Currency row: Karmapa office assures cooperation
Currency row: Karmapa office assures cooperation |
- Currency row: Karmapa office assures cooperation
- Watch two more exclusive clips from the new documentary, “Digital Dharma”
- From the current Shambhala Sun: Read Part 1 of Barry Boyce’s look at the life and legacy of Chögyam Trungpa
- Open, free and democratic China is of great importance for Asia
- Indian Police Charge a Tibetan Spiritual Leader with Financial Conspiracy
- Borobudur: place of pilgrimage
- Scholars discuss relevance of Buddha in modern world
- Dalai Lama offers Tibetan medicine to frail Czech icon Havel
- Why Tibetan Buddhists Are Burning Themselves Alive in China
- Tibetan monks to hold week-long event at Veterans Inc.
- Remembering Michal Lura Friedman
- NYZCCC receives full accreditation from the ACPE
- Help us build the Shambhala Sun Foundation
| Currency row: Karmapa office assures cooperation Posted: 13 Dec 2011 10:00 AM PST IANS, December 9, 2011 Dharamsala, India -- Two days after police included the name of Tibetan religious head and 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje in a chargesheet on the seizure this year of huge unaccounted foreign currency from the monastery where he is residing, his office here on Friday assured the investigating agencies of full cooperation.
He said "at no point of time the Karmapa was ever called or examined by the investigating agency. His Holiness has no involvement, direct or indirect, in the financial administration of the office or trust". The Himachal Pradesh Police Wednesday included the Karmapa's name in a chargesheet filed by it in a court in Una town on the seizure of foreign currency worth Rs 70 million (over USD 1 million) from the Karmapa's Gyuto Tantric University and Monastery on the outskirts of this town, the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile. Investigating officer RR Thakur told a news agency that the Karmapa has been charged under Section 120 (B) of the Indian Penal Code, a charge related to conspiracy, over seizure of unaccounted money from the monastery. He is the 10th accused named in the chargesheet, filed before Una Chief Judicial Magistrate Rajesh Tomar.
The Karmapa's office has been saying that all the money seized from the monastery was from donations from followers the world over, including scores who come from Tibet and carry Chinese currency. Meanwhile, state police have again decided to seek permission from the central government for registering a case against the accused under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA). "We will soon move a request to the central government to allow us to register a case against the monastery functionaries, including the Karmapa, under FCRA as a huge amount of foreign currency was seized from it," Additional Director-General of Police (Law and Order) SR Mardi said in Shimla. The 26-year-old Karmapa is the spiritual head of the Karma Kagyu school, one of the four sects of Buddhism. He joined the Dalai Lama in exile in 2000, and is widely seen as his religious successor. Police Jan 28 recovered the currencies of 26 countries, including 120,197 Chinese yuan and around Rs 5.3 million in Indian currency, from the Karmapa's Gyuto Tantric University and Monastery on the outskirts of Dharamsala, the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile. It was after the seizure of Rs 1 crore meant for land purchase that police conducted searches at the monastery and recovered the currency. Read More @ Source
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| Watch two more exclusive clips from the new documentary, “Digital Dharma” Posted: 13 Dec 2011 09:00 AM PST
The Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center: Matthieu Ricard and Gene Smith: 
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| Posted: 13 Dec 2011 05:00 AM PST
Read Part 1 of Ocean of Dharma online now, here. Read More @ Source
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| Open, free and democratic China is of great importance for Asia Posted: 13 Dec 2011 01:00 AM PST December 13th 2011 Prague, Czech Republic, 12 December 2011 - "A more open, free and democratic China is of great importance for Asia and the world as a whole", said the Prague Declaration signed by the six speakers of the Democracy and Human Rights in Asia: One Year after an Empty Chair in Oslo yesterday. "China needs human rights, democracy and the rule of law because these values are the foundation of a free and dynamic society. They are also the source of true unity and stability. It is clear and obvious that many Chinese have been carrying on a life and death struggle for democracy in China," said the signatories.
