Yesterday was the calm after the storm.  We made our way, around the damage of the storm, to the Unitarian Universalist Church in Titusville and had a wonderful day sharing with them.  Two congregations came out for a day with the monks.  It was such a joy.  The monks participated in both services with some chants and then spent time with the children during their childrens group.  In the afternoon I led a metta meditation and we all filled the space with loving kindness.  It was great to see so many come together after the storm and share in there fellowship for the benefit of all.

Today many schools are off due to the power outages and people are still clearing trees.  Our host family has also taken in some friends who are without electricity.  People are clearing trees and paths back to their homes and still preparing for halloween events.  Our host family is trying to talk the monks into going trick or treating with the kids.  We will see how that develops =). In the meantime, we have some blessings and healing rituals to do.

Sending lots of love and good thoughts to all of you.

In the meantime, I wanted to share a bit of our experience at Gannon University.  It is a Catholic University and has about 4000 students.  They were so wonderful to us and the turnout to the events were incredible.  The first night (the performance) they were literally sitting in the aisles.  This trend continued throughout the week and we felt so welcomed.

I personally was thrilled to meet some wonderful, progressive Catholics and felt that we learned from each other. I do look forward to our return. Here are a few pictures of our time there.

[View with PicLens]

November 28^th at 7:00pm – Sacred Sights and Sounds of Tibetan Monastic Life. Join us for a special evening and experience images and sacred sounds of life inside of a Tibetan Buddhist monastery. The internationally renowned monks from Gaden Shartse Monastery will share some of their sacred multiphonic chanting and present a video slideshow capturing the essence of their lifestyle. The program includes narration and a question and answer period allowing the audience to have opportunity to learn more about their ancient way of life. Location: Unity of Naples, 2000 Unity Way Naples, FL 34112.

Monks creating sand mandala

November 28^th through December 3^rd – Creation of the Sacred Sand Mandala. The opening ceremony is at 10:00am on the Monday, November 28th. During this ritual the monks will purify and bless the environment in preparation for the construction of the sacred sand mandala. Following the opening ritual, the monks will begin the creating the sand mandala. Over the following days you can observe the Mandala in process, as a team of Monks continue ancient ritual by vibrating grains of colored sand out of their funnel shaped tools. Viewing the Mandala opens the mind and awakens the spirit. It is said that the blessings a Sand Mandala brings are multiplied by the number of grains of sand that it contains. The Dissolution Ceremony is on December 3rd at 11:00am. Location: Unity of Naples, 2000 Unity Way Naples, FL 34112.

November 30^th at 7:00pm – Metta Meditation with Venerable Jangchub Chophel. Metta or Loving Kindness meditation is one of the most popular vipassana techniques. This meditation is used to bring peace and tranquility into one’s own heart and sending loving kindness, along with compassion to others. Metta practice endows the four universal wishes, to live happily and to be free from hostility, affliction, and distress, with a very personal inner love, and by so doing, it has the power for personal transformation. It is a universal meditation that can be used by people of whether they are religious or not. Location: Unity of Naples, 2000 Unity Way Naples, FL 34112.

December 2^nd at 7:00pm – Journey to the Roof of the World: Sacred Dance and Chants of Ancient Tibet. Come join us for an evening of sacred sounds from the roof of the world. This is a special performance in conjunction with the visit and teaching by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. Long hidden behind the Himalayan mountain ranges, the ancient Tibetan culture remained virtually untouched by the outside world for thousands of years. Now you will have an opportunity to experience the rare sounds and dramatic imagery of Tibetan sacred dances, music, and chants. This is a complete stage performance with ornate costumes. It contains eight different performances presented in two hour long segments separated by a short intermission. Location: Unity of Naples, 2000 Unity Way Naples, FL 34112.

The dissolution of the sand mandala on December 3rd (see sand mandala above) is the last public event of this tour.  The monks have traveled the USA and worked for over a year and a half. Now they will get to return to Long Beach for a rest before returning to India.  We thank you all so much for all your kindness and efforts in making this tour such a success.

