Teaching with His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama in McLeod Ganj

June 1st -4th His Holiness taught on Shantidevas text the A Guide to the Bodhisattvas Way of Life.

stupas

The teaching was sponsored by the ever growing Indian Buddhist community.
The following link gives the recorded webcast of the teaching;
http://www.dalailama.com/webcasts/post/286-a-guide-to-the-bodhisattvas-way-of-life---dharamsala-june-2013

The text itself, which is a buide on how to develop compassion and wisdom can be found at;
http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Bodhisattvas-Way-Life-Santideva/dp/8185102597/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370522408&sr=1-3&keywords=guide+to+the+bodhisattvas+way+of+life

Thousand of people attended and the temple was packed full. His Holiness was in great health and gave a wonderful teaching. As he walked from his residence to the temple he stopped to talk with people, shake hands, play with kids and was just so open and loving with the crowd. It was such a pleasure to see everyone so happy in his presence.

He is only here in India for a few days before he heads off to Australia. Hard to believe he is 77 years old and able to keep up such a hectic teaching schedule, such is the kindness of the lama. We are truly blessed to have such a great person on this planet, or as Lobsang says;
 "His Holiness is the 8th wonder of the world."


Today I was also looking at this web site which has been inspired by His Holiness so thought I would share it with you. http://charterforcompassion.org/

McLeod Ganj.   Meet  Lobsang Wangyal

After Buddha Janti it was time to head for the cooler climates of the hills, back to McLeod Ganj. The home in exile of  His Holiness the Dalai Lama and thousands of refugee and Indian born Tibetans. This once tiny village is now a small city which  teeters on top of a hill, at the foothills of the Himalayas. As the world embraced His Holiness, more and more people have flocked to McLeod Ganj and it has been fondly  re-named  Little Lhasa of India.

I first met Losang back in 1996 on my visit to McLeod. Lobsang is not only well know in town for his good looks and charm but mostly  for his tireless work to let the world know about political situation and occupation of Tibet as well as the plight of the Tibetan people inside and outside of Tibet. Unlike most of the young Tibetan boys and men in town who chase or court female tourist in the hope of a getting visa to the west, Lobsang has no desire to leave the Tibetan community in exile. He feels he can work more effectively to raise awareness of Tibet issues with the people who visit McLeod  and have connections to the Tibetans. He also works with the Tibetan people to raise their awareness of global issues and international events as he feels Tibetans need to open their perspective of the world and even support or collaborate with other peoples facing occupation and persecution. While not full on political, Lobsang has come up with uniuque and interesting ways to get information on Tibet into the mainstream news and society. For example,to protest the 2008 Olympics in China, Lobsang decided to hold the Tibet Olympics at the Tibetan Children's Village. The event was not only successful but the advertising alone made people speak out more against Chinese occupation of Tibet. To keep people informed Lobsang updates his a news paper web site everyday with global events and has well over 2000 readers a day. Check it out at;  http://www.tibetsun.com

Lobsang also enjoys promoting Tibetan culture and often attempts to modernize Tibetan culture with various events such as film festival and music concerts;

http://www.freespiritfilmfestival.com.  

http://www.musictibet.com

His most successful event is the Miss Tibet pageant which has grown in popularity over the years.
More info on Miss Tibet here is the link;  http://www.misstibet.com

Lobsang present undertaking is to help promote McLeod Ganj itself, complete with events, volunteering  opportunities, courses on every thing from meditation to cooking classes as well as all the info you could want on hotels and restaurants. This is a huge project but Lobsang is loving his new self imposed task and believes it will help not only local businesses to grow and become more professional but inform so many weary travellers and Dharma investigators who come to this city on the hill.

Check out Lobasang new web site on McLeod Ganj at;

http://www.mcleodganj.com

Thanks Lobsang for all you work over the years and I wish you all the best and every success in the future.