The Declaration was signed by former President Havel, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Former French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, Nobel Laureate Dr. Shirin Ebadi, Mr. Stéphane Hessel, Co-drafter of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Dr. Jianli Yang Dissident, of Initiatives for China based in Boston, USA. They called for international efforts to promote awareness and improve progress in human rights across the globe. The Declaration affirms that all human beings have the right to freedom from want and freedom from fear. These rights are indivisible and universal. With this spirit they said, we have come together to mark the first anniversary of the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo, who – together with many other prisoners of conscience – remains imprisoned by the Chinese authorities. The declarations said expressions of concern, support and solidarity are of immense importance in sustaining and strengthening the spirit and hope of the people who are engaged in the struggle for human rights and democracy even at the risk of imprisonment and endangering their own lives. It is these people who represent the forces that ultimately will achieve freedom, democracy and human rights. During the meeting with the media today in Prague, His Holiness the Dalai Lama said that it was his moral responsibility to promote human rights and freedom. His Holiness spoke about his first two commitments in life – inner value and religious harmony. Speaking on religious harmony, he unity and harmony amongst all religion was important. He called on the media to play a greater role in promoting religious harmony and inner value. People must get more information that would lead to greater awareness.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama said the Tibetan people in Tibet are our boss. "We are their free spokesperson. They have no freedom to express themselves so we have to act on their behalf," he said. Peoples' Republic of China he said, belongs to the Chinese people. The 1.3 Billion people of China are the real rulers of China. They have every right to know the reality and judge what is right and wrong. Censorship of the media is wrong, Recently, he said he received a letter from a Chinese individual who had met a Tibetan on a pilgrimage in China. The Chinese individual had told the Tibetan that the Dalai Lama was a good Buddhist but a splitist. However, when the Tibetan explained the Tibetan issue, the Chinese individual wrote that he fully supports the Middle Way Approach which does not seek separation from China but calls for genuine autonomy for the Tibetan people. The writer said that if all Chinese citizens knew about the Middle Way Approach, 100 percent of the Chinese would support the Dalai Lama.    Read More @ Source 
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| Indian Police Charge a Tibetan Spiritual Leader with Financial Conspiracy Posted: 12 Dec 2011 09:56 PM PST  The waiting room in the Tibetan Buddhist monastery in northern India is unremarkable, save for the small signs pasted on the wall: "Kindly do not make any offerings in foreign currency." Many of the pilgrims who have come to pay homage to the Karmapa—the third-most senior cleric in Tibetan Buddhist cosmology who is believed to be the 17th incarnation of a 900-year-old holy spirit—are Chinese travelers, who stuff thick bundles of Indian rupees into envelopes. There is not a Chinese yuan in sight. The signs are a consequence of a kerfuffle earlier this year that erupted in Dharamsala, the Indian hill station where the Tibetan exile community has coalesced. On Dec. 8, Indian police announced that they had officially charged the Karmapa with conspiracy nearly a year after the authorities found more than $1 million in various foreign currency at the monastery where he lives. The charge sheet was filed at a district court in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, where Dharamsala is located, even though earlier this year the Union Home Ministry in New Delhi indicated the Karmapa, whose full name is Ogyen Trinley Dorje, had been absolved of wrongdoing. The senior Tibetan monk's aides say that the money, much of it Chinese yuan, was from his devotees and that he is not involved in any of his order's financial dealings. Since then, the waiting-room signs have gone up, they