Transcript of Interview

Nina Highfill: Hello Elaine, hello everybody. 

Elaine Jackson: Hi! 

Nina Highfill: Hi, this is Nina Highfill from The Buddhist Center, and I’m here today with Elaine Jackson. She is an old friend and the teacher who is coming to The Buddhist Center very soon to teach a brand-new course. I’m very excited to talk to you about it, Elaine, but I would like to start with a question that will help our listeners to get to know you better. 

Could you tell us a little bit about who you are and how you ended up being a Buddhist teacher coming to centers and teaching those courses and leading retreats?

About Elaine Jackson

Elaine Jackson: It is so interesting because it’s a long journey. This started almost 50 years ago, so if we had a couple of days I could tell many stories. But to start with, I met Lama Thubten Yeshe in 1977 at a retreat in Yucca Valley, California. 

I came with my husband and our two little children—it was at that retreat that land was donated to have a retreat center in the California mountains. My husband John was a contractor, and he said, Let’s just sell everything and go live in a teepee for a year and build a retreat center. This was in 1977. 

Nina Highfill: Two kids living in a teepee! 

Elaine Jackson: We were the quintessential hippies at the time. The Vietnam War was finishing, we wanted peace, and felt that this was an opportunity to do something. So we came. We were the first two on the land in our Volkswagen bus and our two children and shortly other people came. 

It took maybe two years before we got the permit to build the center. We lived in the teepee and built a small structure beside it for a kitchen and lived there for seven years. My youngest son was actually born in that teepee.

This was a time when so many amazing teachers—the old teachers from Tibet—came to the U.S. to teach. They came to Vajrapani. Many of my friends met the Dharma in Asia. They went to India. They went to Nepal. They took the Kopan course. And Lama Yeshe invited all these teachers to come to Vajrapani to teach us. 

I didn’t have to go anywhere. All these amazing teachers came and I could just walk down the hill to Vajrapani. This was an amazing time. 

Then in 1989, I started a business in our little town of Boulder Creek. I was a graphic designer and had that business for 20 years. During that time, ongoing, teachers came to Vajrapani, doing retreats now and then. 

Then in 1997, the karma for my marriage finished, and I did my first solitary, month-long solitary retreat. That was quite an amazing retreat. It was because Venerable René Fusi said, Elaine, you should do three three-month retreat every year now. I said, Oh yeah, how could I do that? He says, Well, maybe just one month. I thought, Oh, okay, how skillful, maybe I could pull that off. I did manage to do that.

And at the time, shortly thereafter, I was the director of Vajrapani for five years. Then in 2010, I entered into a three-year retreat. This was quite an amazing opportunity. Something people go, What? In my business—because I was selling my business—my clients would say, What are you going to do? But it started with that one-month retreat every year. I did a one-month retreat.

And because I was in a small town and part of a business association, people knew me. They heard that I was going to do a retreat for a month. And afterward, the bank manager said, Are you going to do a retreat again next January? So that started it.

For 20 years, I did a January retreat, a month-long retreat every year until I did the three-year retreat. But I continued that tradition of month-long retreats in January. That three-year retreat I did with my partner, Keith, he was in the main house, and I was in the small house.

For a year, we didn’t speak. When you consider what it’s like to be silent for a year, you begin to see the importance of words or how much we think to say, and we don’t say it. Words just come and they go. We begin to see how thoughts, they come and they go. We had an opportunity to really go deeper these three years.

The second year we would speak, but only when it was necessary. In other words, if you’re going to the garden, bring a shovel or something like that. But we didn’t talk about things. We didn’t go on the internet or have a phone. Vajrapani kindly delivered our food. I would send a message and once a week, the food would roll up the hill. That’s what Rinpoche said years ago at Land of Medicine Buddha. He said, if you’re sincerely practicing Dharma, the food will roll up the hill. And it sure did. 

Then after I came out of that retreat, Fabienne Pradelle, Venerable Thubten Droma now, was the director of Vajrapani. She asked me to lead a retreat when coming out of my retreat. In order to do that, I needed to be a registered teacher for Vajrapani, for the FPMT, the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition. Thubten Norbu Ling and Vajrapani Institute are both affiliated with the FPMT.

I went through the courses that were necessary to get that label. Then I began teaching from time to time. I guess it was for three years I was actually the registered teacher at Vajrapani. That was a label. I’ve been teaching, I love to be able to share what I’ve learned through the power of practicing these ancient teachings.

This course that I’m teaching in January, just kind of blows my mind because for many years Lama Yeshe used to say, Buddhism is not a religion, it’s scientific, dear. Check up. I have always wanted to be able to give these teachings in a way that would be well-held in modern science. But being able to create such a course is a big undertaking. 

The two students from Tushita in Spain who created this course under the umbrella of Lama Zopa Rinpoche have created such a beautiful course, with seven modules. This first one is Cultivating Lasting Happiness: Buddhist Mind Science. These seven modules, Buddhist Mind Science is very gradual, it starts very simply.

It’s not about Buddhism. It’s really about understanding the nature of the mind and cultivating happiness. Happiness is in the mind. Suffering is in the mind. How do we cultivate happiness and eliminate suffering? It’s a very beautiful course and it’s very soft. It’s very gentle. 

I took this course from Hans and Marina and I’ve taken the second course, now I’m taking the third course. Very gently, it’s moving deeper and deeper into the most profound teachings of the Buddha. I think it’s spectacular, and I look forward to sharing it because it’s so worthwhile. 

Lama really wanted what he called universal education. He wanted to bring the Buddha Dharma into Western psychological terms so that people could understand because it’s basically the truth of how your mind works. Now what is psychology? It’s the study of mind and behavior. That’s exactly what Buddhism is, isn’t it? 

