Building the Land of Kalachakra

MONASTERIES Building the Land of Kalachakra As Tibetan Buddhism develops in the West, the need for authentic teaching and practice centers which can nurture the tradition grows increasingly important. Contributor Ted Arnold of the Namgyal Monastery Institute for Buddhist Studies in Ithaca, New York, writes of a new home for Kalachakra practice in the U.S. Due to the great kindness of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, event will feature a public talk at Cornell University, entitled A many thousands of practitioners have been initiated into the Human Approach to World Peace; a Dharma teaching at Ithaca Kalachakra tantric system. However, there has been an obvious College, commenting on The Eight Verses on Mind Training; problem: how to maintain and deepen one's practice after the and an interfaith session at Ithaca's historic State Theatre. initiation? Even with the tireless In 2004, after a dozen years in activities of the late Kirti Tsenshab operation, Namgyal Ithaca received Rinpoche and other kind teachers, a generous donation which has been there has been no single location used toward the purchase of twenty- where Kalachakra practice can eight acres on which to construct develop and flourish — but this is this new facility, the plans for which about to change. His Holiness' 1 have been overseen by His Holiness personal monastery, Namgyal Mon- and Jhado Rinpoche, the former astery, is well-known as the store- g abbot of Namgyal. The complex of house of the Kalachakra teachings 23 buildings has been designed as a and rituals, and so it is fitting that its S mandala, with the shrine room sur- 0 North American branch — Namgyal Architectural rendering of the future Kalachakra center. rounded by lodging, dining, and Monastery Institute of Buddhist auxiliary buildings. Studies — is building The Land of His Holiness has directed Kalachakra Study and Practice, Du Namgyal to continue his efforts in Khor Choe Ling. dialogues between Buddhism and Kalachakra is well known as a science and in interfaith forums, vehicle for world peace, with its and these larger accommodations association with the glorious king- will enable this, as well as the dom of Shambhala and its correla- growth of other teaching programs tion between environmental and and cultural events. individual 'wheels' of experience, Since 1992, Namgyal monks which are perfected through Kala- have provided detailed traditional chakra practice. The teaching was Namgyal monks get their hands dirty at the construction site. instruction to students in philoso- given by the Buddha at Amaravati at the request of the king phy, ritual arts, and tantra, and the non-sectarian institute has of Shambhala, and there it was disseminated widely. It was hosted teachers from all four schools of Tibetan Buddhism, as only in the 10th century that the teachings finally returned well as Western scholars and teachers from other Buddhist to India and were transmitted soon after to Tibet, where traditions. Since Ithaca is home also to Cornell University, they became regarded as the pinnacle of Buddhism. Now the which houses an extensive collection of Tibetan texts, DKCL precious opportunity for these teachings to become fully- may become a research center for scholars as well as a major transplanted in the West has arrived. practice center. • His Holiness will visit Namgyal Monastery Institute of For more information on Namgyal Monastery Institute of Buddhist Studies, Buddhist Studies [founded in 1991] for the first time this Du Khor Choe Ling, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama's visit, please go to: October and bless the site of Du Khor Choe Ling. The two-day www. namval. o rg April/May 2007 MANDALA 49 .

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