say, to avoid further controversy. After fleeing Tibet in 1999 in a dramatic voyage that echoed the snow-bound escape of the Dalai Lama four decades before, the Karmapa has resided in India. But his flight to freedom has not brought him full liberty. After he arrived as a 14-year-old in Dharamsala, whispers circulated among excitable members of the Indian media circles that the Karmapa might be a Chinese spy. How else could he have escaped Beijing's watchful eye, they wondered—even though he and his supporters dismiss such allegations. Then as India's relations with China have warmed and the surviving Tibetan community in northern India views this geopolitical development with wariness, the Karmapa's movements have been carefully circumscribed by the Indian government. He cannot travel freely in India without prior government approval. Until 2008, the Karmapa was not even allowed documents to go overseas. Furthermore, because of a rift within the Tibetan Buddhist Kagyu sect in which some adepts believe a rival Indian monk is the true Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje does not live in the 16th Karmapa's monastic seat in Sikkim, northern India. Instead, he has taken refuge in the Gyuto monastery near Dharamsala, which adheres to the Dalai Lama's Gelugpa sect, not the Kagyu order. The Karmapa's supporters say they are now gathering funds to build him his own house of worship. Hence the piles of cash. When I visited the Karmapa in August, stern-faced Indian authorities subjected each visitor to a careful baggage check and pat-down far more rigorous than those required for meetings with some world leaders. He may have been granted refuge by India after fleeing a homeland where his spiritual belief was twisted to the diktat of the state, but the Karmapa, in some ways, still seemed a young man imprisoned. Unlike the Dalai Lama, who maintains a jovial global presence, the Karmapa in public appears serious and cautious. Nevertheless, Tibet-watchers say his theology is impressive, and I saw his handsome young face on posters across Dharamsala next to that of the smiling Dalai Lama. The Karmapa is a singular international figure. First, his selection was agreed upon by both Chinese authorities and the exiled Dalai Lama, who Beijing accuses of secretly plotting for Tibetan independence—a charge the Tibetan spiritual leader denies. (In the 1990s, the Dalai Lama and the Chinese picked different boys as the new Panchen Lama, the second-highest Tibetan Buddhist figure, and the Dalai Lama's choice has not been seen in public since he was a small child.) Second, even though he imbibed patriotic propaganda during his childhood in Tibet, the Karmapa still made the momentous decision to flee to India where he could express his spiritual devotion and love for the Dalai Lama fully. Nevertheless, the Chinese have shied away from publicly criticizing him, like they do the Dalai Lama. Instead, Beijing sticks to the fiction that he is merely studying abroad for an unspecified period of time. Perhaps that's why so many spiritually yearning Chinese feel no qualms about visiting Dharamsala for an audience with him—and why they used to leave packets of Chinese yuan as donations. The local court will examine the evidence presented by Indian police and rule on whether a criminal case should go forward. "At no point of time His Holiness was ever called or examined by the investigating agency," said a statement released on Thursday from the Karmapa's office, which reiterated that he had no involvement in any of the order's financial affairs. Several of his followers have also been charged with conspiracy, a crime that can carry a two-year prison sentence. Meanwhile, a series of self-immolations by Tibetan clerics this year has underscored the desperation many Tibetans feel about their lives under Chinese rule. A past filled with religious strictures and persecution was precisely why the Karmapa said he escaped Tibet for India. Now, the Himachal Pradesh court will have to decide whether he will experience a difficult future in his new home, as well. Source 
