Dr. Karan Singh h.e Khamtrul Rinpoche IX Dr. Bhupendra Kumar Modi PATRON SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR PATRON GATSAL ISSUE No.27 Newsletter of the Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery MAY 2012 On the cover: Nuns with dragons produced during their English Conversation class, to welcome in the Year of the Water Dragon Dear friends, This winter has been long and cold and Over the Christmas period I was their own pilgrimage to Rewalsar or Tso only now in mid March is spring cautiously invited to a Sivananda Yoga Ashram in the Pema. They made many prayers at the making a belated appearance. Bahamas to attend their annual Interfaith Guru Padmasambhava cave and enjoyed Last September a group of our nuns Symposium. This charming Ashram is run circumambulating the sacred lake. attended the Debating Contest at the by a group of Swamis and volunteers mostly This year Losar or Tibetan New Year Jangchub Choeling Nunnery at Bylakuppe from Israel, who are kindness and loving in February was a quiet event since there in the South. This was the first time any of devotion personified. I was accompanied was official mourning for the loss of lives our nuns had participated in this annual by my friends May Ling and Chrysanne and general suffering in Tibet especially at event where several nunneries in India and and we enjoyed meeting with the other this time. However the nuns performed a Nepal come together to debate with each learned participants from various religious pre-dawn ceremony for world peace and other and hone their skills as well as make backgrounds. On this trip we also visited visited Tashi Jong to make offerings to the new friends. It was good exposure for New York, Florida, Singapore and Thailand Rinpoches and the DGL monk teachers. the DGL nuns to witness more advanced and everywhere met with such intelligent This year of the Water Dragon will debaters and also participate with other and good hearted people that one can only mark an important step forward in our nuns on their own level. rejoice in how much goodness the world DGL training syllabus as we respond to In November four nuns completed actually contains despite news reports to the needs of our nuns who are graduating their retreat of almost four years and the contrary. from their six years of basic philosophy emerged to be greeted by and language studies. We all the DGL nuns and staff are in the process of setting holding khatas. It was a joyful up a vocational guidance occasion and the next day programme to encourage was - quite coincidentally - our nuns to explore their a picnic, so it was a time for own talents and potential in everyone to reconnect with various fields such as study, our dedicated practitioners meditation, art, medicine, and catch up on several years computer and secretarial of nunnery gossip! After skills, and so on. medical check-ups these So once again we four nuns then returned into sincerely thank all our retreat for a further 3 years. kind supporters around the On Lhabab Duchen world for their continued which falls also in November, interest and help in making our spiritual director Kyabje our DGL Nunnery a vibrant Khamtrul Rinpoche visited reality. our Nunnery to bestow the Bodhisattva Vow in an auspicious In January many of our nuns attended May all beings enjoy happiness and the ceremony occupying the whole morning. the Kalachakra Empowerment given by causes of happiness. As this was the first time that Khamtrul His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Bodh Rinpoche had performed this more Gaya to vast crowds of devotees, including elaborate Bodhisattva ritual, the students many coming from Tibet for this event. from the monastic college at Tashi Jong and This was a highly propitious occasion for many of the lay people also participated everyone and a great blessing for our nuns. along with our nuns and DGL staff. The nuns who remained at DGL made 2 GATSAL www.tenzinpalmo.com I S S U E 2 7 Lobsang Norzom 2011 Class Awards Group with Khenpo Ngawang ABOUT MYSELF by Ani Lobsang Norzom My name is Lobsang Norzom. I am 19 I heard about the DGL Nunnery. I asked for years old. I come from Ladakh. I studied up his permission to join this Nunnery. I had to the 6th grade in my village. I have 9 family heard that it was a very quiet and peaceful members. They are at Ladakh. I have my place for studying and practicing the dharma parents and I have 2 brothers and 4 sisters. apart from that it has a class for studying My parents had a farm growing. When I was English language. I also came to know that at my school I liked nuns very much. Then I the teachers to teach us were very good and asked my parents I want nun. My parents also very kind. This nunnery is really a wonderful very happy they said is ok. I became a nun place with many more facilities that I had in 2006. I studied there in my village 3 years, ever dreamt of. I have my sponsor that is so there are one of small nunnery, there are 16 nice and kind to support me. I have this great nuns there. The nuns work in home help to chance to study and practice dharma for the family. Then I spent my time looking after the benefit of all. I am very grateful to them and home and feeding the animals. especially Ven Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo for Then I had a chance to come to Dharamsala. making it possible for me. I want to be a good I reached by bus and after a while I was taken nun for all my life. I want to use my life as a to my brother who is a monk. It was there that nun to help others. M A Y 2 0 1 2 www.tenzinpalmo.com GATSAL 3 GOING ON PILGRIMAGE ATTENDING HIS HOLINESS THE DALAI LAMA’S KALACHAKRA IN BODH GAYA by Ani Tsultrim Palmo & Ani Tenzin Chokyi In December we 24 DGL nuns went to Bodh Gaya to stretch myself, lie down on my seat and enjoy various receive Kalachakra from His Holiness the Dalai Lama. sights and sounds outside. I helped a few beggars and Some nuns went by bus and some nuns went handicapped children who came into my by train. It was my luckiest day in my life compartment begging for alms and food. because I got a wonderful opportunity to get Most of the travellers on the train were going Kalachakra such a precious holy place of the to Bodh Gaya also – the subject of their talk Lord Buddha. His Holiness said that if we was on the dharma – we enjoyed their talks get once Kalachakra from Bodh Gaya it was very much. Finally we arrived, I was amazed the same as we get 7 times at other places, it to see the large number of people who had was because of holy place blessing. gathered – more than 200,000 people. I had Thousands of devotees people gathered never seen such a large crowd. They were for it. They are very kind and friendly. Even from different areas and different countries. thousands of Tibetan devotees came from It was my great fortune to be in that holy Tibet. It is my praying that this precious place. It was a great experience for me. I empowerment blessed all beings be happy. wished the teachings to continue forever. I It was my first visit to Bodh Gaya. It His Holiness the 14th Dalai have made up my mind to try my best to put was also my first journey by train. For that Lama at Mahabodhi Stupa, into practice his teachings. May His Holiness reason I was highly excited about it. I could Bodhgaya live a long time and continue to teach us. PILGRIMAGE TO REWALSAR by Ani Ngawang Chozom In January we went to Rewalsar. It is a very famous place some prayer flag and visited a Hindu temple too. for Buddhism, connected with Guru Padmasambhava. After that, we came back down to Rewalsar where the We reserved a bus. It came here at 4am to pick up us. lake, Tso Pema, is founded. About this lake, there is a story of I and some nuns were Guru Padmasambhava first time that we got and the King of Mandi, a chance there. We it is a very holy place. reached there about There were many 8am, first we went people who came from up to the cave where different place we did Guru Padmasambhava some kora (circling) did his retreat and the lake and gave some teachings. It is a little biscuits to the fish bit far from the town in the lake. We went of Rewalsar. It is to a temple, which is found at the top of the not completed now, mountain. Between but there is a very them our bus was big Statue of Guru damaged so we ate Padmasambhava. I our breakfast, which had never seen before we took with us, then like that. we went by foot. There It was a very nice was a very big statue of trip for us. All nuns Guru Padmasambhava and there is a statue of Mandarava were very happy that day. I never forget it in future. May all (his consort) too. There we did some prayers and hang up people get a chance to go there. 4 GATSAL www.tenzinpalmo.com I S S U E 2 7 NUNS EMPOWERMENT WORKSHOP I went to fourth annual Nuns Empowerment Program It is thought by many that the men alone can run the society in Dharamsala.