This post is from mid February ?
12 hours overnight bus journeys up the Himalaya can be quite sleepless, but surprisingly the whole journey was not so bad. I was wedged between a very big, friendly monk and the window. So with the help of some blankets I was not thrown around too much and actually slept. I am here in McLeod Ganj for 12 days at Tushita meditation centre to do a meditation retreat, on a practice which I have been promising myself to do for many years. We start tonight so no phone, non internet and no talking for 11 days. After being so busy in Bodhgaya I am looking forward to thee next few days. McLeod has grown so much even since I was last here in 2010.  I lived here from 1996 until 2002. It was a quick exit then as India and Pakistan had their nukes pointed at each other and all the embassies were advising all foreigners to get out of the country ASAP. Anyway back then McLeod had more trees and less concrete, more chia stalls than coffee Wi-Fi cafes and more dharma bums and practitioners than rainbow dressed with matted hair, backpackers just up from Goa and out of university. Times have changed and so has this town but the still has to be the most international town with 4 streets in the world. From the bus stop to the post office you can hear, Tibetan , Hindi, English Japanese Korean , all the European languages, Russian Mongolian, Kashmiri, Chinese Korean, Vietnamese and Hebrew. So many people are drawn here to see His Holinesses the Dalai Lama and Karmapa but also with the rise of the middle classes in India there are many more tourists from the Punjab, Mumbai and other parts of India. It has a great climate in the summer when it is way too hot in the rest of India, the Tibetan/multicultural environment is relaxed and easy going and we can be grateful for this place through the kindness of the Himachal Pradesh local people who have hosted the Tibetans here for just over 50 years now.

I learned so much being in this town sure I learned all about the Buddhist teachings but that knowledge is only valuable when used in practice; i.e relating the teaching to ones experinece of human existancenes. Admiting old habits, disfunctional desie and in general uncontrollable self concerned mind. and admitting wee youreally are, then trying, often woith great efffort to develop the heart and mind, becoming less selfish and more self aware, aware of oneslef in relation to others and concerned for the welfare of others. Did I say thisinot a easy path it is a lifelong practice and it is not a path of constant imrprovement just coz i place my hand in reverance in fornt of the Dalai Lama or Buddha statue. This makes me question the world, my  movtives and actions and it is a path that oneself can only developwi by accepting all the rap tat ie thughs at you and taking that pain and suffering as the material, the clay with which to make happiness flourish. nyway

McLeod Ganj was a breath of fresh Himalayan air after the exhausting yoga course. http://mcllo.com

The past 12 days consisted of  relaxation, some very intense yoga classes, long walks in the mountains a wonderful teaching from the Dalai Lama. Oh yes, also good food and some of the best chocolate cake on the planet from the guys from Bihar at the Trek and Dine in Dharamkot. Yummy
Since it has been years since I lived in McLeod, with only had a quick visit in February for retreat, I was really surprised to find out there are so many yoga places, some of which, like Sampoorna Y
Yoga seems to be out for the $$ while others were really good  Rossi from the yoga course travelled with me to McLeod so I got to play tour guide and introduce her to the Tibetan culture as well as have a new yoga teacher buddie to practice with, plus she is also just a great lassie. In some ways the past few days have been some time out from a very busy schedule since I arrived in India and it was great to meet old friends make new ones and just be for a while in order to prepare for the next step.

Monks doing prayers in Namgyl Monestry

These days McLeod is defiantly on the tourist/ self healing trail. In fact it was a bit funny reading all the posters splattered all over town about all the various course and treatments you can have. Cooking classes, massage classes, reiki classes, chakra balancing, aura reading, reflexology courses, tantra and kundalini classes, astrology, palm reading, past life regression therapy, crystal healing, meditation classes of all guises and probably much more, I just got tired of reading all the posters. It is as if Goa and California of the 60's/70's all moved to the Himalayas.
There are also so many opportunities to volunteer. You can volunteer to pick up trash, teach English, get involved with raising political awareness or donate to the various causes such as, spay the local dogs, the Tibetan Children's Village, the retirement home, the  transit school for newly arrived Tibetans or the numerous religious institutes. I had to agree with Rossi when she said " they really do not need anything, it is so organized here." It is true in so many ways the Tibetan refugees have become most fortunate in receiving aid  and assistance from others.
Anyway here are some recommendations or sites to have a peep at. Although the yoga studio in McLeod  itself sucks, I highly  recommend Universal Yoga  http://www.vijaypoweryoga.com for its good and caring teachers and serious yet playful atmosphere. Aryan gave a good traditional Astanga class, i.e. a bit too serious for me, but he has a good following and works closely with his students http://www.yogattc.com. We never made it to Siddarth's classes but he has been doing yoga in town for ages is a great guy with a large following and is now in quiet Upper Bagsu just round the mountain from McLeod.  http://www.siddharthayogacentre.org. We also looked at Kailash Tribal Yoga  http://yogatribe.org  but could not take classes there as they were starting a teacher training. The studio is beautiful, the Tshirts pretty cute, the teacher seems dedicated but the training course, expensive.

