiful statues consecrated by Khenpo Rinpoche.  To find out more, click here.

Uncle and Nephew, teacher and student: Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche and Lama Karma Drodhul.

As Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche’s birthday approaches, his students from all over the world are feeling gratitude for the blessing of his continued teachings.
“He turning 90 years!” says Lama Karma Drodhul. “That’s amazing, right? I feel it’s amazing how long he can stay.  We hardly see people reach 90 in Tibet. If they are in their 60s, they feel they have a quite long life.”

The “Wish-Fulfilling Wheel” is in print and available here.

Many of the masters, such as Thrangu Rinpoche, have emphasized White Tara practice. Having written extensively about it in The Wish-Fulfilling Wheel: The Practice of White Tara, Khenpo Rinpoche himself has, at times in the past, credited White Tara with the protection of his health and well-being.

According to Lama Kathy Wesley, Khenpo Rinpoche shared a story about his special relationship to White Tara during a 1987 teaching at Karma Triyana Dharmachakra.
“In telling the story, Khenpo Rinpoche explained that when he was younger, he developed the thought that he would only live to be 60 years of age,” she says. “This thought stayed with him for many years, and, in 1984, when he turned 60 (by the Gregorian calendar), he began to develop illnesses, and began to think his long-held notion was coming true.”
“At that time, both His Eminence Gyaltsap Rinpoche and the Very Ven. Kalu Rinpoche advised Khenpo Rinpoche to undertake a one-month White Tara retreat. Khenpo Rinpoche did the retreat in the former Lama House (now the President’s House) at KTD. during the first 15 days, Rinpoche says he experienced unusual happenings in the house – strange noises, and so on – but after that, the difficulties subsided, and he was able to successfully complete the retreat.”
“After this, his health improved, and he was able to surpass his 60th birthday.”

White Tara

According to Lama Karma, White Tara practice is a daily occurrence in Tibet, with the praises done three times, and generally dedicated to the wellness of the masters.

“Khenpo Rinpoche  – he always practices something that he never tells us,” says Lama Karma.  “His practice is kind of hidden. When you go to his room and he’s doing practice, he’ll kind of make a joke or something, pretend he’s not practicing.  But, when you are with him, you kind of know what his main emphasis is. “

Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, on Rinpoche’s most recent trip to Taiwan.

While traveling with Khenpo Rinpoche in Taiwan, Lama Karma heard him make special note of White Tara’s influence.

“We met a devoted student of Rinpoche and she really cried quite a lot because Rinpoche was quite aged,” he says. “He was holding her hand he said ‘don’t worry – I just discovered in myself that even though my age is advanced, my mind is becoming clearer.’ I thought it was very special to hear him say my mind is becoming clear.

“And he said ‘I will stay longer because of the blessing of White Tara.’ ”

- Tracy Zollinger Turner, Columbus KTC

You can participate in the White Tara Shrine project by “adopting” an 8-inch White Tara statue to take home after the September puja, or donating toward a 24-inch White Tara Statue to be given to Khenpo Rinpoche for his birthday. Proceeds benefit His Holiness’ activities at Karma Triyana Dharmachakra. Click here for details.

Donate any amount to this project here.

“Protecting the environment that we rely on for our survival is an immediate way to care for all beings.”
– His Holiness Gyalwang Karmapa

Dear Friends,

For the second year in a row in observing Earth Day, Hartford KTC invites all KTCs, KKSGs and Buddhist practitioners to participate in dedicating to the earth an outdoor Chenrezik Puja on April 20th. This will be the fifth year that Hartford KTC will hold such an event outdoors in Elizabeth Park, Hartford, CT. They look forward to your joining them this year by holding your own outdoor Chenrezik puja in your area.

More information on this book here.

As His Holiness Karmapa has been inspired to continue expanding his work in the area of environmental activism, we are extremely grateful for his recently published book, The Heart is Noble: Changing the World from the Inside Out. In the dialogues with university students that form the basis of the book’s content, one of the key topics he addresses is that of environmental protection. In doing so, he shares his own personal experience and advice on helping us to bridge the gap between knowledge and compassion for the world:

“The single most important factor that will move us to act to protect the world is compassion. Our compassion must encompass all that is inanimate as well as animate. In fact, it may at times be difficult to distinguish between what is animate and inanimate, but our compassion should extend to both the physical environment and the beings that inhabit it.”