Walking into the lobby of Carruth Rizza Hall this past week, one would see several men dressed in red robes, hear a metallic scraping

One of the traditional works of art Tibetan monks create are sand mandalas, an elaborate art form which involves the careful arrangement of colorful, finely ground stones. The purpose of the art work is to create an environment in which a traditional blessing can be given.

and possibly the low hum of prayers.

Seven monks, one American and the others of Tibetan descent and one translator from the Gaden Shartse Monastery in Mundgod, India, came to SRU with the purpose to try to be a benefit to others as well as to preserve Tibetan culture according to Dr. Andrew Colvin, assistant professor of philosophy.

These monks are on a 20-month tour across the United States and are going to Omaha, Nebraska when they leave Slippery Rock.

They began the creation of a sand mandala, which is a very elaborate and colorful art form that uses finely ground gemstones, on Monday.

“Mandala are actually not just a two-dimensional sand thing, a mandala is a three dimensional radiant thing that is visualized and tantric practitioners actually get inducted into mandala,” Venerable Jangchub Chophel, the director of the foundation and an American monk, said.

The idea of creating a mandala is to benefit others.

“Well the point of creating the sand mandala, we’re going to work all week on this, we’re going to create this work of art and then we’re going to sweep it up, why do we do that?” Chophel said. “What they are doing they are creating an environment, this space, to receive the blessings and have the area blessed purified cleansed of negatives so after effort, intention, concentration they are going to create this always with the intention that it be a benefit to all human beings.

“So what you have is this accumulation of positive potentials. And these monks working for the benefit of others.”

According to Chophel, they are making this space for green Tara, a female Buddha. They’re going to ask her and her 21 emanations of her mandala to inhabit it and bless it. Then they will sweep it up during the dissolution ceremony on Friday.

“We see it as a very blessed thing, when most people just see a bunch of sand,” Chophel said. “So we take some of the sand and put them in little bags for people to take and bless their homes or just have as a memento. The rest of the sand is released into a body of water.”

While the monks painstakingly created the sand mandala, students and faculty watched from the balcony above and stood in awe in the lobby.

“It’s fascinating, very powerful,” Dennis Scott, 39, junior biology major said.

The metallic scraping sound that could be heard at times came from the long metal funnels that were filled with the brilliantly colored sands. To drop the sand on the design, the monks held the funnel at an angle and used another metal funnel or stick to rub across the top.

The sand then shifted out slowly. They worked about eight hours, Monday through Thursday to finish the final design.

“I think it’s beautiful as an art, they do a prayer service before they start work about 8 a.m. everyday,” Megan Kuhr, 19, junior philosophy major and Vice President of the Philosophy Club said, “I think the ritual is very beautiful.”

The dissolution ceremony represents the impermanence of life.

“It symbolizes the Buddhist teaching of impermanence,” Colvin said. “All things are impermanent. What brings about a lot of suffering and mental anguish is that we become attached to things that are inherently impermanent.

“And so this exercise in constructing the mandala and sweeping it up symbolizes both the transcendental nature, the impermanence of all things and the importance of non-attachment to those things.”

As well as the sand mandala, the monks performed sacred dances and chants of Tibet on Wednesday night, showed a film, “What Remains of Us,” and went to several classes to discuss different issues and Tibetan culture throughout the week. They talked in two Asian studies classes, a Chinese Politics class, an English class and a world religions class.
Kuhr was in the world religions class when they talked about the backgrounds of Tibetan Buddhism and the Sand mandala.

“They had a question and answer session and they talked about what they do in the monastery and their basic beliefs,” she said.

These tours are very important to the Tibetan people because it’s a way to preserve their culture since the invasion of Tibet by China in the 1950s.

Many Tibetans are refugees in India, along with the Dalai Lama.

“What has resulted from the Chinese invasion of Tibet, is not only the suppression of Tibetan people but also of the Tibetan culture,” Colvin said. “The Chinese have a policy of moving as many Chinese into Tibet as possible. Tibetans are now a minority in Tibet, and so what happens in a situation like that over time is that the language dies, the cultural practices dies, the religious practices die, the culture dies and part of the mission of the group is to preserve the cultural tradition of Tibet.