The teachings of the Dali Lama were held  to inaugurate the new monastery of Kamtrul Rinpoche. http://www.cglmonastery.org. Kamtrul Rinpoche is a lama in the Nyingma tradition whom I received teaching from while I lived in McLeod in the late 90's. A wonderful kind man and great teacher with a heart of gold.

As good fortune would have it I was able to meet with Jhado Rinpoche who was in town for a few days in between teaching trips to Taiwan, Europe and USA. His kindness and patience is beyond words, his knowledge of the Dharma immense ans smile, as you can see lights up the world.


I also had the opportunity to stay at the nunnery of  a dear friend Ven. Sangmo, a Dutch nun who founded Thosamling Institute and nunnery for Buddhist women of all traditions. Only 10 years old the Institute is flourishing and has become a hub of learning for women and Sangmo has worked tirelessly to make her dream a reality. http://www.thosamling.com and I wish her every continued success.
Jetsuma Tenzin Palmo also taught this week but I did not make that teaching. She has also founded a nunnery in the Kaygu tradition for Tibetan nuns. http://www.tenzinpalmo.com. Originally from London, Tenzin Palmo was one of the first western nuns and spend years in solitary retreat in cave in the Indian Himalayas. The book "A Cave in the Snow"  by Vicki McKenzie tells of her trials and realization during her long retreat and is a good quick  read.

I was also happy this past week to bump into an old Tibetan friend, Lobsang  a local activist, artist and photographer who works to keep us all up to date on Tibetan issues with his web site http://www.tibetsun.com.  He is also responsible for creating and organizing the Miss Tibet pageant and the Tibetan Olympics in 2008. Lobsang is always creating new projects to get the plight of the Tibetans in the news and everyone who spends time in McLeod gets to know who he is sooner or later and yi can't help but just love the guy.

Anyway whats the next step? well I arrived in Delhi today and met with Marshal, the founder of Ecoles De La Terra, the NGO I worked with in Bodhgaya.The regional meeting for the NGO is this weekend and I will find out more about the work of the other branches in Delhi, Calcutta and Rajistan. Marshal has plans to continue and build on the slum school here in Delhi, of the Pakistani Hindu refugees that were made homeless during partition in 1949. I am not sure where I fit into this but we just had a long talk with lots of ideas and will hopefully I will visit the Delhi programs and find out over this weekend how I can get more involved.

Post Retreat

Feels like a long time since I last wrote but it has only been 2 weeks. The retreat at Tushita, by the end of it, was a great experience. Oh course as some of you will know, you go though difficult time wrestling with the body’s aches and pains because it does not want to sit still 8 to 10 hours a day and the mind always wanders to the past and the future and defy all efforts to stay focused on the present, but this is how I goes. Retreat is never easy in the beginning, so where these great notions come from of attaining tranquility just because you sit on a meditation cushion is a mystery. It was only on the last few days, after perseverance and effort you can get a small incline of inner peace. So what did we all do for 12 days you may wonder? There were 21 of us on the retreat, we stayed in silence for the duration and did meditations on the Buddhist path such as examining the nature of the human condition, (which in general sucks) but that went hand in hand with the development of kindness and compassion. We also spent some time on and developing an appreciation for the fact that we can practice to perfect the mind. We also did meditations on death and meditations on the Buddhist doctrine of the nature of all phenomena, i.e. empty of inherent existence and dependently arisen. Our day started at 5am and we did four 2 hours per day and if we wanted to do a fifth session that we could do that on the 3 hour lunch break. To start with I was so sluggish and my mind filled with distraction and anger but by the fifth day I needed less sleep, less food and the mind had calmed down. The practice was beautiful and it was so good to sit with a group of people who are also attempting to travel the Tibetan Buddhist path, especially since I had felt very alone in my Buddhist practice in Washington DC.  So I feel rejuvenated, more open hearted, re-focused on the important things in life and very enthusiastic to continue with the practice. I have to give a huge thank you so everyone on the retreat because without everyone being there it would never have happened, to Andy who lead the retreat and to everyone at Tushita for all their work in setting up the retreat and looking after all of us so well. 