His Holiness Karmapa’s Khoryug website here.

His Holiness established Khoryug (Tibetan for “environment”), an association of Buddhist monastic communities that are committed to implementing his vision through developing environmental protection projects in their respective regions. It is His Holiness’ ultimate wish that Buddhist monasteries and nunneries will become leaders on environmental issues, working within their communities to address threats such as deforestation, water scarcity, wildlife extinction, pollution, and climate change.

For more information about Khoryug and His Holiness’ new book, please visit the links below.

http://www.khoryug.com/vision/
http://www.khoryug.com/resources/sciencesolutions/
http://www.theheartisnoble.com/

May all benefit,

Sandy Hu
KTC Coordinator, Karma Triyana Dharmachakra

Last week David Kaczynski, Lama Kathy Wesley, Lama Tsultrim Yeshe and Dr. James L. Knoll, a forensic psychiatrist and Buddhist, spoke to the community of Newtown, Ct. in a program called ” Violence, Loss and Emotional Healing: A Buddhist Perspective.”  Newtown, Ct., lost 20 small children and 6 adults in a school shooting Dec. 14, 2012, and is really hurting.  The talk was sponsored by a group called Sandy Hook Promise, which was formed in response to the tragedy there.

We had no idea how many people would come but there were 165 people in the synagogue — packed to overflowing.  People were standing up along the back wall and sitting in chairs beside the pews.  Everyone was very quiet during the presentations — one by each person — and very engaged during the  Q and A period that followed.  Afterward, people came up to say that the program had been personally helpful to them.  So we had a feeling it had gone well, and were grateful that we could be of some assistance.

But I asked Scott Wolfman, who knows David and helped organize the event, how it was received by those who attended.  What he wrote was so moving that I want to share it with you.

“I knew the four panelists offering the Buddhist perspective  — on anger, pain, love, compassion, suffering — were going to be powerful, but the event in Newtown exceeded my expectations.  David Kaczynski is a master storyteller, and through his own personal struggle, beautifully illustrates the complex dynamics at work when people grieve and lose loved ones, and the power of forgiveness and compassion to set healing into motion.  Lama Kathy, Lama Yeshe and James Knoll were all wonderful too.  Each of the four presenters came into our community bearing the gifts of mindfulness, love, compassion and gratitude.

The Rabbi of Congregation Adath Israel

Many of my friends and community members had commented to me after that this program is exactly what Newtown needs to heal.  In thinking of the idea that it’s better to light one candle then to curse the dark, many of us feel that this program has helped us to illuminate our own candle, so that we may move throughout our community and allow the light to become even brighter.”

I thought you would want to know about this important way that KTD reached out to help a community in need.

Click to enlarge and print.

We also invited the community to come for the June 14-16 teaching by Lama Tsultrim Yeshe and Dr. James L. Knoll, “Mindfulness: A Path to Mental Health and Recovery from Trauma,” so I expect we will have more opportunity to serve.

May all beings benefit.

Anitra Brown

I was at KTD yesterday, and had a chance to take photos of Rinpoche with one of the 155 White Tara statues that just arrived from Nepal.

I love the photo where you can see Rinpoche’s blue “Buddha eye”
peeking through the statue.  I also include a close-up of the 8 inch fully gold plated White Tara statue and a photo of Rinpoche holding the statue.

Our beloved Abbot turns 90 this year, and we plan to celebrate in a very special way.  These 155 statues –  finely crafted, decorated with precious stones, and personally filled by Rinpoche — will be used to build a shrine for a three-day White Tara retreat August 30-Sept. 1.  At the end of the retreat, Rinpoche will consecrate the statues.  The blessing goes to those who attend the ceremony and the sponsors, who take their statues home with them.  (Or of course they can be shipped).

We are also giving Rinpoche a 24-inch statue for his birthday that will be part of the shrine.

Rinpoche and the wonderful KTD benefactress May Lein Ho came up with this idea together, and it is how Rinpoche wishes to celebrate his 90th birthday.

There are several ways to participate:

• Sponsor a 6” or 8″ White Tara statue, either partially or fully gold-plated. to take home after the event.  Prices range from $1200 (6” partially gold plated) to $2100 (8″ fully gold plated).  They were made by craftsmen of Rinpoche choosing.
• Contribute towards the 24-inch gold-plated White Tara statue, a gift to express our deep love and respect for Rinpoche.
• Donate any amount towards the project.
• Recite White Tara mantras whenever you can to pray for our precious guru’s longevity.

