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NEWS 2010
Tushita
News Archive - click on a link for News of Old!
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TUSHITA
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Click on a link below for more information about event at Tushita in
the first half of 2010!
Hayagriva
Retreat -
Overview
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The following text about the Hayagriva
Retreat was excerpted from a letter written by retreatant Melissa
Mouldin.
You can read the letter in full here.
The Most Secret Hayagriva
Retreat with the amazing Lama Zopa Rinpoche and 120+ FPMT sisters and
brothers
at Tushita Meditation Centre in Dharamsala, India, from March 3-31,
2010
was,
unsurprisingly, wonderful!
For the first
week of this 4-week
retreat, we were blessed to have teachings usually 2-3 times per day
from
Rinpoche. Once the 3-day initiation was
completed, e did the actual Hayagriva Retreat
with
Lama Choepa and precepts every morning (of course) and 3 sessions of
Hayagriva sadhana
practice each day. In each session, the Prostrations
to the 35 Buddhas, Lam Rim Prayer and Retreat Motivation were led in
English by
our unofficial English Retreat Leader Ven. Sarah Thresher. Then
the Hayagriva sadhana was led entirely
in Tibetan by our Tibetan Retreat Leader, a Sera Geshe, in true Sera
fashion…
i.e. very high-speed Tibetan!
Rinpoche’s
teachings emphasized emptiness and bodhicitta mindfulness. Other major
topics included commentary on the
Hayagriva sadhana and what to visualise during the mantra recitation,
Lama
Choepa commentary, the importance of Guru devotion, the benefits of
prostrations, and even an extensive commentary one night on the
location and
condition of the Kopan and Buxa toilets!
This was my
first long retreat with
Rinpoche and I can’t believe how well I was able to joyfully
function with so
little sleep… blessings of the Guru! All in all, I am so happy
to have
spent a whole month with Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche trying to finally
practice
in the way He always advises us to! May
all beings (especially you, dear reader) always get such
opportunities to avidly pursue the Dharma under such
perfect guidance!
You can see more photos from the Hayagriva Retreat here.
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Hayagriva
Retreat - Events
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The night we
were scheduled to
begin the Hayagriva Initiation at 9pm, Rinpoche didn’t start His preparation
until 9pm and He continued until 4am…for an initiation He
wasn’t even actually required
to do a preparation for… how kind He is!!! Then we all woke up
at 4am to start
the initiation, which stretched out over 6 sessions over 3 days
and it took more than 20 hours
total! Amazing!
For the next three weeks the
daily schedule was incredibly consistent. During the
three-week retreat
I only remember one day when things went very unusually… Dagri
Rinpoche
and Khandro-la came for incense puja so we ended our morning session
early to
join that, and our afternoon session was shortened to make time for
Dagri
Rinpoche to teach. You can see photos of the Incense Puja here.
On another occasion
Khandro-la also taught, as did the abbot of Sera Monastery.
The
retreat ended with a bang (many
bangs actually)…
- A full-day, very elaborate Hayagriva
tsog, which is how they always end Hayagriva Retreat at Sera Monastery,
on 29
March.
- Two fire pujas (because not all of
us could fit into Tushita’s fire puja house all at once) on the
30th…one
led by Dagri Rinpoche and the other led by Keutsang Rinpoche.
- A rare Long Life Hayagriva/Amitayus
Initiation on the 1st.
- And a whole day picnic and incense
puja with Rinpoche and Keutsang Rinpoche on the 2nd!!!
- A brief long life puja for Rinpoche
on the 31st… brief because we had to hurry to McLeod Ganj
for…
- A private audience with His Holiness
the Dalai Lama!!!
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Hayagriva
Retreat -
Meeting with His Holiness the Dalai Lama
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On the 31st of March 2010, the final day of the
Most Secret Hayagriva
Retreat, Tushita was ecstatically excited to be granted a private
audience with His Holiness
the Dalai Lama at His residence in McLeod Ganj! His Holiness very
kindly gave Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Hayagriva Retreatants and Tushita staff
& volunteers a wonderful talk during the
lunch break of His private
retreat.
His
Holiness emphasised the importance of studying the works of the 17
Nalanda
Scholars and the need for a Free Tibet if the Dharma is to continue to
exist in
this world, and He gave this advice for returning to our daily
lives:
“Remember mindfulness, holistic view, and compassion.”
