Have a look at the following article in The Traveler, which came out today, on Geshe and his life and teaching mission at the University and the community of Fayetteville. Thanks to Pam Acosta who did a wonderful job both on the research and the writing. We also had a successful lecture & vigil last night for the Tibetans in Tibet. I'll post on that later, but thanks to all who attended.
Have a look at the 8:00 minute video below. His Holiness last summer gave a talk in Carmel, New York, and during the talk he addressed some very important issues regarding the practice and development of our spirituality as Americans. He also had some very simple and wise comments regarding our goals and aims.
For those of you who missed the wonderful piece that Christie Storm wrote in The Democrat Gazette last Sunday (27 February 2008), you can have a look at it here. Thanks to Christie--she does remarkable work covering religion and spirituality in our state, and she and her paper have been extraordinarily generous to Geshe la, Rinzin, and the Tibetan Cultural Institute.
Also on a distantly related topic . . . I stumbled on the following site through a newsletter I received. It's a very brief and helpful discussion, particularly for beginners, of the proper leg positions in seated meditation.
As many of you know, Geshe la received his Outstanding Faculty Award on Thursday, 21 February 2008 (he's pictured to the left with our Chancellor, John White, and his wife, Mary Lib) at an honorary banquet held at the Hembree House. It was a wonderful and moving evening. Since then we have been showered with congratulations from Tibetans around the world. I've added a photo album with a few pictures from the event.
This award represents a victory of sorts for all Tibetans, and Geshe la has gone out of his way in interviews with the Voice of Tibet, the Voice of America, and other venues to stress this fact. Now, Tibetans have a model, an example of how education results in recognition and the kind of attention that might someday lead to a full redress of the wrongs that have been dealt the Tibetans. At the very least, Geshe la's education has allowed him to make a credible case, not only for Tibetan culture in general, but for a reasoned approach to the necessity of non-violence in all of our lives, and it is this approach that garnered the award for him. As he says continually: "This is about education."
Most importantly, we recently received a letter of congratulations from Tashi Wangdi, the North American representative of the Dalai Lama. This is wonderful news for Geshe la, and we hope that it bodes well for our future involvement with Mr. Wangdi's office. If you'd like to download the letter and read, click on the following link:
Download LetterWangdi.jpg (811.5K)
Geshe la and Rinzin la's presence here in Fayetteville has served as a catalyst for a range of positive developments, extending from the classroom to the meditation room, and we will be calling a meeting soon for all of those interested in helping us plot the future of the Tibetan Cultural Institute of Arkansas.
Until then, many congratulations to Geshe la and to Rinzin la. They are doing important work here, and we are fortunate to have them in Fayetteville.
For those of you in the Fayetteville area: last week Geshe la and I met with How Kuff, a long-time resident of Red Star, Arkansas, and now a novelist. In 1999, How and his wife toured Tibet on a bicycle, and now he has written a novel that takes place in Tibet, Changing History. How will read from his book on Saturday, January 19, 7:00 p.m. at Nightbird Books. How has an exciting story to tell, and I hope that some of you will be able to attend this reading.
Some of you in the meditation group might remember that Geshe la passed out a brief summary of the Six Perfections before we left for the break. I had planned to write something on them earlier, but my reading on Gandhi intervened. I'll try to post something on the Perfections in the future, and I'll let you know when I'm done.
The Tibetan Cultural Institute of Arkansas is a registered nonprofit organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
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The Dalai Lama: The Meaning of Life
The book that we're currently reading (having begun January 2008), THE MEANING OF LIFE, by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, addresses the 12 links of dependent origination and other issues.
Ven Lobsang Gyatso: The Four Noble Truths
The first book we read together, and a detailed--at times, overly detailed--treatment of the founding platform of all Buddhist philosophy and practice.
The Dalai Lama: Stages of Meditation
The book we finished, January 2008. It's actually the second part of a three-part work by Kamalashila, an Indian monk and scholar from the 8th century. The Dalai Lama has supplied copious commentary to Kamalashila's translated text.
