July 21st through the 28th
After Yachats, we headed off to Aspen, Colorado. There was a buzz in town because His Holiness the Dalai Lama was coming to give some talks at the Aspen Institute. The energy was electric and we had a great time. The tour has been visiting Aspen since the early days and our long-time friend and organizer Dennis had a busy, thoughtful schedule ready the moment we touched down. Since His Holiness was coming we created a Chenrezig sand mandala. This was hosted by the kind people at the Elliot Yeary Gallery where we were surrounded by some amazing art. Dennis put together a schedule of teachings and empowerments to fill the week for so many that were unable to attend His Holiness teachings. This worked out wonderfully as we were there to help fill the void and people were still able to receive teachings and many blessings. Our kind friend Adam put us up in his wonderful home. Both Dennis and Adam have been helping us for almost 20 years and we cannot thank them enough for their generosity.
Our amazing friends Ri and Renee from Oregon traveled with us from Yachats and, like brave troopers, helped us throughout our stay in Aspen. They are also shooting film of our tour/adventures with the thought of putting together a film one day. Also joining us in Aspen were long-time friends and organizers Peggy from Grand Junction, Bob and Candi, from Crawford, and new organizers Hannah from Gunnison, and Louise from Durango, as well as our old friend Charlie. So our time was filled with blessings, teachings, friends, and lots of fun. We even had the blessing of attending the public talk given by His Holiness on Saturday.
In addition to the sand mandala, Venerable Geshe Norbu gave a teaching on the Four Seals of Buddhism, conducted a Vajravidaran Healing, and a Dukar Empowerment. As always there were many business and house blessings along with personal healings to fill out the day. One great event was blessing the County Fair. So many people came after that to thank the monks saying that the energy totally changed and from that point everything was wonderful. As usual we met so many wonderful people it is impossible to fit them in. Please feel free to add any comments you might have.
3 Comments
These are some great photos Chopel!
Nice photos of Aspen. Thank you
Keep up the good blogging Chopel!
Dennis
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[...] The Bluedot team has been having a lot of fun working on some promotional films for the Gaden Shartse Monastic Tour; a fund raising and outreach program from the tibetan buddhist monastery located in the refugee area of southern India. The footage in this 7:00 introduction was collected from old archival pieces from the monastery, and when we toured with the monks to Aspen Colorado in 2008. [...]