Then all these various practices to train the mind, to look at the mind, and to train the mind so that it’s not just on the cushion, but it’s through our daily life. What is it that cultivates a warm heart? How do we do that? How do we cultivate that? What is it that brings joy? If we think about it, so much joy comes when we think about being kind to others, and benefiting others.

But there’s this, as Marina said, neediness. We cultivate a neediness which has to do with a mistaken view of reality. This is uncovering that through the power of our own mind, looking, just pausing and looking. That’s what we’ll do!

Elaine Jackson’s Cultivating Lasting Happiness Course

Nina Highfill: So exciting, Elaine. We’re so excited to be able to host this course and to have you also in beautiful Santa Fe. For students who are unsure if the course is for them, is there any particular group of people for whom the course is designed? Or who would you say is the main audience for this course? 

Elaine Jackson: I think anyone who wants to be happy. 

Nina Highfill: Alright, basically everyone!

Elaine Jackson: Yeah, it’s not about having even an inquiry into anything. It’s just trying to understand why our world appears as it does. How can we create a beautiful world? How can we create a life that is at peace, even in the midst of chaos and confusion and living in a place, in a world where we see so much pain and suffering? How can we be in that and not be overwhelmed by that? To use those as tools to cultivate our loving heart.

It’s really for anyone. It’s also for people who’ve been studying Buddhism for 50 years.

Nina Highfill: But also beginners, right? 

Elaine Jackson: Yes, for beginners, very baby beginners. I think for baby beginners and people who’ve been studying for a while, or if your practice is a little bit hot, little bit cold, can’t keep a steady practice. How to develop a steady practice? How to cultivate a practice that is sustainable? 

Lama Yeshe used to say, Don’t be a mushroom student, where you get all excited when you go to a course, or you listen to a teaching, and you think, I’m going to do that. I’m going to sit, and I’m going to meditate every day for one hour. We have to be realistic. Small, small, realistic, so that we can grow. Gradually, we grow, moment by moment.

Nina Highfill: Yeah, we’ll come back to that realistic one, because I’m curious about your life a little bit, and how you stayed realistic throughout your life. But just one last question about the course, Elaine, before we move on. 

What might people be able to expect to take away from this course? Like, are they going to become happy? 

Elaine Jackson: What they might take away is some tools. You put on your tool belt, and then if you use the tools, you will see that they stay sharp, that you can use them to create more stability and equanimity in your life, and to grow your loving compassion. To see, even just to inquire into the nature of reality, the nature of the mind, that automatically puts a pause in how you might be about to react in a way that’s maybe not going to bring you the happy result you want. 

I think it’s best to have no expectations, but to just come with a curiosity. We just see, we try. It’s a question of just being open-hearted and open-minded. Come with an open mind and a curiosity, like what might be under the Christmas tree? Curiosity for success in anything we do, right? 

Nina Highfill: Curiosity and open-mindedness, automatically have more fun with everything we do. 

Elaine Jackson: Yes, to do that, but also, there requires a certain amount of vigilance and dedication. One has to decide. At some point in time, we have to decide what I’ve been doing up until now has not always brought me the result that I seek. How can I change that? Because there’s the key. 

Nina Highfill: Well, two last questions, Elaine. One of them is, going back to this practical approach and practicality, you’re a mom of three kids, right? 

Elaine Jackson: Yes. 

Is Going on Long Retreat Realistic For Everyone?

Nina Highfill: You’ve maintained your practice. You managed to do one long three-year retreat and then retreats every single year, at least a month per year. I think many people who are listening to this think that that’s an impossibility or are wondering at least how you managed to do that because we are all so busy. 

For those of us with kids, full-time jobs, and different responsibilities, it’s just so hard to even carve out a few minutes per day, not to mention months of your year or years of your life. How did you do this, Elaine? What advice do you have for everybody who is so busy? 

Elaine Jackson: Yes, I think at some point in time, we have to have some faith in our own ability to make a change. We say there are four thoughts that turn the mind to practice. The fact that we have this amazing life that we have. Probably the people who are listening to this have everything they really need: food, clothes, shelter. They have heat in their home. They probably have a car or at least transportation. We have more than we need in this life. 

It’s a precious life. We have intelligence. We have our health. But that’s the first thought, to just recognize how precious that what we have here is that I do have an opportunity. I do have that opportunity. I have the freedom to practice. I do have the freedom, even if it’s five minutes. I do have the freedom. I make that choice. 

Then the second thing is, Wow, I wonder how long this will last, because we don’t usually think about that. We don’t usually think, Well, I don’t have time this morning, but tomorrow for sure, or maybe this evening. I think tonight after dinner, I’m going to really kind of sit down and practice. No, it’s really about establishing a habit. Same time, same place. 

You find a nice corner where you’ve made a beautiful little space. Doesn’t have to be fancy, but you make a place that is your place where you go to be quiet and to inquire into the nature of your mind, to pause and look at what’s important in your life. Those are the two things. If we check up, we do have the possibility to do small, even one day.

I say, Put an x in your calendar one day a month. If somebody says, Oh, come to the party on Saturday. Oh no, no, I have a date with my ex. You do that. You put it down. That’s how you do it. You put it down, one day a month, I’m going to do a day-long retreat. I’m going to do that for myself, my family, my community, and for the world. I’m going to grow my loving kindness, compassion, and my wisdom.

You make that determination because you don’t know how much time you have left. Then those are the first two thoughts that turn the mind to practice. Then the third one is our actions, that all of our actions make a difference. Every single word we say, every single act we do, and every single thought we have, plants a seed that pops up, comes back and says, Oh, look. 

This is the law of karma that we have to think about. That’s something to think about because we want to cultivate virtuous acts. We want to cultivate acts that will bring happiness, and we want to eliminate those acts that will produce suffering. 

