Gaden Shartse Cultural Foundation » Uncategorized

Happy New Year!

Chophel — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 03:54:57 +0000

All of the monks want to wish you much peace and happiness in 2009. We also want to thank you all so much for all your kindness and generosity throughout the past year. It is because of you that we are able to have such a successful (not to mention fun, rewarding, and at times exciting) tour. Please remember to create virtuous actions with your body, speech, and mind while avoiding non-virtuous ones =)

We welcomed in the New Year today at an very unique and amazing place located out in Joshua Tree, California. We participated in the “Good Vibrations 2009″ celebration at the Integratron. Check out their link – it is a very interesting place. There was a great turnout and we started things off with a group healing, followed by a site blessing. Everyone was wonderful and it was an auspicious way to start off our new year. Their photographer said she would send us some pictures, so as soon as I get them I will post some. Currently they have a amazing interactive exibit titled Blue Morph created by Victoria Vesna and James Gimzewski.

I am sorry I have not been posting much lately. We have been on a little break and I went up to San Francisco to visit my precious daughters (and son-in-law Jeff) over Christmas. We are all now back together in at Thubten Dhargye Ling in Long Beach and are getting ready to get back on the road again. We will be up in Placerville, California on Sunday. Here is a link to our tour schedule. We hope to see you all again soon!

Colorado Springs

Chophel — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 14:34:55 +0000

Hello everyone. We are now in Long Beach (today’s date is Dec 12th) and getting settled in for a little break after our cross-country journey. Here are some pictures from our visit to Colorado Springs where we had a great time at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. We were hosted by both the university and the local Dharma center, Thubten Shedrup Ling.

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A visit to Moab and Canyonlands National Park

Chophel — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 14:32:11 +0000

After a wonderful Thanksgiving with tons of food and great friends in Grand Junction, we had time to visit our friends in Moab for a couple of days (November 30th and December 1st). The first day was a chance to visit with everyone and get caught up on our journey. On the second day Colette, Tom, Mary, and Mike took us up to Island in the Sky at Canyonlands National Park. It was truly spectacular and beyond words.

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Morning walk around Highline Lake

Chophel — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 21:12:11 +0000

Saturday, November 29th – We are still at the Pilcher’s in Grand Junction. Ray and Peggy took us on a beautiful walk around Highline Lake. I thought I would share a few pictures.

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Thanksgiving

Chophel — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 20:56:19 +0000

We were fortunate to be able to spend Thanksgiving with our extended family, the Pilchers, in Grand Junction, Colorado. In the morning our good friends, Chuck and Jane, took us cross country skiing up at Grand Mesa. It was a blast. Here are some pictures on monks in a very different light =).

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Lincoln, Nebraska

Chophel — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 01:13:09 +0000

November 20th and 21st – We had an awesome time here at Nebraska Wesleyan University. The next we need to stay longer. I was really taken by the kindness and openess of our hosts Jamie, Victoria, and Pauletta. These three ladies taught me much about the spirit of compassion they embody through their Christian faith. I do look forward to another opportunity to spend time with them again.

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The Journey from Boston to Lincoln

Chophel — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:33:36 +0000

Four days and a 1500 miles. We had to have some fun along the way. So we made our first layover at Niagara Falls. We got a great rate at a hotel right near the falls (Fallside Hotel and Conference Center) and soon discovered why =). You could tell that this hotel had seen it’s better days and that at one time it was probably a quality hotel. Unfortunately those days are now long behind. I was prepared for this as I did some research prior to our trip. I figured we are monks accustomed to living simply and the trade off of being so close to the falls was worth a cheap and possibly funky room. Sure enough the rooms were both cheap and funky. What I was unprepared for though was finding out that the heaters in both rooms did not work and the temperature was getting into the 20s. Never fear – the young, undaunted desk clerk handed me one small portable heater to heat both our rooms. We had adjoining rooms so I could open the door and place the heater where it could blow into both rooms. The important thing he had to tell me as that I could not us the high setting (1500 watts) as it could blow the circuits in the room. So we had a small heater at the low setting of 1300 watts to blow a little warm air as we clung to our sleeping bags, with sweatshirts, and extra blankets. I know what you are thing and there was no huddling. Fortunately it did not come to that.

We woke up the next day to the discovery of black ice on the parking lot. This I discovered very personally with my bottom as I was carrying the luggage out to the van. It was a beautiful layer of ice so clear you could see the blacktop right through it. So we all just semi-skated across it ever some gracefully and headed over to the Falls.

The sight of Niagara Falls was well worth our efforts. Even though it was cold, the sun came out for a few minutes and we were greeted by an incredible, radiant, huge rainbow. This was the first time I had have seen them and the falls are truly spectacular. There are actually 3 falls – American, Bridal Veil, and Horseshoe. In the middle of the falls is Goat Island. This is were we went so we could see all the falls. It was a wonderful and I wish we had more time, but “every minute is a mile” and we needed to head on down the road.

Down the road we were greeted by “lake effect” snow storms. We even had a little time to get out and play. I will post a couple of pictures below.

After the cheap, funky, cold hotel, we got a cheap, quality, warm hotel with a indoor pool and hot tub that the monks made quick use of. This was a sight! We had the whole pool and spa area to ourselves and they reminded of my elementary school pool party days. The were telling me to get the camera, but I assured them that would be unadvisable, and besides, I don’t think I ever want to see that sight again.

The rest of the journey was pretty much business as usual and we arrived on time in Lincoln, Nebraska on November 19th.

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