Monks make for low-maintenance houseguests.

Grand Junction’s Ray and Peggy Pilcher invited six monks with the Gaden Shartse Monastery to stay in their home during the monks’ stay in Mesa County.

The monks are on a U.S. tour, raising awareness about Buddhism and donations for construction of a hospital to serve their monastery and other villages in southern India.

The monastery originally was built in Tibet, but Chinese occupation decades ago forced the Tibetan monks to flee to India.

The Pilchers, both Buddhists, have opened their home to the Gaden Shartse monks for the past 10 years, showing the monks the compassion synonymous with Buddhism.

Ray Pilcher said he has been interested in Buddhist culture since he was young, and his nearly four dozen trips to China and Tibet through the years only furthered that interest.

On Sunday, during a free presentation at Western Colorado Center for the Arts, the Tibetan monks demonstrated the precision and time that goes into making a mandala, which is believed to help cleanse negativity for those who view it, said monk Jangchub Chophel.

The monks used brightly colored sand made from crushed and dyed Indian quartz to create a symbolic representation of Green Tara’s universe. Green Tara is honored in Buddhist culture for being a female Buddha, showing that women can achieve equality in a male-dominated society.

The mandala construction began Saturday and will finish at 6:30 p.m. today during a Green Tara puja and sweeping up ceremony, in which the monks will distribute some of the blessed sand to those in attendance at the Art Center ceremony at 1803 N. Seventh St.

The remaining sand will be thrown in the Colorado River to float downstream. The cleaning of the mandala signifies nothing in the world is permanent, and understanding change is part of balancing life.

The Buddhist monks will be in Grand Junction until Wednesday. From Grand Junction, they head to Hotchkiss and Moab, Utah, before continuing east across the country, Chophel said.

To learn more about Buddhist culture, to bid on silent auction items Ray Pilcher brought back from Tibet or to see the mandala, visit the Art Center from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. today.

Money donated will be used to build a hospital in southern India.

By MELINDA MAWDSLEY
The Daily Sentinel

By tonight the mandala will be swept up, and the sand dissolved into the Colorado River.

The monks will begin a sweeping up prayer ceremony at 6:30 p.m. at the Art Center, 1803 N. Seventh St., followed by a release of the sand into the Colorado River from Eagle Rim Park on Orchard Mesa.

Every few years, monks from Gaden Shartse Monastery in India tour the United States to share their culture and religion, and raise money to support their Tibetan Buddhist monastery.

The Gaden Shartse Monastic College was originally founded in Tibet in the 15th century. After China invaded the country in 1959, thousands of Tibetan cultural and religious centers were destroyed and many Tibetans fled to India, where the Indian government donated land to establish a monastery there.

The monks create sand mandalas twice a year at the monastery to symbolize Buddhism’s different deities. The Green Tara mandala being created at the Art Center is representative of the celestial home of the Buddha of activities, said Jangchup Chophel, an American monk and member of the monastery.

“As we create it we keep in mind the teachings of the benefits and sacred nature of this Buddha,” Chophel said. “Just by looking at it people receive vast amounts of benefit, positive imprints in their consciousness and mind.”

The monks meticulously create the mandala by scooping sand into two hollow cones and rubbing one on top of the other, carefully guiding the amount of sand released from a small hole in the cone.

Once the mandala is completed, it is dissolved quickly, within half an hour.

The dissolution ceremony is important, Chophel said.

“At the ceremony we invite the Green Tara along with her entourage — the celestial beings associated with her — to inhabit the mandala to help purify all the negativities of the area.”

Chophel has practiced Buddhism for many years and became an ordained monk three years ago. He taught high school history in Long Beach, Calif., from 2001 through 2008; he wore the traditional crimson monk robes for the past three years.

Chophel retired from teaching in July to join the monastery and direct the U.S. tour. His high school students continue to keep in touch with him via texting.

Ninety-five percent of the 1,500 monks who live in the monastery are from Tibet, said Tenzin Losang, one of the monks currently in Grand Junction. Some were born in India, but are of Tibetan heritage.

Geshe Tsultim Gyeltsen, one of the last lamas remaining who was born and trained in Tibet, runs a Buddhist Center in Long Beach. He sponsors the monks to come to the United States in order to raise money to fund its monastery in India.

Peggy and Ray Pilcher of Grand Junction met the monks 11 years ago, when they were touring here. The Pilchers host the monks in their home whenever they visit Grand Junction. The Pilchers are among a group of local Buddhists who study with Gyeltsen.

The monks of Gaden Shartse Monastery travel to where they are invited and offered a place to stay, and a place to build the mandalas. The mandala being created in Grand Junction is sponsored by the Art Center and Bank of the West.

In Oregon, the monks created a mandala at a coffee shop in the hub of town.

In Glenwood Springs, they used meeting rooms in the Hotel Colorado.

Last week the group was in Aspen, where they created a mandala at a downtown art gallery.

The intention of this tour is to raise funds for the construction of a hospital near the monastery in southern India.

The hospital is for other refugees, lay people and Indians, as well as for the monks of the monastery, Chophel said.

“It’s open to all for free medical care,” he said.

The monks will be in Grand Junction for two more days. They will conduct a Green Tara Empowerment ceremony Tuesday at the Academy of Yoga at 8 p.m.

A dinner is planned with the monks at the Art Center on Wednesday. A limited number of tickets are available.

Tibetan astrology sessions, personal healings, house and business blessings are also being offered through Wednesday.