There are practices within Buddhist tradition to do just that, to cultivate virtue and eliminate non-virtue. As a matter of fact, the Vajrasattva practice that we do at Vajrapani at the end of the year is just that, it’s purifying this mind that’s grasping onto some kind of holding that things are truly the way they appear.

The fourth thought is to take a good look at suffering. We don’t really look. When we say the first fact, the first noble fact that Buddha said is, Hey, look, life is suffering. When I first heard that, I said, Oh, come on, that’s a big exaggeration. It’s not that bad. But we have to really look at that. 

Even the things that are pleasurable, the things that we look forward to, we have an anticipation, Oh, this is going to be so great. Then it didn’t turn out that way. Or it was lovely, but then there’s some kind of grasping because we want it again, we want it again, and again. Really looking at the various levels of suffering, that’s another aspect to the four things that say, Okay, this is why we should practice. 

But really the reason why I practiced that first month was because Venerable René told me I should. I had a teacher that I respected, and I saw his good qualities, and I wanted to also cultivate my own good qualities in a more intense way. Then after that, I said, How do I do that? He said, Tell somebody, tell somebody you’re going to do. 

I thought about it and I went into my business and I told my office manager, I said I think I’m going to, I was sure she’d say no. I said, I think I’d like to do a month-long retreat in January. And she said, Okay. She said, If you do this, this, this, and this, I’ll take care of that, that, and that, and it’ll all be fine because January was a slow time. Then it was a matter of ego, wasn’t it? Pride. I said I was going to do it and now I have to do it. Plus she told everybody it’s a small town and she told the bank manager, she’s going to do a month-long retreat. 

That’s how it happened. It became an expectation of my friends and my family that every January people that’s what I do. We don’t plan anything in January, which is kind of interesting that I agreed to come to Santa Fe in January, but I will do retreat and I will teach on Saturday. 

Nina Highfill: We’ll do our best so you’ll have peace to continue.

Elaine Jackson: No, I’m not worried. 

Final Thoughts

Nina Highfill: That’s wonderful, though. I think it would be that much more powerful you teaching that course out of retreat space, so to say mental space. It will be fantastic. I’m sure you motivated many people just by having those four thoughts that turn our minds to practice. 

You mentioned that the course is full of tools that will let the students direct their practice and use them in their everyday lives. I was wondering just as a take-home message for those waiting, if there is one little tool you could share that people could use maybe on a daily basis or whenever they can, that could help them prepare for the course? 

Elaine Jackson: Oh, that’s very interesting. Maybe to simply, once a day, take a pause. Particularly if you find yourself rushing or irritated as you stand in line at the grocery store, just take a pause and a few breaths. Watch your breath and see what’s arising in the mind doesn’t have any solidity, that it doesn’t need to allow you to continue down the road to suffering. That irritation that we call the river of misery.

For many years when I was young, they said, Oh, well, before when, if you have an angry thought, then count to 10. Did you ever have that when you were a kid? 

Nina Highfill: Yeah, we do, it’s the same way.

Elaine Jackson: It’s just pausing for a moment and seeing how it is that we don’t need to be like a bull with a ring in his nose, led around by every thought that arises in the mind. Just begin to be a little bit mindful of what’s coming up in the mind and pause. Maybe take three breaths. Just take a pause and try to smell the roses.

Try to take in the good. When you go somewhere, look at something beautiful, the orchid on the table. Or even when it rains, the dew drops, the raindrops on the leaves, whatever it is, trying to, to look at the good. This is really helpful to the mind. 

Nina Highfill: Thank you for this advice, especially during the holidays, our minds tend to become busy. There are many to-do lists, gifts to buy, meetings to go to, and so on. I think it’s wonderful advice for that time, for everybody to try to remember to smell the roses sometimes because I think they’re around. We just don’t always notice them when we run too fast. 

Elaine Jackson: Yes, it is true, because it can immediately change your mind. If we can just pause enough to, as Lama used to say, glue on the opposite. If an unhappy thought or an irritating thought, some mental affliction arises, if you can glue on the opposite. The person taking forever in line, to think, it’s possible that it’s really hard for them. Then your compassion rises. To glue on the opposite, to try to find the good. 

Nina Highfill: Yes. Well, thank you so much, Elaine. The course that Elaine Jackson will be teaching, the Buddhist Mind Science course, and its first module, Cultivating Lasting Happiness is starting in January. That will go on for four Sundays of January at 10 am (MT), and it will be in person in The Buddhist Center in Santa Fe, and also online. 

And don’t forget to take a pause and smell the roses. Thank you so much, Elaine. I wish you and everybody listening happy, peaceful, beautiful, good holiday break. I hope you will find some time for yourself, and we are looking forward to welcoming you in Santa Fe, Elaine. 

Elaine Jackson: Thank you, I look forward to seeing you. Take good care. 

Nina Highfill: Thank you, you too.

Interview conducted by Nina Highfill

It all started in the year 2000 when New York requested to have a New York Cow Parade. It was a type of tourist attraction, an exhibition of 300 cows all over the city. There were also some very big-time artists that requested to do the cow. It was up for public view for about three months in the summer, so the weather was good and people could walk around the city and see all of the cows. 

The Making of the Cow

At that time I was a school teacher and they had allocated a few cows for public schools. Some you could work with students on and some you could propose a design as an artist. I was teaching elementary so I didn’t know how safe it was with kids, so I proposed it as an individual design.

They accepted my design in the summer of 2000, and they asked me to pick out a spot where I wanted to show the cow, in relationship to my design. I picked down Water St.—near Wall Street—because I was impressed by the skyscrapers. I was living in Staten Island, so I’d take the ferry to work, and I’d see this gorgeous, shiny building on Water St. 

My design was going to be completely covered with Mylar, to look like a building. Mylar is a very shiny film, like a mirror, it’s a flexible, shiny material with a sticky back. Unfortunately, they ran late in delivering the cows to the artists, so I only had two weeks to finish the work. 