More
photos from this meeting with His Holiness can be seen here.
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Hayagriva
Retreat - Making it happen
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Organising the Haygriva retreat was a major operation. Tushita is a
very busy centre and we're used to running courses for large numbers of
people, but Hayagriva was something else altogether! Preparations
started many months before the first day, making inventories of
meditation cushions, tables, bedding, kitchen equipment, plates,
utensils - you name it! Then there was the fundraising for actually
buying what we lacked (which was rather a lot) and then finding, buying
and shipping everything - and all the while trying to ensure that we
weren't getting ripped off!
We had to make back-up plans for our erratic water and electricity
supplies, build a whole new dining area and beautify the place with new
furnishing, information boards, thangkas and pictures. On top of that
we had to find places outside Tushita for everyone to stay - at full
capacity we can fit around 90 people here, so we had to find another 40
or so bedspaces in the hotels and guest houses nearby. We'll leave the
logistics and level of negotiation required to your imagination!
Then, in February our fantastic
Hayagriva volunteers started to arrive. We had people helping in every
area of the centre, keeping it clean, supervising the kitchen,
transcribing teachings, arranging flowers, washing dishes... There are
so many people to thank for making the Hayagriva Retreat run so
efficiently, but our Director, Linda, and SPC Ven. Kunphen were the hub
of the Tushita wheel throughout.
Melissa Mouldin wrote of "the blessings of the very kind and
well-organized
staff, volunteers and “Hayagriva Helpers” of Tushita who
did an incredible
job! As well as the blessings of the good
Tushita food, surprisingly consistent electricity and water supplies,
and unseasonably warm,
beautiful weather!" Well, as proud of ourselves as we are, we can't
take credit for the last part...
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2010 - A busy
year
so far
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Only half way through 2010, it was looking like a record-breaking year
at Tushita!
Course numbers have been consistently high and with two or more
courses/retreats often being held at the same time, we've regularly had
a full-house. Our largest course so far was in May with 85 students
(taught by Glen Svensson),
and since the Nyung Nay retreat was also running at that
time, Tushita was a springtime Dharma powerhouse!
We've been
very lucky this year in having 2 very capable and dedicated
Meditation Leaders. Mark & Richard being here throughout the year
has meant that we've finally been able to offer daily drop-in
meditation sessions. This has both brought a lot of new people here,
and given those who may not have felt ready to join a course a chance
to try meditation out. So, in addition to the high numbers of
people attending residential course, we frequently have 40-50 people
joining our daily drop-in sessions and twice-weekly Movie
screenings, even in the depth of Monsoon!
Another factor in our busy
season is of course the attraction of our new Resident Teacher, Ven
Robina Courtin. We've also been incredibly fortunate in having many
other special
teachers (also in
addition to the Rinpoches, Lamas & Dakinis who spent time
here
during the Hayagriva retreat!). In preparation for the Nyung Nay
retreat, we had a Chenrezig Initiation with Jhado Rinpoche on the 8th
& 9th of May (pictures here),
and Denma Lochoe Rinpoche conferred the Vajrasattva
Initiation on the 4th of July, with Ven Kelsang Wangmo acting as
translator (pictured right
with more photos here).
Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo gave an amazing teaching on the topic of "Getting
to know your own Mind" to a packed Gompa on the 25th of August (photos here). |
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The increase in demand for Dharma Teachings here in McLeod Ganj is
really inspiring, but it also presents a few challenges... The
need for new accommodation becomes more urgent, and plans for new rooms
continue. Our priority now is to replace our beloved (but frankly
rather dilapidated) A-Frame
retreat huts before they fall down in a
strong breeze. We would of course be extremely grateful if you
could help us to do this, by donating money (click here for more
information) or professional experience & time.
All the more so because Tushita has been experiencing a shortage of
volunteers! Finding suitable longish-term volunteers has always been
hard, but new Indian Visa regulations have make the situation much more
problematic. We're always looking for people who can stay for 3 months
or more, and help Tushita to stay functioning at this extraordinary
level of demand. You can see more information about our current needs here. We'd be very
happy to hear from you!
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Lama
Zopa Rinpoche's second visit to Tushita in 2010!
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When Lama Zopa
Rinpoche left Tushita after the Hayagriva Retreat at
start of April, we thought that it might be years until we saw him
again. Then in early July...