“In addition to that particular mission of preserving the cultural tradition, this tour raises money for the various needs of the exiled community in India.”

Geshe Tenzin Dhonag poses with 18-month-old J.J. Osendah of Syracuse at the Liverpool Public Library Oct. 21. The word "geshe" is an academic title given to those monks who have successfully completed 20 years of Buddhist philosophical studies.

Sacred chants and laughter spilled out of the Carman Community Room at the Liverpool Public Library the evening of Oct. 21. The sound caused some entering the facility to pause with curiosity at the door but, if they were looking for a seat, they were out of luck.

More than 100 people had already packed the room to hear the seven monks from the Gaden Shartse Monastery located in the Tibetan Refugee Settlement at Mundgod, India.

The monks visited the library to share some of their sacred multiphonic chants with the community and, through a talk and slide show, provide a glimpse into life at the monastery.

The visit was only part of a tour spanning several continents. The monks will be in Central New York through the month of October. “The Sacred Earth and Healing Arts of Tibet” tour is raising money for the education of monks at the monastery, and helping to spread Buddhist teachings.

An anonymous donor made the stop in Liverpool possible.

Jangchub Chophel, the monk who helped present much of the event is originally from Southern California. He gently joked with the audience about the tour’s plans for getting out of the area before winter arrives.

“I love Central New York,” he said. “It’s our favorite place — in October it is. Maybe not so much in February. I planned the whole tour out of coming here in October and getting out in November.”

Humor embedded throughout the event did not overshadow the seriousness of the monks’ chants.

The monks sang twice, once as an invocation to the “destroyer of death.” The second time was a dedication chant, the purpose of which is to take positive energy and dedicate it to all living beings.

The chants are actually prayers in the Tibetan language used in conjunction with hand movements to bring enlightenment. The sound varied from low and guttural to higher harmonies.

The sound is multiphonic to disguise the sacred words and is also slowed down to help the monks concentrate on mental Images during the prayer, Chophel said. All praying is done out loud and the monastery is a noisy place, he said.

“They say all their prayers out loud … so this chanting evolves from saying these prayers out loud,” Chophel said.

But the monks find plenty of time for learning, too.

“Our monastery is not merely a place where we pray and meditate,” Chophel said. “Our monastery and monasteries of our tradition are known as educational facilities. We have a 20 year college program — 20 years, six days a week.”

The audience was enthusiastic about the visitors, giving them several rounds of applause and plying them with questions until they had to leave.

“I thought it was fantastic,” said Andy Babiak of Camillus. “I thought he was a great speaker, and they’re not putting on an act … this is what they chose to do.”

The tour will be providing more of its sacred chants, this time with dance, at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 29 in Onondaga Community College’s Storer Auditorium. The event is two hours long and includes an intermission. Tickets are $20 and available online at the monks’ website, gadenshartsecf.org/events.

Chophel encouraged all who are interested to attend.

“It’s an incredible experience to see a culture that’s been hidden behind the Himalayan Mountains,” he said.

By JAKE REMALY • STAFF WRITER

FLORHAM PARK — A group of Tibetan monks who visited Fairleigh Dickinson University this week as part of a “world peace tour” spent hours each day creating an incredibly intricate design on a table in the library using nothing but grains of sand.

Donald Colindres, a student, watched the piece progress and wondered what would happen to it when it was finished.

When Colindres heard it was going to be swept away at 4 p.m. Friday, he was surprised and called the news upsetting.

“I would just want to hang it up,” he said.

One of the monks, Venerable Jangchub Chophel, said the thousand-year-old art of creating sand mandalas is partly a lesson in impermanence.

The work of art would last only until Friday afternoon, at which point the monks would dissolve it in a ceremony that included a prayer and giving away some of the sand in bags to those who attended the ceremony, Chophel said. They put the remaining sand in rivers or lakes.

“We need to remember today is never coming again,” Chophel said.