Grand Junction Free Press

This was the first time the Gaden Monks have come to Gunnison. However I have a bit of a history here. I lived in Gunnison shortly after my daughter was born. We moved up here, living at Johnny Towner’s trailer park, during the winter of 1982/83. It was a tough economic time and we made a living cutting, splitting, and delivering firewood. What I always remembered though was how great the people were. We met so many people willing to lend a hand, share some conversation, and always it seemed with a smile. So even though we eventually had to move back to California to make a living, I have always hoped to return. So I really was happy to have this opportunity.

We met our organizer, Hannah, in Aspen Colorado. She was bold enough to take up the task of bringing us to Gunnison and quickly got Sherrill and Richard on board. Sherrill and Richard were kind enough to put us up in their house and soon had six monks on their hands.

Our visit to Gunnison was sponsored by the Sanctuary, Quarter-Circle Circle Ranch, and the Western State College Multicultural Center. We would also like to thank the Gunnison Art Center for allowing us to use their facility.

Our kick-off event was the film, Dalai Lama Renaissance, at the Gunnison Art Center and we had a nice turnout which allowed us to meet many members of the community. The next day we were out at the Farmer’s Market letting people know we were in town visiting. It is a great market and they even had live entertainment – a great country and rock singer with little children dancing in the grass. We met a lot of people while Hannah and Sherrill passed out fliers and got the word out. It worked well because that night we ran out of seats at the Art Center.

Another highlight of our trip was our visit out to Ann Bertschy’ ranch place for a house blessing. She has an incredible place filled with goats, sheep, rams, turkeys, a lama, dogs, cats, and all kinds of kids. She is also hosts the local 4-H group. The place was filled with family and friends (both human and animal) and everyone had a great time. I posted a lot of pictures from there including our Lama feeding the lama.

I have more to to write about, but always it seems limited internet access – hopefully soon =)

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Our visit to Telluride and Ophir manifested with the magic of email and the kindness of strangers. An email made the rounds and three very special people, whom we had never met, took up the cause of bringing us to town. First Frick contacted us offering his home. Then Robyn and Elisabeth offered to organize our events. The three of them came together and created a very special visit for us and the people of Telluride and Ophir.

Robyn and Elisabeth gave very thoughtful consideration to choosing the most benefitial events for their communities and filled the four days for us. From the moment we pulled into town knew we were in good hands. Robyn met us with a great smile, a canopy, table, flowers, event schedules, and our own booth space the Farmer’s Market. The Farmer’s Market was a great place to meet people and spread the word of our events. Interestingly we wound up right next to a booth selling yak meat and dri (female yak) milk. He was great to us and gave some milk to take home.

Frick came down to the market and a few of us went up to his amazing home up on top the mountain to drop off our things. He has an amazing place with incredible views (I included some pics with views from his back yard). More importantly, was Frick’s kindness and concern for making sure everyone was well taken care of.

Our days and nights were filled with events. Most of our teachings were at the Telluride Yoga Center. It was the perfect space to give teachings and they were kind enough to allow us to us their space. We would also like to thank the Ah Haa School for the Arts. They hosted our Chenrezig Empowerment on the last night. That was a wonderful event – no one wanted to leave! After the empowerment everyone just went back to their seats and sat down. So we pulled some chairs and kept visiting for over another hour. As a matter of fact, it seems that was also the case at our other events. We always wound up sitting around talking Dharma long after our program was finished. Everyone was so interested and inspired.

One big highlight for us was our trip up to Ophir to do a Tara Puja. Ophir is a magical place located at about 9,700 feet above sea level (be sure to look at some pictures). I located in a beautiful valley surrounded by incredible peeks and well know waterfall. It takes a very special person to live here, they very in tune with nature and tough. This is not a place for the meek. Michael (a resident) told me last winter he was snowed in for 14 days and could not leave his house. The whole town (including children and dogs) came out for the puja and we even had some people driving as far away as Rifle (not to mention our good friends from Grand Junction).

We also were able to sneak in a little visit to Bridal Veil Falls above Telluride (I also posted a few pictures of this – see below). This included a rather exciting drive up a narrow, steep road more suited for four wheel drives. However our van was up to the challenge and we made it (probably helped by many mantras).

All and all it was a great trip and we met all kinds of wonderful people. Telluride has a growing Dharma community filled with inspiration. We hope to return soon.

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I will be updating this section very soon, but wanted to get some pictures up now. Here is the picture gallery for Paonia.

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In addition to the teachings, we paid a visit to the adolescent correctional facility. We visited with the kids, did a cultural presentation, gave some advice and had lunch with them. The kids were really engaged and we all had a great time. We also had the pleasure of blessing three wonderful businesses – the Academy of Yoga (Monica and John also hosted our teachings at their center), Twice Upon a Time Bookshop, and Olsson Physical Therapy.

Here are some links to news articles about our visit:

Grand Junction Free Press

Grand Junction Sentinel

Here is a short news story on our visit the an adolescent correctional facility:

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One special treat we had was a visit to the world famous vapor caves. Our organizer Patsy opened the caves for us an hour before the normal operating hours and we got to spend a much needed healing hour resting and sweating in those amazing caves. We also got to do a house at Tera’s special home with a family of Lakota Native Americans. They were very special people and even played their family drum for us. Another interesting time was blessing the Good Health Store. We were just in the middle of one of their isles and about 30 customers joined us on the floor as we did the blessing – right there on isle 5 =). It was great – others just shopped as did our thing. We also had the good fortune to bless the La Provence Spa under the Hotel Colorado. They are a great family and it was a pleasure to spend time with them. Unfortunately I don’t have many pictures to post just yet. David was taking all the pictures and will send them to me. I post them as soon I get them.

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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.

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