Rinpoche arrived to attend a retreat requested by His Holiness the
Dalai Lama, held at the main temple in McLeod Ganj. Out of concern
for Rinpoche's health, Tushita had been asked to keep His visit
low-key, but of course Rinpoche had other ideas, and was incredibly
generous with His time.
In His 5 weeks here this Monsoon season,
Rinpoche taught half a dozen times, as well as paying great attention
to the arrangements for the Tara statues (see below), and being
especially kind to the 16 retreatants on our 3-month Vajrasattva
retreat.
All the more amazing considering that Rinpoche was keeping
such a tight retreat schedule himself! |
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Ven Roger posted updates of the retreat on the FPMT website. He wrote:
"Rinpoche’s retreat is going well. It is a group
retreat with eight other Lamas, two Khadro-las, and 40 senior
monks.
The schedule is good. The first session starts at 6 a.m., going through
to lunch. The second session begins at 1:30 p.m., going until about 6
p.m. That’s it! Rinpoche has a quick lunch with Dagri Rinpoche,
nicely
prepared by Sangpo and Tenzin. When the second session finishes
Rinpoche goes to Khadro-la’s place. Khadro-la has Rinpoche do
some
exercises, similar to those found in the Six Yogas. They then they have
dinner together and after dinner Khadro-la kindly brings out her
prostration board for Rinpoche to do prostrations. This finishes around
10 p.m."
You can read Ven. Roger's posts about Rinpoche's retreat and recent
time at Tushita here,
here,
here
and here.
And you can see photos of Rinpoche's teachings here
and here,
of the night that Rinpoche gathered the Introduction course students
together to watch a movie here
and of his departure from Tushita here.
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The Adventures of Tara - The 21
Statues make it home!
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The following text was excerpted from a
letter written to the Sponsors of the Tara Statues
by Tushita's Director, Linda Gyatso. You can read the letter in
full here.
After a long
period of fundraising, construction and delivery, towards the
end of June the 21 Tara
statues arrived from Nepal. The
first
mission was for them to be
unpacked and checked. It was amazing to
witness this event – as from the large crate boxes, bundles were
removed and
unpacked to reveal 21 precious statues of Tara. Our
librarian, Tashi, worked closely with 2 of
our resident monks, Old
Lama Gyupa & Ven Jampa to carefully unpack and check each statue. Next, we
gathered the mantras and blessed
pills to fill each statue. The 20 x
18”
Taras were then taken to the local Gyudmed monastery to be filled while the main Tara remained at
Tushita.
Meanwhile, Kyabje
Lama Zopa Rinpoche arrived at Tushita on July 8th
to do a retreat. We were so fortunate that
Rinpoche remained
with us for 5 weeks. Rinpoche advised
every step of the way during the Tara preparation, and all
21 Taras were
filled with microfilm of the 4 Dharmakaya relic mantra.
The
preparations culminated in a series of extraordinary events on August 12th, the
last
day that
Kyabje
Lama Zopa Rinpoche was at Tushita. Dagri
Rinpoche and Khandro la were invited to
fill the main Tara (pictured above
centre), then
there was a Tara puja and consecration with Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche,
Dagri
Rinpoche and Keutsang Rinpoche.
Kyabje
Lama Zopa
Rinpoche had kindly sponsored the divine dresses for all of the Taras. On entering the full Tushita gompa that
afternoon, Rinpoche took out a bag of pearls which had been recently
offered to
him in Hong Kong. The crowd looked on in
disbelief as Lama Zopa and Dagri Rinpoches climbed up into the cabinets
to personally
offer the
pearls (pictured above right),
then
beautiful
long white khatas to each Tara.
We
were guided
through the Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga practice followed by consecration
prayers. In
Kyabje Lama
Zopa Rinpoche’s infinite kindness, we then returned to the gompa
for the 4
Mandala Offering Tara Puja and extensive prayers which took us through
to some
time after 3am! You can see photos of
Tara's adventures at Tushita here,
here
here
and here.
There were special
dedications made for all the
sponsors of the statues – each name was individually read out -
and all those
who had been involved in the project. So
most heartfelt thanks to all the sponsors
and helpers who have made this possible.
We really appreciate your support.
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It's
been an incredible year so far at Tushita, we hope that you'll be able
to join us soon.
In
the meantime....
MAY ALL BEINGS BE HAPPY!
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