When I got the cow I had a studio in Chinatown. The cow came completely white; it was made of fiberglass with a metal frame inside, it was very sturdy, like a car. All I had to do was work on it, but I was working full-time, so I could only work at night and on weekends. I had to change the design and put the Mylar on like cow spots. The rest was going to be painted in green, orange, and blue, because those are the colors of New York State.

I named it New York State of Cow. The green was because of the Statue of Liberty, Patina green, but even simplifying it I was making it complicated for myself, because in between each Mylar I was putting each color, and it took a lot of time.

Finally, I finished all the patterns, the rest I freely painted like a canvas, a very loose brushstroke. Then that was done and I looked at the eyes—they were white—so I painted the eyes, put on eyelashes with rubbers, crushed some emerald green, and filled the outside of the pupil. 

After the Cow Parade

That was all done in 2000. The deal was the organization was going to give me $4,000 in exchange for designing the cow, and they were going to auction off the cow. Well, there were more cows than they could sell, so they said, Sorry, we can’t give you the money like we promised. Instead, you can donate it to the organization or take the cow back, so I chose to have the cow back.

The cow had been outside 24/7, people had been peeling off the Mylar, tourists and kids had ridden the cow, so when I got it it was dirty and smelly because people disrespected it. So I had to wash the cow down, and because it was damaged, I decided to redesign it. I had sequins, so I started fooling around and covering the Mylar that was missing, and I ended up putting a lot of sequins.

It was one by one, and the sequins were so small that it took me 14 years to cover the whole thing. From 2000 to 2009 I was in New York and I would paint and work on the cow then I left New York City to retire from being an art teacher, and move to Santa Fe. The cow was in the back of my delivery truck and came all the way from NY to Santa Fe. I had a painting studio in Santa Fe and I kept working on it from 2010-2014 until a gallery decided to show my work.  

I took it to a body shop, coated it three times with polyurethane, and the gallery was very optimistic that someone would buy it and raised the price to $11,000. I was willing to just get $4,000, which was what I originally had in mind. But it was good publicity for the cow. And when nobody bought it, it came back to my studio but I decided I couldn’t keep it in my studio anymore. Some people suggested leaving it in my yard or on the roof of my house, but I wanted to preserve it a little bit. 

In 2018—I knew the owner of a restaurant near Museum Hill, it’s a cafe between the Folk Art Museum and the Indian Museum, so I asked if I could temporarily leave the cow on the premises so they could use it as a prop to entice people to come in and buy food. He said, Of course. I said, If I sell it you can get some of the commission, but from 2018 to now, it was never sold, it was just sitting in the restaurant. 

In 2019, I started coming to The Buddhist Center and I started practicing Tibetan Buddhism, and I remember reading a passage about a wish-granting cow and a wish-fulfilling tree. Before Nina, Charmaine was our director, and this new center was already under construction, so I asked if she would be interested if I donated the cow to be part of the center. She said, Yes, we would love that, but give me the dimensions, and I’ll talk to the Feng shui people. 

The only thing I requested was that it was under a covering. It could be in the open air, and it will disintegrate eventually—that’s part of impermanence—but I don’t want to reconstruct it again because I already did it once. She said a wish-fulfilling cow would be a great thing to be part of The Buddhist Center. Later, Nina and Jeff saw it in the restaurant and Nina said she’d love to have it in the center. I said, You don’t have to pay me anything, as long as I don’t have to reconstruct it. So, this year, 2024, the cow will be delivered to the center. 

When I moved to Santa Fe, I changed the name to La Vaca Loca, which means The Crazy Cow in Spanish. I don’t know, maybe in The Buddhist Center it will be called the Wish-Fulfilling Cow, which is much nicer than The Crazy Cow. 

Since 2000, so many other cities had the Cow Parade, in Florida they did flamingos, in Santa Fe they had horses, in Canada they had moose. The cow is very exotic, has lots of glitter, has a bit of New York, a bit of New Mexico. The cow is 95 inches long, 29 inches wide, and 57 inches high. It is about 125 pounds, hollow, with a metal frame. It was originally on a cement base that weighed about 400 pounds, but the organization kept the cement base. 

This is my one and only big sculpture, and it was a long process, but I love the cow. I think it has a lot of character and the cow is such a sacred animal in India so it’s very appropriate for me to donate it to The Buddhist Center. I spent many years on it and it is part of me, but I am happy to share it with the community, with The Buddhist Center. Hopefully, it will entice people to come, witness the cow, touch the cow, and ask for wishes.

It really all started with the phrase “a wish-fulfilling tree and a wish-granting cow.”

Victor’s Background as an Artist

My parents wanted me to be in the medical field, and I was studying medical technology for a little bit. But I had a very influential art teacher who thought I had real potential to be a good artist; he said, Why don’t you try it? The moment I took my first art class, I felt very much at home with myself. Even when I was young I always thought I could be an artist, I was always interested in visual things.  

As a kid, my first artwork—and I remember my parents took a picture of it—was a dragon made out of pieces of rice, my mom thought it was very good. In a way they supported me, because they said, Do what you like. I excelled in it, my teacher really pushed me, and I got my bachelor’s degree at the University of Oklahoma in painting and ceramics. 

Ceramics was very interesting for me, but as a young artist, it was very hard to be a potter because there were very limited resources in the big cities. You need kilns, and permission to have gas and fire. As a painter it’s much easier, you rent a painting studio with four walls, even with no walls, and you could create your art. I decided to major in painting and minor in ceramics. 

Once I left Oklahoma, I decided to go to graduate school, I wanted to go to California, but I wasn’t accepted. However, I was accepted to colleges in New York City. My first art experience was at The Brooklyn Museum Art School—which doesn’t exist anymore because they ran out of funds—but it was the Max Beckman Scholarship Program, and I was accepted and was a resident artist for six months. 