White Tara Statue Request Form

For more information, contact May Lein Ho at friendsofktd@gmail, or go to http://www.kkrinternational.org/kkr_projects.html.

May all beings benefit!!

Anitra Brown

The Karma Triyana Dharmachakra Stupa Pilgrimage will take modern-day Buddhist pilgrims to seven stupas in the Southwestern United States from June 3-6 this year.

Stupas are Buddhist monuments, containing relics, mantras, and blessed substances. They act as a focal point for relating to the sacred in the external world, and symbolize the activity and blessing of the Buddhas in our everyday environment. As such, they are ideal places for pilgrimage – a sacred journey into one’s spiritual life.

During our pilgrimage, we will make offerings, recite aspiration prayers, and circumambulate the stupas, praying for all sentient beings to enjoy happiness, safety, security, and spiritual awakening. We also will learn about stupas and their sacred architecture, and meet Buddhist teachers and receive teachings along the way.

Do you have an interest in accompanying us on the trip, but cannot attend? Do you wish to support the pilgrimage, and create virtue and merit for yourself and all sentient beings?

We have devised a way to take you along – on a “Virtual Pilgrimage” of the Southwest Stupas.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THE VIRTUAL PILGRIMAGE

People who wish to participate can send a photograph of themselves or a loved one, along with an aspiration, via email to the Stupa Pilgrimage organizers at kmwesley@me.com.

We will print out the photos and aspirations, put them in a binder, and take them along with us on our pilgrimage. At each stupa, we will circumambulate the stupas, carrying your photo and aspiration, and pray for you and your loved ones’ accomplishment of your aspirations.

Photos and aspirations also can be sent via postal mail. You can send them to:

KTD Stupa Pilgrimage
ATTN: Aspirations
243 English Ave.
Newark, OH 43055

Deadline for Aspirations is Friday, May 10, 2013.  If you wish for your photo and aspiration to be returned to you, please include a stamped, self-addressed envelope with your photo and request. We will do our best to return them to you.

ANOTHER LEVEL OF PARTICIPATION: PILGRIMAGE SPONSORSHIP

Persons who wish to help sponsor the pilgrimage – to help us defray costs for the pilgrimage, and to make offerings to the stupas we visit along the way – may include donations with their photos and aspirations.

There are two levels of Sponsorship: Friend, and Supporter

Friends donate $1 to $24. In appreciation for their donation, Friends will receive a photo of the Tashi Gomang Stupa for their altar.

Supporters donate $25 and above. In appreciation for their donation, Supporters will receive both the Tashi Gomang Stupa photo and two Buddhist protection cords blessed by the ALL stupas we will visit. These cords can be worn around the neck or wrist, or placed in your home or your car, and provide a spiritual protection and support.

Checks can be made out to KTD Stupa Pilgrimage, and sent (along with photos and aspirations) to the address above.

Unfortunately, donations made this year are not tax-deductible, but each donation will be acknowledged by letter, sent around June 15, after the conclusion of the pilgrimage. Donor Gifts also will be shipped around June 15.

Many thanks to all for considering this Virtual Pilgrimage; it is said that when you rejoice in the merit of others, you yourself reap the same merit. May all beings have the joy of being in the presence of the awakened ones!!!

Robyn Glenney

Robyn writes: Spring is well on its way, and with it comes Earth Day.  As always, the date is April 22, but this Sunday some of us will also celebrate at KTD with some environmental projects I’m coordinating.  I am a volunteer who recently lived at KTD for about 2 months, and in that time, I’ve learned  how I might best make a contribution.  I look forward to staying involved on Sundays, and my goal is to put my training in sustainability issues and my experience with environmental work to use, supporting His Holiness’s teachings on environmentalism.  After starting up a project to increase composting, I was asked to say a few words connecting this and other immediate projects with long-term goals.

Environmental issues relate to every human activity in this world, but I think that in order to understand global issues, it’s important to first appreciate the life occurring close to home.  Wherever we live, we have communities of other living things existing nearby.  I see connecting to these neighbors as achieving two main goals:  increasing our appreciation of interdependence as an all-pervasive phenomenon and deepening our compassion for all sentient beings.

