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Insiders Tour of Bhutan – Sacred Journeys – Spiritual Travel

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Acharya Judy Lief

November 20, 2015 By Charles Simmons

judy-liefAcharya Judy Lief, a close, personal student of Tibetan meditation master Ven. Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Former director of Naropa University and a fuonding faculty member of the Courageous Women’s Cancer Retreat. Judy focuses on how the insights and meditative techniques stemming from the Buddhist tradition can be applied to the challenges of everyday life and to pressing global issues. Judy is the author of Making Friends with Death: A Buddhist Guide to Encountering Mortality.

Dosho Port Roshi

November 20, 2015 By Charles Simmons

dosho-port-roshi

Dosho Port Roshi is the dharma heir of Dainin Katagiri in the Soto Zen tradition; guiding teacher to the Great Tides Zen Temple, Portland, Maine; and the author of Keep Me in Your Heart a While, a reflection on Katagiri’s life and legacy.

Dosho Port has trained with Thich Nhat Hanh, and teaches with Wild Fox Zen at Transforming through Play Temple in White Bear, Minnesota.

Matthieu Ricard

November 20, 2015 By Charles Simmons

ricardMatthieu Ricard, French cellular geneticist, who became a monk in the Himalayas, a close student of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche; translator for the Dalai Lama. Matthieu’s new book is Altruism: The Power of Compassion to Change Yourself and the World.

Matthiew is renowned for his TED talks on happiness and altruism; economic thinking at the Davos World Economic Forum; his contribution to the effects of meditation on the brain; and humanitarian activities in Nepal, Tibet, India, and Bhutan. Daniel Goleman called Matthieu “a genius for our times … a rare combination of scientific brilliance with the heart of a saint.”

Lama Thupten Rinpoche

November 20, 2015 By Charles Simmons

lama.Thupten.PHOTO

Lama Thupten Rinpoche is a teacher in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition of the Vajrayana Nyingma practice, and the guiding teacher of the Urgyen Samten Ling center of Salt Lake City, which he established in 1993.

Lama Thupten has studied the Buddhist dharma for over 45 years, and over the past 27 years has traveled annually to Nepal to study and do retreats. One of his teachers, Sonam T. Kazi, was the Dalai Lama’s chief translator for 13 years beginning in 1959.

Lama Tshetrim Jamtsho

December 15, 2014 By Charles Simmons

Lama T. Jamtsho2

Lama Tshetrim Jamtsho – the only child from a farming family in the remote Tang Valley of central Bhutan, the sacred place where revered Guru Rinpoche meditated in the 8th Century.

Tshetrim was ordained when he was eight years old under the reincarnation of Namkhai Nyingpo Rinpoche. He is the disciple of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche who passed on
in 1991, and also Lama Talung Tsete Tulku, who currently resides in Shimla, India.

Lama Tshetrim Jamtsho is 61 years young and has been practicing meditation, mantras, Tibetan Buddhist texts, and Nyingmapa practice of Tantric Buddhist teachings
since he was 30 years old. The small house he is living in, where he serves tea to our group and answers questions, and gives empowerments and transissions of knowledge,
is a “Kidu” (grant) from His Majesty, the present 5th King.

Three Generations of Devotion and the Meaning of One Grain of Rice

December 5, 2014 By Charles Simmons

gens-of-devotion-3The last walking stretch to the ancient Tharpaling Monastery is along a rural road up and down switchbacks, past meadows of wild flowers and pristine pine and oak forests, and past rustic farm cottages.

Tharpaling, a 13th century sacred pilgrimage site meaning “Place of Awakening,” was our morning destination. Walking quite a few kilometers, we came around the bend and came across a farm family of three generations. Grandmother was wearing a full Kira outfit of elegant embossed brocade woven silk, with compassionate eyes and welcoming gratitude, for our making the pilgrimage.

Looking at her hands and into her eyes, I wondered what she has done with her hands and has seen, in seventy years. No doubt she might not have traveled much beyond these three sacred valleys that are occupied by farmers, monks, deities, yaks, golden and grey monkeys, and grandchildren.

Embedded under her fingernails is the soil that nurtures the fabled red rice, exuberant asparagus, astonishing plums, and spacious, sweet corn. Over the days, watching women bent over paddy rice fields, we will never look at a grain of rice, quite the same again. From now on, we will celebrate and honor each grain of rice we eat with gratitude … for now we know the dedication that goes into the gift of rice.