The seven monks from the Gaden Shartse Monastery began working on the sand mandala Monday. Using brightly dyed grains of sand with a variety of coarsenesses and colors, and tools to dispense tiny amounts of sand at a time, they carefully formed intricate, radiating designs on a large table. The piece represented the celestial home of the Buddha of Compassion, Chophel said.

Sophomore creative writing major Amanda Alford said the sand mandala’s temporary nature is part of its beauty.

“We’re here in the moment with them,” she said. “The moment’s not always going to be there.”

Library employee Katie Carpenter said she came every day to watch the sand mandala’s progress.

“It’s amazing. Beautiful,” she said.

Brian Mauro, FDU’s dean of students, said said members of the school’s diversity council all agreed they should host the monks. The monks stayed in a dorm, Rutherford Hall, and ate in the cafeteria, and then will continue on their 22-month tour, stopping in small towns, museums and schools. They collect donations to support their monastery.

Employee Darsham Shah said he saw sand mandalas in his native India, but never in the U.S.

“I’m not sure in America people ever see these things,” he said.

The Gaden Shartse Monastery is home to about 1,500 monks and was founded in 1409. It is based at a refugee settlement in India. Monks from the monastery began touring the west at the Dalai Lama’s request in 1989, after the Dalai Lama won the Nobel Peace Prize for seeking nonviolent negotiations with China after China occupied Tibet.

The monks from Gaden Shartse Monastery have departed northwest Ohio after educating many area residents about Buddhist traditions.

The spokesman and translator for the Tibetan monks, Jangchub Chophel, described a typical day at Gaden Shartse Monastery recently.Monasteries are home to men older than 90 and children as young as age 6. Chophel said the children live at the monastery and have lessons in grammar, math and art, as well as philosophy and religion. Although most children come by choice, others are orphans or their families send them to the monastery to get a better education.

Six days a week, monastery residents rise at 5 a.m. for a breakfast of flatbread and tea and report for prayer at 6 a.m. Chophel said the monastery is a noisy place in the morning as the monks chant their prayers. Each monastery has its own cadences for worship. Singers use low tones and produce two or three tones simultaneously.

On their U.S. tour, the monks demonstrated the sound and technique of their poly

phonic throat singing. For public audiences, the chants are sacred with the words disguised to conceal the secret teachings they contain.Chophel said the person praying visualizes paradise while chanting. The monks pray in various postures and use hand movements that imitate those Buddha once used. Vibrations fill the room and affect more than the individual chanter.

During prayers, monks also ring bells, which represent wisdom, and hold a dorje. The latter is a metal implement in the shape of a thunderbolt and represents method. Buddhists believe bringing wisdom and method together promotes enlightenment. More ceremonial rituals incorporate horns, cymbals and gongs and require special garb.

On most days in the monastery, educational activities based on the level of knowledge a person has reached occupy many hours.

Chophel said Buddhist monasteries are the equivalent of universities. Students of all ages are expected to memorize pages of texts and give recitations for “tests.”

As they get older, they meet in smaller groups with teachers. They usually sit on cushions or directly on the floor.

“When you visit the monastery, you don’t see a chair, so we don’t have a word for chair,” Chophel said.

They had to invent a word, which translates to “butt lift.” After lunch, the monks allow time for a nap.

In the evening, a gong summons the men to the debate yard. For three to six hours, they engage in animated debate.

A lunge, stomp of the foot and slap of the hands is used to “send” a question.

Chophel said clapping symbolizes the hand of wisdom meeting the hand of method to summon sentient beings.

After a response, gestures from questioners indicate their opinion of its quality.

“The key to our whole educational system is the debate system,” Chophel said. “It’s not like you can skip your homework. When they debate, they start off one-on-one with another person in your class for about an hour. Then they bring the classes together and your classmates sit around you and you debate.”

Some scholarly monks study a specific topic and debate it for two to five years before reaching the next level. Those who want to be teachers may go to study at other monasteries. A geshe, or doctor of Buddhist theology, must have 20 years of training.

Chophel said knowledge and enlightenment require hard work.

“There are prayers to remove obstacles but they can’t give you knowledge,” he said.

Oral exams take place yearly to determine whether a student can advance to the next level.