It was a practicing studio, it wasn’t academic, so you had a studio, and you just created your art. You had fellow artists from all over the country who came, visiting artists, and it was very practical. It was all about painting and having shows. 

With all of those credits and classes, I was able to apply to Hunter College to get my MFA, Master in Fine Arts. I was one of the first to get the MFA in Studio Art and not Art History, and it was great. I met a lot of New York artists, a lot of the artists I visited through our program were mostly feminist artists, like Judy Chicago, before she moved to New Mexico. 

Two main art movements that were very prominent in the city were the feminist artists and also the pattern painters. There was a movement where artists were taking patterns as their main influence in their work, you could look at textiles, you could look at buildings, but it had to have a basic pattern. At that time, my teacher was doing pattern painting with feminist content because his great-grandmother was part of the suffragettes in New Orleans. 

I graduated from Hunter with an MFA in painting and a job fell in my lap, which was working in the fashion industry, I was just doing clerical work, but it was a good job with great benefits, and I could travel a lot. 

But because I was so behind in my artwork, I decided to take a sabbatical and go back to painting. So I quit and while I was painting, New York had a resurgence to bring back money to the public schools, so they needed artists who wanted to teach. I didn’t have an education background, I was a fine artist. But a school in Brooklyn needed an art teacher, so they hired me on the spot. 

I was going to school at night, getting my educational credits, and as I was teaching I was getting my license certified. By the time I finished the first three years, I was certified to teach art from kindergarten to high school, and I did teach all that range. My last three years were teaching in high school in the Bronx, and then I decided it was time for me to go back to painting. I retired at 55 with some benefits and moved to Santa Fe because of that, and I was able to survive doing my art.

Now, I’ve been in Santa Fe for the last 15 years. I discovered pottery again, I still paint in the summer but in the fall and spring I take classes at the community college. It’s interesting because I didn’t do pottery for 30 or 40 years and someone told me the community college had a great ceramics department. As soon as I took my first class, I got back to throwing on the wheel, it’s like riding a bicycle, you don’t forget it. I started throwing pots and of course, I was kind of rusty, but the basics were there. 

Now I’m doing both functional and sculptural pieces. I love painting so I’m trying to incorporate Buddhism into my painting and pottery. Not very literal, more of a suggestion, subconsciously it always comes out.

Did it feel like a meditative process creating the cow?

I decided to use sequins, and they had to be glued with tacky glue one by one. It was like painting, I would just sit there and create all of these patterns of sequins, and I would do it one by one. Since it was just glue, I had to protect it, so I went to the car body shop and did 3 coats of polyurethane. 

Besides being a meditative thing, the sequins were like giving it a skin, making the cow quite reflective. The whole purpose was to get people to pay attention to the cow, from the eyes to lashes to the colors to the sequins to the Mylar, it was all meant to attract people who walked past the cow. I’m also honoring the cow, it is my one and only cow, and I really wanted it to showcase that kind of work. 

The sequins also led me to use sequins in my paintings. I wasn’t covering my whole painting with the sequins, but I would paint or draw using the sequins. I usually used see-through sequins, like the scales of fish, but it creates a beautiful iridescent surface to the work. I’m using that now in my painting.

They are usually small, because they are meant to be sewn on, but I just glue them right next to each other. As I said, even with the polyurethane it will start to peel off because they are just glued on with regular tacky glue, but hopefully, the covering and polyurethane will make it last. 

Now with painting, I’ve been doing a lot of brushwork, Chinese calligraphy, and brush design, I am primarily an abstract painter. I also wanted to incorporate old Tibetan prayer flags into my works on paper. I asked Geshe Sherab if I could do that, and he said, Yes, they’ve been blessed, but you can’t cut them. So with my latest work of calligraphy, I placed old prayer flags around the painting, and instead of gluing I sewed it into the piece of paper, using string to attach the flag. They are just attached on the top so they can still wave. That’s what I mean when I say I integrate Buddhist materials and iconography into my work. 

Interview conducted by Isabela Acebal

If you have been searching for meaning, connection, or joy in your daily life, you will find the Buddhist path incredibly valuable. Embarking on this journey to becoming Buddhist is a profound and transformative experience. Best of all, you do not need to believe in a higher power. You are invited to put your skeptical intelligence to work, while engaging with concepts grounded in ancient wisdom and compatible with modern science.

Whether you are inspired by, the teachings of the Buddha or seeking a deeper purpose for life, Buddhism offers a rich tapestry of wisdom. So, here’s a comprehensive guide on how to become a Buddhist and embrace the path to enlightenment.

Understanding Buddhism

Buddhism is a spiritual tradition that began in India over 2,500 years ago with the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha, or the “Enlightened One.” The Buddha spent his life teaching others how they too could become enlightened and reach nirvana, therefore ending the cycle of reincarnation called “samsara.” Over the years, Buddhism branched into various traditions and schools, but they are all unified by the foundational teachings of the Buddha: The Four Noble Truths and The Noble Eightfold Path.

The Four Noble Truths

These truths are the Buddha’s basic teachings. They provide the framework to understand the nature of suffering and the path to liberation.

#1. Life is characterized by suffering

Pali: dukkha, Sanskrit: duhkha

The First Noble Truth teaches that suffering is an unavoidable aspect of life, present in obvious and subtle forms. While we often think of suffering as pain or hardship, it also manifests as a constant undercurrent of dissatisfaction, even when things appear to be going well. This pervasive feeling of anxiety or uncertainty lingers because all experiences are fleeting, and our attachments to them create inner tension. 

#2. The cause of suffering is ignorance

Pali and Sanskrit: samudaya

The Second Noble Truth reveals the cause of suffering, pointing to our deep-rooted craving and attachment as the sources of our distress. This craving goes beyond material desires—it includes our clinging to people, feelings, experiences, and more. This attachment blinds us to the true nature of reality, creating a cycle of longing and frustration. 