First, the separation of humans from the natural world is ingrained in our very language; the terms “nature” and “environment” each encompass physical phenomena in general, but we use them to just mean whatever is outside human society.  However, all human societies throughout history have grown according to their local environments and natural resources, and all of our technologies were developed from initial reactions to these environments.  European societies, at least, made great efforts to show the power of the human mind and its ability to control the world around us.

We can see today, though, that this control is limited.  Societies have had to change technologies over time to deal with limited resources and harmful waste; studying the natural balances that are inherent in ecosystems have shown us models of how our societies may sustain themselves over time.

This modeling can be seen in something as simple as compost.  When we maintain compost in a way that creates soil, we are trying to recreate an environment similar that of a soil surface layer.  In order to process a large amount of organic matter, we simply make a much larger surface layer that can house very large numbers of microbes, worms, and insects.  This process allows us to appreciate that without decomposers, none of the waste on earth would go away except by using methods that create different wastes.  The soil created then provides the foundation for all plants and animals that we see around us.

KTD’s new composting bin, built by students under Robyn’s supervision.

To my second point, I have always thought it interesting when people identify me as someone who loves nature.  What we call “nature” is simply systems of life in its purest form, which I think ties this meaning of the word to what we discuss as human nature and, of course, Buddha nature.  Since the human mind is so complex, many people focus on their love of more complex things rather than simply the love of life.  However, all people instinctively love life and enjoy seeing other living things; this need may seem obvious, but many psychological studies have been focused on trying to prove the effects of other living things on our well-being.

I personally find human behavior confusing at times (reacting to people who are reacting to other people who are reacting to other people, etc); observing wildlife, then, I appreciate seeing living things that are simply concerned with living.  All beings have this simple desire to live, which unites us all, and that is easy to remember when we see other living things going about their lives.  When we really watch some little creature, whose existence we normally wouldn’t notice, we can build compassion for this and other beings that are outside of our everyday lives.

I wanted to start the discussion in time to observe Earth Day this Sunday; I hope this will continue throughout the year.  If you are interested in helping with compost or landscaping projects this weekend or in the future, you can contact me directly at reglenney@gmail.com.  Thanks for reading!

– Robyn Glenney

THIRD in a Series

This story is part of a series leading up to the celebration of Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche’s 90th birthday in September, 2013.  At the conclusion of this year’s Ten-Day Teaching, a large shrine dedicated to White Tara, the protectress of health and longevity, will be assembled at KTD as part of a three-day White Tara Puja for the benefit of His Holiness Karmapa and all the teachers of the lineage, especially to celebrate Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche’s 90th birthday, long life and dharma activity. The White Tara Shrine will include beautiful statues consecrated by Khenpo Rinpoche. To find out more, click here.

The extensive journey of a sea of statues set to make their appearance on the shrine at the White Tara Puja this September is now well under way, according to May Lein Ho, coordinator of the Friends of KTD.

“I commissioned a very special statue craftsman in Nepal to start making the statues,” says May Lein, noting that the craftsman began in September of 2012. “It took him and his crew more than five months, working very hard, to make the statues. It was a huge project.”

All 155 statues were shipped to the United States just a few weeks ago, in March, which — given the need to wrap each piece with care and precision — also required quite a bit of manpower.

“We mobilized students (monks) from a nearby dharma school with their lama teacher to go to the shop to help wrap and secure each statue,” she says. “It’s about 2.5 hours of driving along the very challenging mountain ‘snail’ road to come down from their school to the shop. This is the type of help that sometimes money can’t make happen!”

When May Lein visited the Karme Ling Retreat Center in early April, she was surprised to find that Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche had already filled all of the 6” and 8” White Tara statues with mantras, relics, and blessing substances, without any assistance.

“He showed me his ten fingers. They really worked hard and were tired!” she says. “Ani (Rinpoche’s assistant) told me that during those 10 days, Rinpoche’s fingers were black all day long with glue, dust and metal residues on them. His arms were sore because he needed to hit the bottom plates hard to make them even and fit. A lot of hard work went into these auspicious statues.”

And that work represents not only the blessings of longevity for individual teachers and masters provided through the White Tara practice, but the longevity of KTD itself.