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| Borobudur: place of pilgrimage Posted: 12 Dec 2011 09:52 PM PST  Manote Tripathi A new book examines the reliefs of the ninthcentury Buddhist monument, as well as its architectural and structural features Borobudur: Majestic Mysterious Magnificent By John Miksic, Noerhadi Magetsari, et al Published by PT (persero) Taman Wisata Available at Asia Books, Bt1,516 Buddhists from Thailand, Tibet, China and other Asian countries make a point of including Borobudur in Java on any pilgrimage. The monument, which some call a temple, others a mandala or cosmic mountain, with its drunken gods, seductive celestial nymphs and bodhisattvas, is the world's largest stupa and these days attracts not just Buddhists but Muslims too. A coffeetable tome with lavish illustrations, "Borobudur: Majestic Mysterious Magnificent" follows the standard history of the Buddhist complex, written by noted scholars and experts on the subjects who have devoted years studying Buddhism and its monuments in Indonesia. Now based in Singapore, John Miksic, an American archaeologist, has written extensively about Indonesian sites and artefacts. Jan Fonstein is a Dutch scholar who has done famous research into the Gandavyuha reliefs on Borobudur. Timbul Haryono, a Javanese, is an expert in classical Javanese music. Idham Bachtiar Setiadi, a Germanborn Indonesian, is writing a treatise on the relationship between Borobudur and the modern Muslim community around the site. Noerhardi Magetsari is Indonesia's leading archaeologist. Thanks to the expertise of these scholars, "Borobudur" offers a wealth of knowledge that attempts to shed light on various facets of the millenniumold Buddhist monument. It's also an ambitious project that offers a different approach from other guidebooks: it tries to detail most of the 1,460 reliefs, explains the architectural and sculptural elements and their hidden meanings and is illustrated with impressive photographs of those reliefs that allow for a thorough inspection of just about every corner of the religious complex. The photos alone ensure that you won't miss any major relief you're supposed to see during your visit to Borobudur. The standard history of Borobudur, provided by Miksic, reads as follows: "The construction of the monument began around 800 on a hill where terraces may already have been laid out for another project, which could be either Hindu or megalithic. Scholars in general believe that Borobudur was built on top of a Hindu temple at a time Buddhism spread throughout the island. "Then Buddhism was about a thousand years old, saw its decline in India, but in Southeast Asia, the Kingdom of Srivijaya, in southern Sumatra, became the religion's new home and the centre of its scholarship. The kingdom had the technology to build large ships that plied along trade routes to India and China. These ships carried not just goods but Buddhist monks and scriptures from India to its shores. "Over time Buddhism became the favourite religion of the Sailendra family which ruled central Java between 780 and 832 and was credited for building the monument. Indonesian Buddhism then was all about a quest for enlightenment, an endeavour which could be assisted by beings called bodhisattva." What's true is that the Sailendras were serious enlightenment seekers, a fact that resulted from their close ties with the Buddhist folk in north India who were patrons of Mahayana and Tantrayana forms of Buddhism. That's where Tibet comes into the story of Borobudur. Tibetans consider Borobudur to be highly sacred because they believe one of the Buddhist teachers who spread Buddhism in Tibet came to Borobudur (the abode of pure Buddhism) to study Buddhist scriptures. As you can imagine, Borobudur is huge, and its story is highly complex. What's even more overwhelming is the meaning of its reliefs, floor plan and overall symbolism that this complex has come to embody. Contributors try to make sense of different interpretations of the site's symbolism, and you're faced with more hypotheses. Borobudur could be a mandala, a cosmic mountain along the lines of the Hindu notion of Mount Meru, a status symbol that reflects the royal power of the Sailendras. Yet to modern visitors, Borobudur is the heavenly abode of the gods, where the palace of Indra, the king of gods, is located. But the book is not restricted to the story of Buddhism alone. Scholars point out reliefs that offer a glimpse of ninthcentury Javanese life. Tired of the Jataka tales? Then you might want to know that Java boasted amazing dancers and beautiful riceplanting ladies on reliefs, which can put the apsaras of Angkor Wat to shame. 
