Sixty pilgrims have traveled to KTD from Spanish-speaking countries, and they have received the initiation, instruction and practice of the Great and Noble Lord Chenrezig from Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche.
This is in itself wonderful – but there is more.
With Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche’s blessing, 1900 additional people from 39 countries formed a virtual community that was able to follow these teachings online through www.facebuda.org.
How was remarkable event achieved?
It is necessary to underline that the history of this “virtual community” under the guidance of Venerable Damchö is short, but quickly developed great viral reach. It all started in April of 2011, responding to a request from the members of the Pema Yungne Dharma Center in Cancún, Mexico. Ven. Damchö, who currently lives in India, began to offer teachings more frequently via internet. So, the website www.facebuda.org was born. During its first transmissions,there were only five participants. Over time, these five people have turned into approximately 1000 students per week, from all over the Spanish-speaking world.
This evolution did not appear from thin air. Over the next two years, with the hard work of the Dharmadatta Community and of many volunteers, a virtual community has been developed with the purpose of making Buddhist teachings available, in order to benefit many beings. Particularly, those without direct access to a Dharma Center have thoroughly benefited.
The www.facebuda.org community gradually developed, with virtual classrooms for the study of Dharma and meditation.
The need to not only listen to the teachings, but to also study and contemplate, has been the origin of the Buddhadharma Institute –a name chosen by HH the 17th Karmapa, upon the request of Leslie Serna, general coordinator of the website. In its first course, “Remove Self-Deception, Awake Compassion,” the Institute had over 40 students.
Currently, there are 10 online courses taught by 3 qualified teachers: Venerable Lhundup Damchö, Lama Jinpa and Lama Kathy Wesley, with a total enrollment of 500 students.
All this studying and learning generated the need to meditate, so a new space came about in the facebuda website: the meditation halls. These are appropriate halls to meditate alone or in a group, through the instructions of Ven. Damchö. The halls include Lam-Rim, Compassion and also Mantra Recitation Halls, such as the Tara and Sangye Menla Halls.
These halls currently receive 3700 visits per week and 2000 registered participants, with all facebuda website activities free of cost, always.
We recognize the kindness, generosity and wisdom of Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, who allowed us to use technology so that those that couldn’t physically join us during the 2013 Chenrezig Retreat-Pilgrimage for Spanish Speakers could also benefit.
We also thank KTD’s resident lamas, technical staff and volunteers who supported this effort. Many pieces came together, and as a result, Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, KTD and Kagyu Lineage Dharma have expanded their connection through the Spanish-speaking world.