#3. The cessation of suffering is attainable

Pali and Sanskrit: nirodha

The Third Noble Truth teaches that the cessation of suffering is possible by letting go of craving and attachment, which are the root causes of our dissatisfaction. This state of freedom from suffering is called Nirvana, a profound peace where the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth is transcended. By overcoming ignorance and fully realizing the nature of reality, one can attain this liberation and live with a mind unburdened by desires and delusions.

#4. The path to the cessation of suffering

Pali: magga; Sanskrit: marga

The Fourth Noble Truth presents the key to end suffering: the Noble Eightfold Path. This path outlines steps in ethical conduct, mental discipline, and wisdom that lead to a greater understanding of the true nature of reality. By following this path, we gradually break free from the habits and illusions that keep us trapped in suffering, moving toward a life of balance, peace, and inner freedom. 

The Noble Eightfold Path

The Noble Eightfold Path is a practical guide to freeing oneself from attachments and delusions, to reach Nirvana.

#1. Right speech

Right speech involves refraining from lying, talk that brings harm, and useless babble or gossip. The aim is to speak with honesty, compassion, and purpose.

#2. Right action

Right action promotes ethical conduct, emphasizing that your behavior does not harm others. This includes abstaining from killing, stealing, dishonest dealings, and harmful sexual interactions.

#3. Right livelihood

Right livelihood means engaging in work that is ethical, does not cause harm to yourself or others, and positively impacts society.

#4. Right effort

Right effort involves cultivating a mindful approach to your practice. It’s about applying a balanced amount of energy to prevent harmful thoughts and behaviors while developing wholesome ones.

#5. Right concentration

Right concentration refers to developing deep focus and training the mind to become steady and calm, so it can fully engage with the present moment and realize profound insights.

#6. Right mindfulness

Right mindfulness encourages you to develop awareness of thoughts, emotions, and surroundings. By practicing mindfulness, you bring your attention fully into the present moment, without judgment or distraction, and observe your inner and outer word clearly.

#7. Right view

Right view involves clearly seeing the nature of reality, including the truths of impermanence, suffering, and interdependence. 

#8. Right understanding

Right understanding is the realization of the true nature of existence. This includes the awareness of the impermanence of everything, the unsatisfactory nature of attachment, and the interconnectedness of all life.

Schools of Buddhism

Buddhism has several branches, each with unique practices and philosophies. The three main schools of Buddhism are Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana.

Theravada Buddhism

• Common in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos
• Includes Thai Forest Tradition, Burmese Vipassana Tradition, and Sri Lankan Theravada Tradition
• Focuses on following the original teachings of the Buddha, as preserved in the Pali Canon, for individual liberation.

Mahayana Buddhism

• Common in Nepal, Tibet, China, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, and Vietnam
• Includes schools like Zen and Pure Land
• Teaches that enlightenment is accessible to everyone
• Emphasizes the goal of becoming a bodhisattva (a being who seeks enlightenment for all sentient beings), universal compassion, and helping others achieve enlightenment.

Vajrayana Buddhism

• Common in Nepal, Tibet, China, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, and Vietnam.
• Sometimes considered a part of the broader category of Mahayana Buddhism instead of a separate tradition.
• Offers an advanced path to enlightenment in a single lifetime through the use of powerful meditation techniques, rituals, and visualizations.
• Includes Tibetan Buddhism
  • Nyingma School, Kagyu School, Sakya School, and Gelug School (the Dalai Lama is part of this tradition)

Officially Becoming a Buddhist: Taking Refuge

You may engage in Buddhist practices and integrate Buddhist meditation in your daily life, but how do you officially become Buddhist? The answer: taking refuge. This is the generally agreed-upon manner in which one can become Buddhist and formally commit to the Buddhist path. It is often accompanied by the acceptance of the five precepts. 

Taking refuge often involves a ceremony at a Buddhist temple or with a Buddhist teacher, where you recite the refuge verse—which varies depending on your tradition—expressing your confidence in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Taking a Buddhist refuge vow is a significant commitment that symbolizes a lifelong dedication to the principles of Buddhism. This is a decision that should not be taken lightly. 

Taking Refuge in the Triple Gem

To become a Buddhist, one traditionally takes refuge in the Triple Gem, sometimes called the Three Rare Sublime Ones:

Taking refuge in the Buddha

When you take refuge in the Buddha, you are choosing the Buddha as your example. It’s important to understand that the Buddha is not a god or a distant figure to be worshiped. This is not a theistic relationship where the Buddha is superior and you are merely subservient. Rather, taking refuge in the Buddha means recognizing that the potential for enlightenment exists within each of us. The Buddha represents the awakened state we all have the capacity to achieve.

By taking refuge in the Buddha, you seek shelter from the confusion, chaos, and suffering that arise from your delusions and conflicting emotions. It’s a deeply personal act, one that helps you awaken your Buddha-nature, the wisdom, compassion, and power that the Buddha embodies and are intrinsically within you. 

Taking refuge in the Dharma

Taking refuge in the Dharma means turning to the teachings of the Buddha as a guide for living a life rooted in wisdom and compassion. The Dharma is all the truths the Buddha revealed—such as The Four Noble Truths, The Eightfold Path, and the sutras (Buddhist scriptures that contain the Buddha’s discourses). By studying the Dharma you can transform your mind, and overcome the suffering-laden cycle of life (samsara).

Taking refuge in the Sangha

Taking refuge in the Sangha means respecting the community of monks, nuns, and laypeople who practice Buddhism alongside us. Sangha can also refer to the Āryasaṅgha, or “Noble Sangha,” which consists of those who have attained enlightenment or significant spiritual realization. This includes not only fully enlightened beings (Buddhas) but also those who have reached various stages of awakening.