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| Scholars discuss relevance of Buddha in modern world Posted: 12 Dec 2011 10:00 PM PST New Delhi, Nov 27 : More than 900 Buddhist scholars, leaders and practitioners from 46 countries Sunday began deliberating the relevance of Gautama Buddha's teachings, 2,600 years after his enlightenment, at a four-day Global Buddhist Congregation here. The venue at Hotel Ashok sported a riot of saffron, burgundy and ceremonial colours as monks and senior lamas from 46 countries like Nepal, Vietnam, Korea, Mongolia, Laos, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Germany flooded the premises. In a televised message, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who will attend the convention Nov 30, to deliver the valedictory address, said: "There have been many opportunities for Buddhists to come together and to discuss issues of common concerns." "The congregation has provided a much-needed and crucial opportunity. Now, and in the future, we need to encourage and foster an exchange of knowledge and experience among our different traditions and improve communication among us," the spiritual leader said. Addressing the conference, Ven Lala Lobzang, the president of the Asoka Mission, said: "This is the first time where Buddhist leaders, practitioners and scholars from all over the world have gathered in the land of Buddha." "The world is dealing with a crisis - namely violence, social and economic depravity, environemntal degradation and discord between and within communities and nations," Ven Lama Lobzang said. "We will discuss ways to promote world peace, find ways to deal with social crises and the development of Buddhist pilgrimage circiut between Kushinagar and Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh)," Lobzang told IANS. The president of the Asoka Mission said: "Buddhists all over the world said the congregation should happen in India as it was the land of Buddha." Buddha attained enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree at Bodh Gaya, in Bihar, 2,600 years ago. The lama said all the sects of Buddhism were being represented at the congregation. The conference began with a prayer in the Pali tradition and Sanskrit tradition - and a welcome address by lama Gaden Tripa Rizong Setrul Rinpoche, the chairman of the organising committee of Asoka Mission. The morning sessions which introduced the delegates to the conference were addressed by Lyonpo Minjur Dorji, minister of home and culture affairs of Bhutan, Sakya Rinpoche, Indonesia's director general of Buddhist affairs, and Sakya Rinpoche, "mahanayaka" (supreme leader) representing Sri Lanka and Vietnam. The delegates offered flowers at the memorial of Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat around 1.30 p.m. A special session in the afternoon was attended by a select group of supreme patriarchs, heads of delegations, representatives of Buddhist sects and orders - to deliberate on the formation of an international Buddhist confederation. The day's proceedings ended with a cultural show at Hotel Lalit in the evening. The conference will turn the spotlight on environment Monday. In the coming days, the conference will host key sessions on the preservation and development of the faith, Buddhism as a remedy to anxiety and depression, ethics and values and the relevance of the Buddhism in a fast changing world. The relevance of Buddhism in politics, society, conflict and violence will dominate the discussions Nov 29 while Nov 30 will see the Dalai Lama lead prayers services representing different sects like the Buddhist, Bahai, Christian, Hindu, Islam, Jain, Judaism and Sikh. 
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| Dalai Lama offers Tibetan medicine to frail Czech icon Havel Posted: 12 Dec 2011 09:49 PM PST Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said Monday he had offered frail Czech freedom icon Vaclav Havel a "Tibetan method" to overcome the effects of a recent illness. "His physical condition is quite weak so... I recommended some Tibetan method," said the Dalai Lama, currently on a four-day visit to Prague at the invitation of former Czech president Havel. "I told him now I'm acting like a Tibetan physician to my long-time friend," the 76-year-old told reporters with a laugh, after asking Havel "to live ten more years." Havel, 75, the president of Czechoslovakia in 1990-1992 and of the successor Czech Republic in 1993-2003, has long battled poor health, partly caused by the five years he spent in communist jails. The former dissident playwright became a hero of the peaceful Velvet Revolution that toppled the 41-year communist rule in his country in late 1989. Local media said Havel, who has been grappling with breathing problems since he had part of his lung removed in 1996 to stop cancer, had cancelled part of his weekend programme and only met the Dalai Lama shortly on Saturday. "On Sunday, Vaclav Havel returned to his weekend house to rest. He will stay there until Christmas, which he will spend in Prague," his secretary Sabina Tancevova told AFP. "He feels tired, and in recent days he has suffered from a virus that exhausted him. But the meeting with His Holiness on Saturday encouraged him," she added. The Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet following a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959, founded a government in exile in the northern Indian town of Dharamshala after being offered refuge there. He remains revered in China's Tibetan areas but is vilified as a "separatist" by China's communist authorities. In Prague on Sunday, the Dalai Lama attended a round table on human rights along with former French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner and Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, among others. 