At the end of exams, the monks take a week off for picnics and field games.

The Tibetan new year also is a holiday.

Chophel said Monday is their usual day off. Most of the men use that day to do laundry by hand.

During the summer, the temperature can reach 100 degrees during the day and drop to freezing at night. The monasteries have no air conditioning.

Chophel said the monks’ diet varies by region. The Tibetan monasteries, situated on mountainsides, tend to be isolated, so food choices are limited. In Tibet, barley flour and yak products are nutritional staples. Some groups depend on alms or donations for their food. In India, most are

vegetarian, but others do eat meat.

Typically, they do not eat anything after the mid-day meal.

Buddhist women can enter monastic life in a nunnery. Chophel said the women get the same haircut and garments as the men and are educated in the same manner to follow the same “spiritual path.”

Monks and nuns are allowed to have contact with their families, unless the monastery or nunnery is too far away.

Many monasteries accept visitors, but obtaining a permit may take a month.

September 14, 2010 – By MaryAnn Kromer, mkromer@advertiser-tribune.com

By Alan Abrams, La Prensa Senior Correspondent

Findlay, Sept. 2, 2010: Wearing their distinctive traditional and colorful saffron-and-maroon colored robes and crested Shama hats, seven Tibetan monks are spending two weeks in Northwest Ohio bringing Buddhist blessings to people and the environment.

The seven monks and an interpreter, Passang Tenzin, are traveling as part of the Sacred Earth Healing Arts of Tibet 2010 Tour, which is sponsored by the Gaden Shartse Cultural Foundation of Long Beach, California.

Their current itinerary has included visits to Findlay, Bluffton, and Tiffin where they are making several appearances that are open to the public (see list below). Their visit to Findlay was precipitated by the opening of the Red Tornado Art Gallery featuring an exhibition of photographs taken in Tibet by Carole Eichert of the University of Findlay.

But as the U.S.-American-born monk, Venerable Jangchub Chopel, a former Long Beach high school teacher explained, the Tibetan monks have been coming to Findlay for 20 years. “The very first World Peace Tour, which began in 1989, came to Findlay. And His Holiness the Dalai Lama visited Findlay in 1991. Every tour since has come to Findlay,” said Chopel.

For the gallery’s Grand Opening on September 1, the monks created a magnificent multi-colored sand mandala, the symbolic representation of the deity. After blessing the opening of the gallery for owner Tamera Rooney (she is also the Findlay, Bluffton, and Tiffin Tour Coordinator), the monks began an all-day intense creation of the mandala, a ritual that usually takes four days to complete. But on this day, it would take all morning and into late afternoon to create the mandala. The monks recited a special prayer asking that the mandala be blessed and consecrated before the ceremony of dissolution in which the mandala is ritually dissolved and swept up into a pile.

“Creation of a sand mandala is done to purify and clean an environment and then bring blessings of a particular Buddha to inhabit the space. This is accomplished by cleaning and purifying all the negatives and bringing blessings and the enlightenment here,” explained Chopel. “We are doing this mandala for everyone here in Findlay. It is for all beings to achieve happiness and be free of suffering.  The lessons remind us of the impermanency of life and how short it is. That’s why it is important to use each day for good, and for virtuous activity. Do not let so many days just go by,” he added.

After Dissolution

When the mandala is dissolved it takes on a new form. After the monks blessed the dissolved sand, which they swept into a neat pile, they packaged some of it into little bags of sand for those who were observing the ceremony to take home as a memory of this virtuous activity.

Chopel explained that the sand is used for several special purposes. “It can be spread around one’s property thus blessing the property. It is also used for placing upon the crown of the head of a person who is passing away at the time of death. It will help the person pass on to their next life in a very positive way.