By taking refuge in the Sangha, you acknowledge the importance of having a community of like-minded individuals who are dedicated to the teachings and practices of Buddhism. This Buddhist community serves as a source of guidance, insight, and inspiration.

Accepting the Five Precepts

It is also common to accept one or more of the five precepts when taking refuge. The five precepts are the foundation for ethical conduct in Buddhist practice, and laypeople are encouraged to follow them as part of their spiritual development.

#1. Abstain from taking life

This precept highlights the importance of non-violence and the respect for life. It calls for refraining from intentionally causing harm, killing, or engaging in violence toward any sentient beings, including animals and insects.

#2. Abstain from taking what is not given

This precept encourages respect for others’ possessions. It calls for refraining from stealing, cheating, or engaging in any form of dishonesty.

#3. Abstain from sexual misconduct

This precept encourages ethical sexual behavior and refraining from engaging in sexual misconduct that causes harm to others, yourself, or society. 

#4. Abstain from false speech

This precept promotes honest speech that refrains from lying, gossiping, slandering, or engaging in harmful speech.

#5. Abstain from intoxicants

This precept involves refraining from consuming intoxicants—that which leads to heedlessness, clouds the mind, and impairs judgment.

Conclusion on How to Become Buddhist

In recent decades, Buddhism has spread to the West, adapting to new cultural contexts. Many Westerners are drawn to the practical and psychological aspects of Buddhism. This has led to the idea of secular Buddhism, which focuses on the teachings and philosophies of Buddhism while setting aside the supernatural and religious beliefs. In this variation of Buddhism, people consider themselves Buddhist because of their practical application of Buddhist philosophy to everyday life.

There is clearly no black-and-white answer to, How do I become Buddhist? Depending on the tradition and context, becoming Buddhist has different expectations. However, it can be said that the most common way to “become Buddhist” is by taking refuge.

If you are interested in the Buddhist path and eventually taking refuge, find a Dharma center near you or online. Whether you are drawn to Theravada, Mahayana, or Vajrayana, these practices will help you cultivate wisdom, compassion, and peace.

We wish you the best of luck on your Buddhist path and remind you that The Buddhist Center is always here for you, whether you are located in Santa Fe, New Mexico or wish to join our online community. Our classes, Buddhist teachings, and events are in English and open to each and every human being!

Author: Director Nina Highfill

Lama Yeshe, the founder of the Foundation for the Preservation for the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), believed that the most important thing for us to thrive as an organization, is to cherish and nurture the family feeling among us. How often do we pause to appreciate the connections we forge in our Dharma practice? The Foundation Services Seminar (FSS) reminded me of the profound impact these relationships have on our journey.

I did not know how important this “family feeling” was to Lama. I didn’t know many things when I arrived at the Vajrapani Institute in California, USA, on a sunny September afternoon, to join the 5-day FSS retreat experience.

The aims of the FSS are to support individuals wishing to offer service at any level within our organization, explore how we can serve in ways that are most beneficial to ourselves and others, and review the guiding principles and structure of FPMT. As I walked into the gompa for the opening session, this was exactly what I expected. However, as the days unfolded, I discovered that I was receiving much more than I had anticipated.

Learning Experience

Nestled among towering redwoods and full of holy objects and relics, the serene atmosphere of Vajrapani was imbued with a palpable sense of peace. Together with 15 fellow FPMT volunteers, we were gently and skillfully guided by the seminar leaders, Amy Cayton and Francois Lecointre, through interactive presentations, discussions and a variety of exercises, introducing us to the FPMT history, structure, programs and projects. We also learned many practical skills, like dealing with stress, learning to communicate more effectively and to deal with complaints or mental health issues.

I was blown away by the richness of the FPMT tradition, culture and program and by the vast scope and huge impact of FPMT’s charitable projects, which not only support the ordained Sangha and provide educational scholarships but also promote social services and animal rescue, all in alignment with Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s vision for a more compassionate world. Did you know that in 2023 alone, as FPMT, we offered almost $3.5 million to charitable projects? Isn’t it a reason to celebrate and rejoice?

Personal Insights

Lama Zopa Rinpoche once said, “The big thing is how to always enjoy when offering service, regardless of what’s going on.” When things get busy and stressful, it is easy to forget this and to spiral down the cycle of frustration, annoyance, and disappointment with ourselves and others. Despite our best intentions, we end up falling into our old, well-ingrained patterns of conflict or dissatisfaction. One of the exercises during the seminar brought it home.

We were asked to imagine that we have an important and very urgent task to finish and we are running through the center in stress, while a newcomer is requesting help. We played out two scenarios in pairs—one in our “usual” state of mind and one after reflecting on bodhicitta for a few moments before we responded to the stranger.

The type of connection we were all able to generate and the quality and pleasure of the conversation in the second scenario left us with new appreciation that bodhicitta is not an ideal we learn about from ancient texts, but a mindset we can cultivate every day, moment by moment, so that we can enjoy the service and show up for others with kindness, compassion, and openness.

On a personal level, the FSS helped me to better grasp Lama Yeshe’s and Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s vision for the FPMT and for the role of the centers within it. It was very timely, as at my home center, Thubten Norbu Ling in New Mexico, USA, we are currently working on our 5-year strategy.

I took fervent notes throughout the seminar and had a few epiphany moments regarding the direction for our center and our guiding principles. I now feel confident that we have a solid foundation and are moving forward toward fulfilling the founding lamas’ vision and benefiting as many sentient beings as possible. 

Concluding Reflections

It was hard to leave the beauty and the profound energy of Vajrapani and the wonderful group of FSS participants. Somewhere in the process, we have not only learned about the “family feeling.” We started to experience it with each other. However, I left California with a new sense of optimism and energy.