12 hours overnight bus journeys up the Himalaya can be quite sleepless, but surprisingly the whole journey was not so bad. I was wedged between a very big, friendly monk and the window. So with the help of some blankets I was not thrown around too much and actually slept. I am here in McLeod Ganj for 12 days at Tushita meditation centre to do a meditation retreat, on a practice which I have been promising myself to do for many years. 
We start tonight so no phone, no internet and no talking for 11 days. After being so busy in Bodhgaya I am looking forward to the next few days.

McLeod has grown so much even since I was last here in 2010 but I lived here from 1996 until 2002. It was a quick exit in 2002 as India and Pakistan had their nukes pointed at each other and all the embassies were advising all foreigners to get out of the country ASAP. Anyway back then McLeod had more trees and less concrete, more chia stalls than coffee Wi-Fi cafes and more dharma bums and practitioners than rainbow dressed, matted haired, backpackers just up from Goa and out of university. Times have changed and so has this town but it still has to be the most international town with 4 streets in the world. From the bus stop to the post office you can hear, Tibetan , Hindi, English Japanese Korean, all the European languages, Russian Mongolian, Kashmiri, Chinese Korean, Vietnamese and Hebrew. So many people are drawn here to see their Holinesses the Dalai Lama and Karmapa but also with the rise of the middle classes in India there are many more tourists from the Punjab, Mumbai and other parts of the country. It has a great climate in the summer when it is way too hot in the rest of India, the Tibetan/multicultural environment is relaxed and easy going and we can be grateful for this place through the kindness of the Indian government and Himachal Pradesh local people who have hosted the Tibetans here for just over 50 years now.

I learned so much being in this town, sure I learned all about the Buddhist teachings but that knowledge is only valuable when used in practice; i.e relating the teaching to ones experience of human existence. Admitting old habits and dysfunctional desires, admitting I have an uncontrollable, self concerned mind, but knowing that I can change it and develop. Then the work begins, trying with great effort to develop the heart and mind, becoming less selfish and more self aware, aware of oneself in relation to others and developing concerned for all others, not just my friends and family. Taking responsibility for my action, thoughts and words is tough especially when I am a feisty, stubborn Scott and I have fallen down many times. (I have also learned to take myself not so serious which has to be a good thing). Did I say this is not an easy path, it is a lifelong practice and it is not a path of constant improvement just coz I place my hand in reverence in front of the Dalai Lama or Buddha statue. Only I can, through my own thought, words and actions, save myself. This can be a tough pill for some to sallow but then again so many westerners are attracted to Buddhism because of this aspect of self responsibility as well as the lack of an outer savior and Buddhism’s scientific manner of investigation of mind and the world. Buddhism  makes sense to me and I am happy to have a framework with which to understand this senseless and crazy world. Anyway enough of this blah blah for now, where was I; oh yes

Today the retreat starts at 7 pm at Tushita, as great centre just up the hill nestled in the woods; just a wee bit cold in the winter but great in the spring.http://www.tushita.info/

Tushita is part of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition a centre which began in Nepal in the 70's and has now so many centres all over the world.http://www.fpmt.org/  It is a great organizations and offers great beginning classes.

Anyway I am off to explore, go down to the main Temple of the Dalai Lama, who just last week had Desmond TuTu for South Africa visit him   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9nJVrWk32E.

and probably talk with some old friends.