I was thinking about this culture, this place in our heart called Bhutan, with its deep wisdom, that is only now, after many centuries, opening up to the West, and I wish to share the following Bhutanese folktale, reflective of the deep well of Buddhism, that everything is both connected, hopeful, and also impermanent, which resonates throughout this precious Kingdom.

“Brother Moon!
Give me the left-over food
It was kept on the shelf

Where is the shelf
It was burnt by a fire

Where is the fire
It was put out by water

Where is the water
It was drunk by an ox

Where is the ox
It fell down and died

Where is the place the ox fell down
A flood washed it

Where is the place of the flood
Artemisia plants have grown over it.

Where are Artemisia plants
An ox had eaten it

Where is the ox
It was taken for ploughing

Where is the ploughed land
Maize has been grown

Where are the maize crops
It has been cooked

Where is the food
It was kept on a shelf

Where is the shelf
It was burnt by a fire.”

Tucker Peck

December 4, 2014 By Charles Simmons

tucker-peckTucker Peck, MA is finishing his doctorate in clinical psychology at the University of Arizona, with a focus on the scientific study of meditation’s effects on the mind, brain, and body. Tucker began training in meditation in 2005 and has studied with Sharon Salzberg of the Insight Meditation Society and Dr. John Yates of Dharma Treasure. Tucker received formal approval to teach meditation from Dr. Yates, whose own approval to teach meditation can be traced, through Ananda Bodhi, to the historical Buddha. While Ananda Bodhi was recognized by the Karmapa, and Tucker’s lineage thus has a Vajrayana history, his teachings come primarily from the Theravada tradition.

Tucker was awarded a research grant from the Mind and Life Institute, which he has used to study the effects of meditation on the sleeping brain. His plans include continuing to work as a psychotherapist, delivering mindfulness-based interventions in the clinic, as well as aiding in the dissemination of mindfulness research.

On the Symposium-Tour, Tucker will lead short Dharma talks and meditations. His boyish, very genuine and fresh approachable buoyancy will add to everyone’s experience during our Bhutan Pilgrimage.

Karma Galay

December 4, 2014 By Charles Simmons

karma-galayKarma Galay is the Chief Programme Officer in the Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs of Bhutan. Karma holds a Master’s Degree in International Policy Studies from Stanford University. His research includes ‘Time Use and Happiness’, and ‘The Socio-economic Environmental Impact Analysis of Khothapga Gypsum Mine’. His additional areas of interest are micro-economics in Bhutan, and also crime and punishment in modern Bhutan, and co-editing various important works on ‘Gross National Happiness: Assumptions and Applications”.

Lopen Sonam Bomden

December 4, 2014 By Charles Simmons

lopen-sonam-bomdenLopen Sonam Bomden is head of the Research and Library Section, of the Monk Body. Lopen Sonam holds a Master’s Degree in Buddhist Studies from Mysore Institute, Karnataka, India, and also a Master of Divinity from Naropa University, in Colorado. Lopen Sonam received teachings and empowerment from various Nyingma and Kargyud Masters living in and outside Bhutan. he has also completed several years’ of meditation, and has served the monk Body, in various significant positions.

Namkhai Nyingpo Rinpoche

December 4, 2014 By Charles Simmons

namkhai-nyingpo-rinpocheNamkhai Nyingpo Rinpoche, the great Master and founder of Lhdrak Kharchhu Monastery, where several of our workshops, in Bumthang, Bhutan, will be held. He was recognized at a very young age, by H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama.

His Holiness Namkhai Nyingpo will be in a long retreat in 2013. However, we are assured that, if he is in the Monastery in June, when our group will be at the Monastery, and not in retreat, that it is possible for blessings and spiritual talks.

Namkhai Nyingpo’s lineage dates back to the nearest disciples of the 8th Century venerated Guru Rinpoche, who came to Bhutan from Tibet, on the back of a flying Tigress.

Namkhai Nyingpo has studied Buddha’s Dharma with many masters, and has received teachings and empowerment transmissions from the Four Major Schools of Tibetan Buddhism.

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Watch 2016 video at larger size.

From Our Blog …

Three Generations of Devotion and the Meaning of One Grain of Rice

The last walking stretch to the ancient Tharpaling Monastery is along a rural road up and down switchbacks, past meadows of wild flowers and pristine … {Read More...]

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