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| Why Tibetan Buddhists Are Burning Themselves Alive in China Posted: 12 Dec 2011 09:51 PM PST For monks, self-immolation has become an act of political protest A woman throws a white scarf over Tibetan Buddhist nun Palden Choetso as she burns on the street in Daofu, or Tawu in Tibetan, in this still image taken from video / Reuters In what Time Magazine calls the most "under-reported story of the year," Tibetan Buddhists are burning themselves alive in China as a plea for freedom. So far, Time reports 8 cases this year alone; the Washington Post says there have been 12 since March. On November 23rd, Palden Choetso, a 35 year old nun, walked an hour down the twisting mountain road from the Ganden Jangchup Choeling Nunnery into the nearby town of Daofu (or Tawu, in Tibetan), where she drank several kilograms of gasoline, settled onto a public road, and set herself on fire. As she burned, she shouted, "I want the Dalai Lama to return to China, I want freedom for Tibet!" Only after the protest group Students for a Free Tibet smuggled this footage of Choetso's death out of Tibet did news of her death reach the outside world. The other self-immolaters this year, called "terrorists" by China's Foreign Ministry, all spoke out for the return of the Dalai Lama -- who was exiled by the Chinese to India in 1959 -- and freedom for Tibet. The Dalai Lama has not supported the burnings, but he has said that China's rigid political control of Tibet has forced conditions of "cultural genocide" onto his country, and he emphasized that these actions need to be understood in light of what Tibetans have gone through. Public burnings in China have happened before, for example, in protests by another banned spiritual group, Falun Gong, whose five followers lit themselves on fire in Tiananmen Square in 2001. But the Tibetan immolations are different. Nicholas Bequelin, a researcher in China with Human Rights Watch, told Reuters that his interviews with Tibetan monastics suggest that racial and cultural tensions are even worse now than in 2008, when riots killed hundreds across the Tibetan region before the Beijing Olympics. Tibetan monastics have traditionally led Tibet's resistance to Chinese rule over the past decades, and although there were no overt signs of a crackdown in Daofu after Palden Choetso's burning, all foreign journalists were ordered to "leave immediately" and were followed out of the town for about 200 kilometers. Subsequently, six buses of troops and paramilitary forces were seen in Daofu. Woeser, a Tibetan writer based in Beijing, told a Reuters reporter that when Tibetans are jailed for simply shouting slogans, "Under these circumstances, you can only choose self-immolation to express your intentions." 
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| Tibetan monks to hold week-long event at Veterans Inc. Posted: 12 Dec 2011 09:46 PM PST As part of its Health & Wellness Program, Veterans Inc. will be welcoming eight Tibetan Buddhist Monks to (Independence Hall) their facility at 59 South St. for a week-long experiential event from Dec.12 through 17. The Monks will be arriving from southern India and are known as the Gaden Jangtse Tibetan Buddhist Monks. This unique visit to Independence Hall is part of a national tour that the group is embarking on. The monks of Gaden Jangtse will be building a "Mandala of Compassion" which is both a physical work of art and a deeply spiritual activity that will be in process each day of the week. "We are extremely excited to be host to a group who's remarkable talent and dedication will be on display for all members of the community" said Vincent Perrone, Veterans Inc. President & CEO. The week will be a special one for both veterans in residence at the facility as well as to all members of the community. Staff emphasize that all events, including daily viewings of work on the mandala, are open to the public. "This will truly be the rarest of opportunities," says Denis Leary, executive director of Veterans Inc., "…the treasured art of Tibetan Sand Mandala Painting is a sight to behold. It's a very special treat and unique experience for Veterans Inc. to be hosting." In addition to the Mandala, other events such Dharma Talks and Chanting will take place throughout the week, along with traditional Tibetan medical consultations and divination sessions available by appointment. Tibetan arts and crafts will be on display and for sale- all proceeds to benefit the monk's monastery center which assists hundreds of refugees each year. All events are free with the exception of private Tibetan medical consultations and divinations which cost $50 for a 30-minute session. For more information or to make an appointment call 508-845-6176. The schedule is as follows: Tuesday-10:30 am "Opening Ceremony for the Mandala of Compassion" - Introduction, Chanting and initiating of the Mandala. Wednesday-10 am to 7 pm Mandala viewing, (7 pm Dharma Talk and chanting.) Thursday-10 am to 7 pm Mandala Viewing, 7 pm to 9 pm "An evening with the Mandala of Compassion." - Public Viewing of the Mandala, Chanting and Dharma Talk. Friday-10 am to 4 pm Mandala Viewing. Saturday- 2 pm, Closing ceremony and distribution of sacred sand. 
