Welcome
to the Communiqué, Khyentse Foundation’s bimonthly newsletter. We’ve
redesigned the newsletter using a news service, and we welcome your
comments. Please let us know what you think about our new look and
about the contents. We’re excited to bring you news about Rinpoche’s
recent trip to Brazil, as well as about KF scholarships for students
and practitioners of the Buddhadharma around the world. Be sure to
check out the links to multimedia offerings, including slideshows and
new recordings (on the Siddhartha’s Intent site).
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FEATURE
In
December, Rinpoche consecrated Padmasambhava’s Pureland at Chagdud
Gonpa Khadro Ling, taught in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, and visited
the Amazon rainforest.
FOCUS ON KF SCHOLARSHIPS
Spreading Dharma Throughout
the World
The KF Scholarship Fund supports students from all over the world in study and practice.
The Multiplier Effect of KF
Scholarships
A report from scholarship recipient
Luke Younge.
THREE-YEAR RETREATS, PAST
AND PRESENT
There Was No Longer
Any EscapeBut There Was a Practice Session
to Start
Sydney and Chris Jay on their three-year retreat at Vajradhara Gonpa, 2005-2008
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NEWS FROM
SIDDHARTHA’S INTENT
Visit the Siddhartha’s Intent website often for updates about Rinpoche’s schedule and teachings. New since October:
- Rinpoche's 2009 New Year talk
- Chronicles Radio interview with Rinpoche
- Advice on Ngöndro and other practices
- And much more in MP3 format for you to download
Chinese Website Launched
Almostbuddhist.com
is a website authorized by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche in China. This
recently launched site will include the latest news about Rinpoche and
about the teachings that are specifically for students in China. People
can send questions related to Dharma and practice; Rinpoche will
periodically answer these questions collectively. He will also discuss
Buddhist teachings on the site.
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ON PRACTICE
Cultivating
an attitude of compassion and developing wisdom are slow processes. As
you gradually internalize techniques for developing morality,
concentration of mind, and wisdom, untamed states of mind become less
and less frequent. You will need to practice these techniques day by
day, year by year.
As you transform your mind, you will transform your surroundings.
Others will see the benefits of your practice of tolerance and love,
and will work at bringing these practices into their own lives.
—HIS HOLINESS THE DALAI LAMA
How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful Life
If from your heart you practice in accordance with Dharma, both food and resources will come naturally to hand.
—ATISHA
Advice from Atisha's Heart
Treading this path for the better part of my adult life, my earnest intention at
this point is to make progress as a genuine practitioner, to strive in the service of dharma, and to bring benefit
in whatever small way I can. I feel strongly that my ongoing participation
in the Guna Shedra is a compelling
means toward the fulfillment of these aspirations.
—CLARE MING, USA, studying at Guna
Shedra; Bir, India, KF scholarship recipient
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AND THEN...
Watch for the Khyentse Foundation Annual Report, coming in March.
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MULTIMEDIA
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DONATE ONLINE
Please continue to support the KF worldwide scholarship program.
Donate Now
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Thank You for Reading
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Buddhadharma in Brazil
Rinpoche Consecrates Padmasambhava’s
Pureland, Visits the Rainforest
BY CANGIOLI CHE, KF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
In December of 2008,
over six hundred people from all over Brazil and the world attended the
week-long consecration ceremonies and offering rituals to celebrate the
completion of the replica of the Glorious Copper Colored Mountain
(Padmasambhava’s Pureland) near Três Coroas, Rio Grande do Sul. The
seed of the project was planted by Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche before his
death in 2002, and it has been nurtured by the intention and effort of
his many students, as well as other lamas, artists, and sponsors, under
the inspired and capable leadership of Chagdud Khadro. Chagdud Gonpa’s
replica of Padmasambhava’s Pureland brings from Tibetan culture symbols
of nonviolence and inner clarity.
“To
erect a symbol that reminds us of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha during
this degenerate time is probably the most important thing to do,"
Rinpoche said at the consecration. "There are so many things that
remind us otherwise. Greed, power, money…there are never enough
reminders of the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. For followers of the
Tantrayana, the quintessential practice is to remind ourselves of the
guru.”
While in Brazil, Rinpoche was busy with a number of other activities including:
- Teaching in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro to large and attentive audiences
- Visiting
the native Asháninka, deep in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, to
learn from their wisdom and share their plight, which is also ours
Slideshow from the Amazon
PHOTO ABOVE BY BEL PEDROSA
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Practice, Practice, Practice
KF Supports the Spread of Dharma Throughout
the World
BY FLORENCE KOH, SCHOLARSHIP COMMITTEE CHAIR
Fall 2008 recipients of KF-Ranjung Yeshe Institute scholarships
(left
to right): Gwenaelle Witt-Dorring (Germany), Benjamin Collet-Cassart
(Belgium), Eric Puno (Canada), John Harris (USA), Nawaraj Lama (Nepal),
Sonam Spitz (Germany), Josh Schauls (USA), Zeta Koutsokera (Greece),
and Maya Lama (Nepal). PHOTO BY GERRY PRINDIVILLE
"There
is so much benefit in helping those who want to study and practice.
