Vajra Vidya Retreat Center Newsletter
Vajra Vidya Retreat Center
P. O. Box 1083 Crestone,
CO 81131
Phone: (719) 256-5539 Email: coordinator@vajravidyaretreatcenter.org
Website: http://www.vajravidyaretreatcenter.org
In This Issue
- Some Semi-Good News
- Khenpo Jigme Dicusses Sukhavati
- and Mahakala
- Lama Wangdu Reports from Nepal
March Events
- 3/14 - 3/15 Khenpo Jigme at Boulder Shambhala
- 3/16 Khenpo Jigme at Boulder Mahamudra Group
- 3/21 Monthly Sukhavati at VVRC
- 3/22 - 3/23 Khnepo Jigme in Boise
- 3/29 Khenpo Jigme teaches on Medicine Buddha in Bay Area
April Events
- 4/5 - 4/6 Mahakala Practice at VVRC
- 4/18 - 4/19 Khenpo Jigme at Boulder Shambhala
- 4/18 Lama Wangdu in NYC
- 4/20 Khnepo Jigme at Boulder Mahamudra Group
Update: Sicko's? Not here. VVRC is happy to report that all of the staff are covered by health insurance.
This month, the New York Times reports on a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. According to the survey more than one quarter of adult americans have left the faith of their childhood. The largest shift has been to the unaffiliated group where most respondants described their religion as "nothing in particular". Out of the positively identifying groups, Buddhism experienced the largest net change in growth (from 0.3% of respondants to 0.7%). Three out of four Buddhists reported that they were native born adherents.
Thrangu Rinpoche in Crestone June 20 - 29
It's getting closer to the Summer Program. If you haven't done so yet...
Khenpo Jigme in Boulder
During the Spring, Khenpo will be travelling to Boulder on the third weekend of every month to teach at the Boulder Shambhala and Boulder Mahamudra groups. He will give a public talk at the Shambhala Center on Friday, March 14 at 7 pm and on Saturday, March 15 at 1 pm.
Fundraiser for the Free Medical Clinic
The opening date for the clinic at Namo Buddha, Nepal has been set for November. To raise money for the last phase, Khenpo Jigme will be visiting the Bay Area for a Medicine Buddha day on Saturday, March 29 at Sukhasiddhi at 10 AM. Call Tenzin Labdam at (415) 233-0919.
Sukhavati March 21
Khenpo Jigme offers some advice about the importance of Sukhavati ceremonies. The memorial ceremony, tsok offering, and offering of butter lamps continues to be an important activity of monasteries. The donation is an important way of making a connection to the beings who are in transition. It helps them to rejoice and let go of attachment because they are aware that good works are being done in their name. When somebody dies and you submit a name for phowa, for aspiration or for dedication, a donation is needed to make a connection between the loved ones and the teachers.
Mahakala Puja April 4 - 5
Khenpo Jigme reminds us that in the Mahakala commentary Karmapa taught: My students want to eat, they want wealth, they want happiness, they want everything. But they don't want to practice. These students are lazy. All of my students need to be practicing Mahakala. Mahakala helps get rid of obstacles. Therefore he helps with health, with wealth, and with happiness. He helps with all of those.
So, Khenpo says, if you can come to our Mahakala practice on April 4th and 5th that would be great. But if you are busy, please consider making a offering for this important puja. And if you can't come to practice and you can't afford anything, then you can ask other people to participate in order to remove obstacles.
I had a really fortunate trip to Nepal and India. My days at Bouddha started with the circuambulation at Bouddha Stupa, which is a five minute walk to our monastery, feeding grain and corn to the pigeons, offering butter lamps and returning to the monastery for butter tea and timo. Those were my favorite things to do while I was at Bouddha.
The best moment in my life came while I was at Namo Buddha doing three days of long life puja four our beloved Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche. For that I flew all the way from the USA to Nepal. The special unbroken long life practices has been done continuously in Tibet at Tranghu Monastery for many centuries. This is the first year it has been practiced in Nepal.
Because there were so many participants in the mandala offering we divided the event into two days. The first day began at 3AM with the long life puja and mandala offering. Then after lunch, there were lama dances and the Tara Dance from Thrangu Tara Abbey. Then the next day came the empowerment and mandala offering from Rincpoche's own dharma centers from all over the worlds and the different departments from Nepal and India.