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| Remembering Michal Lura Friedman Posted: 12 Dec 2011 12:01 PM PST You may have heard the story of Michal Lura Friedman, who lost her life on Friday, December 2, due to complications from a c-section. Michal was a friend to many, not least of all in Halifax, NS and its Shambhala Buddhist practice community. Here, friend Edward Boyce remembers Michal, and provides a link so that you can pitch in give much-needed help to the newborn twins and husband who survive her. My earliest memory of Michal Friedman is of her walking into a dusty, hot tent at summer camp and effortlessly lighting the place up with her laughter and beauty. She then sat down next to the coolest guy in camp who, duh, of course she was going out with. But then Michal did something that showed her true colors, and that over time I came to view as the gold-standard of conduct for dharma brats: she made the group of younger kids in the tent feel welcome.
Michal was at ease in her community but she always had that "bigger than here" vibe about her. Yet I think she also struggled with the ambition vs. contentment paradox that second generation Buddhists Michal went forth very bravely. She valued her art and its expression in the world, and she valued her path and her teacher's words. I was very impressed when she pulled up stakes and moved to New York City to begin the step-by-step work of establishing herself in the music community there. The sacrifices and determination that it takes Michal did the work, and had the talent. She found her unique voice, then proclaimed through her words and music the wisdom she'd gathered, and she enjoyed the fans that rallied to her. She earned her way into the ranks of the serious musicians that make up that vibrant scene. And it seemed that often when I crossed paths with her in the last few years she was talking about going off to a dharma program. Or doing a weekend retreat in the city. She was a dedicated student of the As a couple, Michal Friedman and Jay Snyder were straight out of your favorite romantic movie. They looked fun, they were fun, and as Jay has written so eloquently, they both knew they were onto something rarefied and very good. When they took the stage at a friend's wedding two years ago to do some karaoke, it was like someone dropped a pair of whale sized fish into a guppy pond. They had a special wattage that their talent, and Jay sang Wang Chung's "Dance Hall Days" and I remember Michal smiling with easy love at her man as he subtly directed the words to her: "Take your baby by the hand.. . . and you need her and she needs you." Everyone knew they had been trying very hard to have children. So there was a lot of joy surrounding the announcement that Michal was pregnant with twins. Decades of beautiful, fruition-filled years were In my mind Michal was a woman who had done the hard work. She kept working on herself as a practitioner. She took the big artistic risks and wasn't living with complacent regrets. She met a loving partner who could match her open-hearted spark and they were ready to share their knowledge with a new generation. When the news of Michal's death came out of New York City, it ripped across the Buddhist community in a crashing, brutal wave of sadness, swiftly knocking down the concept of what life promises, and leaving a bewildering ache. Great teachers close to her and her family, Dzongsar Khentsye and Mipham Rinpoche, were floored by the news. It hit a reset button in the collective psyche that everyone is still trying to compute. That's not supposed to happen. That can't be right. Michal died suddenly after giving birth to her beautiful and healthy twins, Reverie and Jackson. These babies now find themselves with a single parent, the great love of Michal's life, Jay. It's a tragedy of Dickensian proportions and it was quickly picked up by some major news outlets. The New York Daily News channeled the fist-shaking unfairness of it all in their coverage. FoxNews.com For her dharmic peers, I feel that Michal's death is a rupture in the shared spiritual fabric that will not heal quickly. Something changed. I can already feel the outlines of a scar that will be hard to ignore and that will continue to push through the numbing comforts of the day-to-day. And really, most simply, I can't believe I won't hear Michal the Girl sing for us again. Edward Boyce is a surfer, meditator and new father, living in Halifax, Nova Scotia Read More @ SourceImee Ooi - Namo Guan Shi Yin Bodhisattva (Chanting) 
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| NYZCCC receives full accreditation from the ACPE Posted: 12 Dec 2011 11:00 AM PST