“The rest of the sand is poured into a river or body of water. Thus, the blessing is returned to earth and helps in healing the environment. It is a very precious and rare opportunity  to purify the area. It benefits all the living human beings in the area,” said Chopel. After the ceremony in which the mandala was dissolved with the aid of liquid in a peacock feather topped container, the monks walked in a procession from the gallery at 111 E. Crawford to Main Street where they turned right and walked to the bridge over the Blanchard River. There, while a brisk wind almost blew off their Shama hats, they performed the ritual of returning the remnants of the sand mandala to the environment by pouring it into the river, thus completing the circle. The monks traveled to Bluffton University on September 7 where they again demonstrated sand painting before performing a music presentation at the Bluffton Town Hall.

But there are still several opportunities for the public to see the monks. They return to Tiffin on Wednesday, September 8 for a presentation on Buddhist teachings: Four Noble Truths at Heidelberg University. It is open to the public and will be held from 7-9 pm at the Rickley Chapel in University Hall.

The following day, September 9, the monks will present a mandala demonstration at Heidelberg University in the Campus Center lobby from 10 am until 3 pm.

Between the hours of 2-3 pm, they will also be presenting “Compassion and Caregiving: A conversation with the Monks,” hosted by the Community Hospice Care of Tiffin, at 181 East Perry Street. Admission is free and you can RSVP at 419.447.4040.

Sacred Dance and Chant of Tibet, Sept. 10
The major public event will be held Friday September 10 at the historic Ritz Theater in Tiffin. It will be a full performance of A Journey to the Roof of the World: Sacred Dance and Chants of Tibet. Admission is $15 at the door. The theater is at 30 S. Washington Street.

As Tamera Rooney explains, “Long hidden behind the Himalayan mountain ranges, the ancient Tibetan culture remained virtually untouched by the outside world for thousands of years. “The sacred ritual dances of Tibetan Buddhism are not simply a performance; they are an ancient, spiritual ritual created to transform negativities and obstacles within our world system into positive, harmonious conditions.

“The origins of these dances have their roots steeped in the secret path of tantric Buddhism. At the Gaden Shartse monastery in India, they are part of an elaborate ritual that can last from one day to two weeks.

“The dances require years of intensive training as well as proper initiations to be performed properly. Throughout the dance every movement and ritual implement utilized have a deep and profound inner and outer meaning.

“The whole performance is a powerful, transformative experience operating on two levels. On one level, the dancers are creating conducive conditions for enlightenment, while simultaneously purifying negativities and obstacles preventing it. Essentially, consciousness enters as a demon, is transformed, and exits as a deity,” explains Rooney.

“Ancient Tibetan multiphonic chanting is a rare and unique experience created by monks singing a chord containing two or three tones simultaneously. The special sound they create is not a simply a song, it is a sacred offering – an offering to the Buddhist deities for the benefit of all sentient beings. “The deep, resonate, vibrant chords, representing the essence of the secret tantric teachings of Tibetan Buddhism, fill the room and transform both the environment and the audience with their powerful energy,” she added.

On Saturday, September 11, the monks will be at the Unitarian Universalist Church at 2415B N. Main Street in Findlay for two programs: Personal Empowerment/Healing sessions at 10 am and an Ecumenical Discussion at 7 pm. They will also be at the church the following morning (September 12) for a 10 am discussion followed by a potluck at 11 am. The monks leave Northwest Ohio on September 14, but the Tibetan photo exhibit at the Red Tornado Gallery continues through the month. For more information, contact Rooney at 419.722.7810 or at troonet@redtornadopro.com.

The Sacred Earth and Healing Arts of Tibet Tour has been visiting the United States since 1989 with a two-fold mission:

1. To be of service to the world community by helping to spread peace, harmony, compassion, and tolerance through cultural exchange, interfaith dialog, and Buddhist teachings.

2. To raise funds that will provide for the education, maintenance, housing, and medical needs of the monks at Gaden Shartse Monastery located in the Tibetan Refugee Settlement at Mundgod, India. One thousand monks live there. Funds raised on the 2010 – 2011 tour will be donated directly to the Gaden Shartse Education Project which is responsible for meeting the education needs of all the monastics. This includes supplies, teachers, technology, buildings, maintenance, and outreach. In addition to the United States, the tour has visited numerous countries throughout Europe, South America, and Asia.  The tour visits communities and educational institutions both large and small throughout the country sharing their message of compassion and tolerance through their dynamic programs and warm interactions.  It is usually a very transforming experience for all concerned.Due to the kindness and generosity of the communities visited, the monastery has been able to continue to keep its sacred teachings and traditions alive while living in exile at a refugee settlement in a very poor area of India.