“The donations we get from whoever wants to obtain an individual statue (or donate toward the 24” one that will be given to Rinpoche for his birthday) will all be accumulated and go to pay KTD’s remaining mortgage principal,” May Lein said. “This is our hope and commitment!”

According to Lama Karma Drodhul, Rinpoche’s nephew, that commitment is very dear to our beloved teacher’s heart.

“All these White Tara statues are important for three reasons,” says Lama Karma. “First, for dedicating for Rinpoche’s long life, second, for students to show their respect and devotion for Rinpoche and building or making a very special, auspicious connection to him. Lastly is to give big support to KTD, which is Rinpoche’s – you can say that KTD is his heart – because he has nothing to emphasize more than maintaining the Karmapa’s activity here.”

- Tracy Zollinger Turner, Columbus KTC

You can participate in the White Tara Shrine project by “adopting” one of the remaining 6- or 8-inch White Tara statues to take home after the September puja, or donating toward a 24-inch White Tara Statue to be given to Khenpo Rinpoche for his birthday. There are five 6-inch statues and 35 8-inch statues available. Proceeds benefit His Holiness’ activities at Karma Triyana Dharmachakra. Click here for details.

Tara Dance has been blessed and supported by H.E. Tai Situ Rinpoche, the previous Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpche, the previous Kalu Rinpoche, and the previous Bokar Rinpoche. 

Prema Dasara will teach three Tara dances at KTD in a program running from Saturday evening June 1 through Sunday evening June 2

The dances in these sessions are based in simple movements that require no special training, anyone can do them. What makes them extraordinary and effective are the meditations. The meditations are designed to awaken the innate capacity of the heart. Resting in wisdom, radiating love, a special energy field is generated and a sense of comfort and stability experienced. In this exceptional environment deep insight arises.

Saturday 7:00 – 8:30 PM       Dancing Tara, a movement meditation
Sunday 10:30 AM – NOON    Dancing White Tara of the Six Shields
Sunday 2:30 – 4:00 PM         Dancing the 8 Precious Offerings

(tentatively concluding with an offering of this dance to Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche)

Full KTD pricing and lodging information below 

About Prema Dasara

Prema Dasara with H.E. Tai Situ

Here is an account by Prema Dasara, Dance Master of the Tara Dhatu, of a 1995 interview with H. E. Tai Situ Rinpoche that has guided the work of the Tara Dhatu dancers until now:
“He told us that the dance had become not only a practice that was an accumulation of merit, but also an accumulation of wisdom. He felt that in the dance the women had achieved a level of meditative absorption.  After the dance we met and he told me that it was a lineage practice and that I was the Dance Master. He asked me to be very careful about letting the dance out of my hand, very careful about who I allowed to teach. He said that as a lineage practice it was precious, a vehicle of enlightened mind. He asked me not to allow it to degenerate into some form of external worship.”

Prema Dasara

Prema Dasara has been an international teacher of sacred dance and dharma for over 30 years. She is the creator of the Mandala Dance of the 21 Praises of Tara, a profound practice that is a vehicle of empowerment, calling forth from dancers and audience the highest expression of wisdom and compassion. Her dances have been offered to some of the greatest Tibetan masters; His Holiness the Dalai Lama, His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, His Eminence Tai Situ Rinpoche, His Eminence Jamgon Kongrul, with their blessing and encouragement.

Prema is the Spiritual and Creative Director of Tara Dhatu, a non-profit organization formed to preserve the integrity of  sacred dance practice with presently over 90 centers around the globe. Her work is timely and timeless, a bridge between eastern and western expressions of ancient wisdom, revealing the underlying power of  unified feminine spiritual energy to heal and transform oneself and the world.

Tara Dhatu here.

KTD Registration and Lodging Information; call 845-679-5906 ext. 3 to register!

Registration:
Full Program $70/$58 KTD members
Individual Session $30/$24 KTD members

Room and Board:
Private Room $96 per night /$77 per night KTD members
Shared Room   $77 per person per night /$62 per person per night KTD members
Dorm                $48 per night/$40 per night KTD members

All room and board options include 3 vegetarian meals a day.

Never been to KTD? Here’s a short slideshow.

Meals for Those not Staying at KTD
Breakfast  $8.00/$6 KTD members
Lunch      $10/$8 KTD members
Dinner       $8/$6 KTD members

All photos and video from the Tara Dhatu website. May All Beings Benefit!