Buddhadharma wishes to congratulate them on this new chapter. On the recent accreditation, the ACPE Interim Executive Director, Deryck Durston, made the following statement: "At its recent fall meeting the Accreditation Commission of ACPE voted to grant full accreditation to the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care, New York, NY to offer programs of CPE at levels I&II and also Supervisory. This is a first for ACPE! ACPE grew from disparate groups of Protestant ministers and slowly caught fire within other religious communities, first Catholic sisters, then Jewish rabbis, and now a center established in the eastern-western tradition of Zen. We are excited by this—as the religious landscape continues to shift and our focus thus continues to shift to world views and spiritualties that represent the people of this country in fuller ways. Congratulations NYZCCC and welcome to the ACPE community." Read More @ Source
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| Help us build the Shambhala Sun Foundation Posted: 12 Dec 2011 10:00 AM PST
We at the Shambhala Sun Foundation deeply appreciate your support. After all, we, as a not-for-profit organization, would not be in such a strong position to serve the dharma without it. And now your support is more important than ever. As the year ends, we're pleased to report that readership of both Shambhala Sun and Buddhadharma magazines remains strong. Healthy subscription and newsstand sales have enabled us to extend our reporting and community-building. And we're more than just magazines — through our websites, sponsorships, conferences, and programs we serve Buddhist communities of all traditions. We've also extended our community through Mindful.org, a website (and related activities) that — although not yet revenue-generating — supports the growing movement to bring the benefits of mindfulness and meditation into homes, healthcare, schools, prisons, and even the US military. Our work expands, but the challenges that come with being in the media industry are expanding, too: reduced advertising income, fewer outlets available for selling magazines, the cost of adapting to digital platforms. If you wish to help, here are simple ways to do so: * If you purchase our magazines on the newsstand, please consider subscribing. In addition, year-end donations have a tremendous impact. In the past two years we returned from the December holiday to find sizeable gifts from readers in our mailbox. Both times these gifts (in the mid-five figures) made a considerable, positive impact on our ability to fulfill our goals. In the coming years we'll have to rely even more on the generosity of readers like you, who are as passionate as we are about fostering the growth of genuine buddhadharma, meditation, and mindfulness in the West. Please help support the Shambhala Sun and Buddhadharma with a tax-deductible, year-end contribution to the not-for-profit Shambhala Sun Foundation. You can donate in the following ways: * Online at www.shambhalasun.com/donate* Calling 1-877-422-8404 ext. 36 Thank you for your vision and generosity! Yours, PS: Even if you're unable to help financially, you can still help by friending us online and sharing content from the Shambhala Sun and Buddhaharma with friends who might enjoy and benefit from it. Again: thank you! Read More @ SourceHeart Sutra (Buddhism) - Q & A Sacred Disclosure 
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"The Karmapa office of administration has provided the authorities with complete details and documents pertaining to the case. We will offer our full cooperation and assistance in future too," Karmapa's spokesperson Karma Chungyalpa told a news agency.
Buddhadharma News is pleased to present more exclusive clips from Digital Dharma, the documentary about the life and work of the late, legendary Tibetologist E. Gene Smith. (December 16 will mark the one-year anniversary of Gene's passing.) Click through here to watch two new clips — "The Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center" and "Matthieu Ricard and Gene Smith" — and for links to previous clips as well as info on how you can win your own private Digital Dharma screening.
It has been twenty-five years since the death of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, a seminal figure in modern Buddhist and founder of the Shambhala Sun. In "Ocean of Dharma," from our January 2012 magazine, Barry Boyce surveys Trungpa's teachings and their lasting impact on how Buddhist is understood and practiced. "He lived to leave a legacy," Boyce writes, "so that far into the future people could experience the dharma he taught not as an artifact of a past time and place, but always as 'fresh-baked bread.'"
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