Milarepa said the practitioner and the patron will face Buddhahood
together. It is important that we train Tibetans and non-Tibetans
alike. And if we really want to help people understand Buddhism, I
think that it is quite important for students to themselves become
teachers. This comes with study and practice. So if we can offer
support, we should."
—Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
During
the past year, Khyentse Foundation allocated and spent over $100,000
worldwide for scholarships. Recipients come from Australia, Canada,
Bangladesh, Belgium, Cambodia, Germany, Greece, Japan, Nepal, South
Africa, Tibet, the UK, and the USA. And they’re studying and practicing
in their own countries or in great centers of Buddhist activities in
Thailand, India, or Nepal.
Your
generous donations fund Rinpoche’s vision of spreading Buddhism
throughout the world. To learn more about the KF Scholarship Fund, and
for information about applying for a scholarship, go to the Scholarship Fund page of the KF website.
Expanding the Dharma in
South Africa
The Multiplier Effect of KF Scholarships
BY LUKE YOUNGE
Freestyle debate at Nitartha Institute. Instructor Jirka Hladis (left) and Luke Younge. PHOTO BY MARK WEISS
Luke
Younge, who completed two summer courses of study at Nitartha Institute
in the United States with the support of a KF scholarship, is bringing
a systematic two-year Buddhist studies program to Cape Town and
Johannesburg.
In 2007 and 2008 I attended Nitartha
Institute’s month-long programme of intensive Buddhist Studies in the
United States. My studies were partially funded by a scholarship from
Khyentse Foundation. Nitartha’s curriculum is modelled on the Kagyu
Shedra, but with a commitment to being appropriate to its western
context. As one of their stated aims is to train western Dharma
teachers, it seemed the perfect place to go for some training.
The
scholarship from Khyentse Foundation this year was absolutely crucial,
and enabled me to attend and benefit greatly from the programme. This
benefit rolls on with every training I do here in South Africa,
touching people’s hearts and opening them up to the wisdom of our
lineages.
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THREE-YEAR RETREATS, PAST AND PRESENT
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There Was No Longer Any Escape
But There Was a Practice Session to Start
SYDNEY & CHRIS JAY ON THEIR 2005-2008 THREE-YEAR RETREAT
PHOTO BY PAWO CHOYNING DORJI
We
stood in the summer rain with Rinpoche in the muddy parking lot of
Vajradhara Gonpa, all 300 of us. It was January 6, 2005, the day of
closing the boundary to start the retreat, way out in the semitropical
rainforest hills of northeastern New South Wales, Australia.
Rinpoche
chanted auspicious prayers, invoked the boundary guardians, threw rice.
And then he commanded: “All of you who are not retreatants, go down the
hill now! Get outside of the boundaries now!” He too stepped
outside the boundaries. Twenty-eight of us were left, standing there
under our umbrellas, and we watched and waved as Rinpoche and everyone
else drove down the slick, rutted road. Then, looking at each other
nervously, we turned and headed back up the hill to our solitary
retreat rooms. There was no longer any escape, or entertainment, or
excuse. But there was a practice session to start, the first one of the
retreat, the first one of 1,180 consecutive days. Read more…
Second Three-Year Retreat: Vajradhara Gonpa 2009-2012
BY JAKOB LESCHLY, RESIDENT TEACHER
SIDDHARTHA'S INTENT, AUSTRALIA
On
12 January 2009, 30 western Buddhist practitioners were sealed in
three-year retreat at Vajradhara Gonpa. We won't have news of them
until 2012, but you can learn more about three-year retreats and how to
apply for a future retreat on the Siddhartha’s Intent Vajradhara Gonpa page. Here Jakob Leschly discusses some perspectives that are the basis of Buddhist three-year retreat.
With
the emergence and subsequent spread of Tibetan Buddhism far beyond its
original Himalayan homelands, teachers such as Dzongsar Jamyang
Khyentse have worked tirelessly to promote the vision of basic
goodness. Over the last 30 years, in seeking to guide others to find
peace and happiness, Rinpoche has engaged with western audiences,
sometimes teaching philosophy, sometimes teaching meditation, sometimes
being a traditional Buddhist master, sometimes being a
contemporary film maker.
The three-year retreat at Vajradhara
Gonpa is one of Rinpoche's many initiatives. It is a space in which
individuals can take time out to unravel confusion and cultivate
wisdom, become familiar with the Buddhist traditions of theory and
method, and ultimately become of service to the greater community.
Retreatants are individuals who are concerned with the ultimate
happiness of sentient beings. Discarding the cocoon of their comfort
zone, they establish grounding in truthfulness and selflessness. They
become beacons for others, inspiring trust in basic goodness and the
value of human existence.
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