Established in 1409CE in Tibet the original monastery was completely destroyed during the Chinese invasion. beginning in 1950, and had to be re-established in India.  It has taken incredible effort in the face of unthinkable challenges to keep this precious unbroken lineage of teachings alive today,

Gaden Monastery is the original Buddhist monastery of the Gelug tradition of Tibet. The creation of it was prophesized by the Buddha himself 1900 years before its actual founding in 1409 CE. It was a magnificent building complex on a large hillside of Drigri Mountain, which was calm, peaceful and highly suitable place for spiritual development. The monastery is located at approximately 50 kilometers east of Tibet capital city Lhasa and was established in 1409 by Je Tsongkhapa. There were two colleges within Gaden monastery named Shartse and Jangtse. Reputed to have had more then 3,300 monks during early years of its existence, it then grew to 5,000 monks by the time of the Chinese invasion in 1950. Gaden quickly became well-known for its strong educational studies combined with moral discipline.  Monks soon came to study from every part of Tibet.Though monks came from all ages, the youngest monks started at age seven. Regardless of their focus of study, all the monks engaged in Gaden’s rigorous study programs for many years. In addition to vast philosophical study, there was also training in different vocations, religious music, arts, sculpture, and administrative work. In both Gaden Shartse and Gaden Jangtse, Buddhist sutra and tantra are taught and practiced in a combined program. This contrasts with the many other Gelug monasteries in which the study of sutra and tantra are kept separate. Thus the monks who have completed their studies at Gaden have gained knowledge in both the sutra and tantra practices. However, beginning with the Chinese invasion of 1948, a silent holocaust occurred. Despite the fact that it was only three years after the Nazi Holocaust in Europe, the world once again was silent while as many as one million peaceful monks were murdered by the Red Chinese invaders who by 1950 occupied Tibet.In 1959 His Holiness the 14^th Dalai Lama was forced to escape to India for his own safety. India, with deep kindness, offered the Tibetans a safe place to live and keep their traditional culture and religion. More than 200,000 Tibetans have followed His Holiness into exile and are now living in India or Nepal. During this transition, education for the children became a priority of the Tibetan exiled government and schools were quickly established. Elder Tibetans observed that in the majority of these schools, the curriculum was strongly influenced by Indian life and a comprehensive Tibetan education was unintentionally ignored. This problem was compounded by the fact that the Cultural Revolution was simultaneously destroying all centers of Tibetan education inside Tibet. These conditions led some of the refugees to pool their efforts together and, with support and modest contributions from fellow Tibetans, they re-established Gaden Monastery in South India to keep Tibetan education, culture, and pure Buddhist teachings alive.The beginning of Gaden Monastery in India was very difficult due to the dramatic climate differences from Tibet and severe heat. In spite of this, in 1969 Gaden Shartse was formed by 85 refugee monks in a remote village in the state of Karnataka, South India.

The first members of Shartse settled in the refuge colony of Mundgod, one night’s drive from Bangalore. Army tents were provided through donations and the monks put together a bamboo and thatch building to serve as a common hall. In this humble structure they slept, ate, prayed, debated and studied. Many monks died of sickness and exhaustion. With trial and error, they learned to adjust to their new environment and were able to make a modest living by farming on the land provided by the state government of Karnataka.

Over time the population of Shartse increased to more then 1500 monks, including resident scholars, writers, administrators and students from different parts of the world including Tibet, India, Bhutan, Nepal, Mongolia, Taiwan, Europe and the U.S.A. Gradually, educational programs began to demonstrate sustained growth and success and so admission, instruction and accommodations were provided free of cost. Preference was given to children who were either orphans or from very poor families, thus creating the need for fundraising via the Sacred Earth and Healing Arts of Tibet 2010 Tour, ]]> http://www.gadenshartsecf.org/2220/feed/ 0