FPMT is an amazing organization with a unique and vast vision and beautiful values rooted in authentic wisdom and compassion. But most of all, we are a family of warm-hearted, sincere Dharma practitioners, who have an endless amount of talent and wisdom among us. There is nothing we cannot accomplish, if we put our heads and our hearts together!

As we offer service in our respective centers and services, let us remember that we are helping our lamas to realize their vast visions and that our service is our practice and our offering to sentient beings. Let’s offer it with the mind of bodhicitta and a sense of joy. And if you ever feel in need of inspiration and warm connection, remember to look up and join the next Foundation Services Seminar!

To learn more about the FPMT Foundation Service Seminar:
https://fpmt.org/education/training/#fss

What is the November Course?

The November Meditation Course was established in 1971 by Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, the founders of Kopan Monastery and the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition. This course has earned world-wide recognition and is attended by hundreds of people each year.

The November Course follows the Tibetan Gelug Tradition of Buddhism, and is based on Lama Tsongkhapa’s Graduated Path to Enlightenment – the Lam Rim. Through Buddhist teachings, meditations, and discussion groups, students will learn to see themselves and reality in a new way.

Gen Don Handrick

I was the course leader in 2015, so I can only speak about my experience. What’s most amazing about the Kopan November Course is the opportunity to be with people from all over the world; for a month you are with people from all different corners of the world and a variety of ages. You get this really wide range of people, some of them new to Buddhism, some who have been practicing for some time. The course is designed to create something special for whoever you are, whatever level of study you’ve done before. 

The course is designed to create something special for whoever you are.

It is also intensive for some people. Every year some people disappear in the first few days because it isn’t exactly what they were looking for. It entails getting up a little early for practice and then meditation before breakfast. Then there will usually be a morning teaching for around 2-3 hours, a lunch break, and a discussion in the afternoon.

We give discussion questions, there’s usually a facilitator that helps coordinate each group and they have an opportunity to discuss the teachings that they’ve received and learn from each other. That’s where a lot of the bonds are formed, people come away from the November Course feeling very close, especially to the people in their study group. 

Then there is usually a tea break, then another teaching before dinner, and after dinner there is an evening practice session. It’s a fair amount of meditation practice, but not as much as some people would think it would be. They hear the November Course and think it’s going to be mainly meditation and a mostly quiet retreat. However, this is typical Tibetan Buddhism, so there’s a lot more talking, interactions, and teachings happenings. 

For the retreat I led, Lama Zopa Rinpoche showed up for the middle two weeks, and everyone loved having Rinpoche there, his energy was pretty incredible. It’s good to have some teachers who are deeper in the tradition, like one of the geshes or monks. That part of the retreat is more interesting in some ways for students because they are exposed to a deeper level of teacher. I always think of myself as more of an instructor rather than a real teacher, just giving Dharma instruction in terms of the Buddha’s teachings. 

A couple of things they do that is interesting is they have a pilgrimage day in Kathmandu Valley. There are many sites to see, you usually go down to the Boudha Stupa and do circumambulations there; then go to Swayambhunath, which is often called the Monkey Temple, where the monkeys are hanging out and getting food from the pilgrims who go there. That’s a really nice day for people because they get out of the monastery. It’s an opportunity to see some of these holy sites and to spend time in Kathmandu. 

We also introduce students to the idea of taking the 8 Mahayana Precepts. This is a very powerful practice for accumulating merit and purifying, you essentially take vows for 24 hours. We usually take the vows every morning for the last 2 weeks, and you hold the vows as purely as you can. This includes not eating after midday. You generally have a very small breakfast and then a lunch, and then you don’t eat the rest of the day.

You also refrain from some of the standard actions that are part of the Lay vows like not killing, stealing, lying, and so on. They are a really powerful way to engage in some merit-making and purification while you are there. When Lama Zopa Rinpoche was doing the retreats, he would give the oral transmission of the precepts formally on the first day, then you would take them on your own after that. 

It is essentially a Lam Rim retreat. You go through a brief review of the Lam Rim in the first few days. The Lam Rim, the stages of the path, goes through the Buddha’s teachings in a very sequential way, first to have the motivation of getting a good rebirth, secondly gaining liberation, and then the motivation of attaining enlightenment, Buddhahood. After that, we go into each topic much more in-depth. Students have the opportunity to see the richness of the Buddha’s teachings and everything that is entailed in Tibetan Buddhism, specifically the Gelug tradition has structured studying and practicing Buddhism. 

It is essentially a Lam Rim retreat.

The teachings can be challenging for many people because the audience is diverse in their understanding or lack of understanding of Buddhism, some people aren’t quite ready to sign up for that level of study or practice. Again, maybe they didn’t read the fine print and thought it was a mindfulness retreat. And they end up coming to something that is much more about study and investigating teachings, and that can be a little challenging for people.

But certainly, those who have done a Lam Rim retreat before, always find it useful to go through it again, because every teacher will teach it slightly differently, emphasizing different points. Lama Zopa Rinpoche used to say that the Lam Rim was the real meditation and this is what we need to realize and actualize in our minds. He said going to Lam Rim retreats, even many times, is extremely useful. People who have studied Lam Rim and say the know the Lam Rim, will still gain something in a retreat like this where you go through each of the topics in a very condensed format.

People who have studied Lam Rim and say the know the Lam Rim, will still gain something in a retreat like this.

What should you know going into the November Course?

People should know it’s a bit of a challenging schedule. You don’t have to attend everything, but you are encouraged to do so because that will make the retreat. Certainly, the morning practice was a bit more optional, as was the evening, but everything in between, especially the teachings and meditations, are strongly encouraged. As long as you are aware of what the schedule is and are prepared for it to be a fair amount of teachings, then you’d be ready for that type of retreat. 

People should know it’s a bit of a challenging schedule.

Certainly, people can investigate the Lam Rim ahead of time, there are a number of short books, a couple by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, that really go through the main topics of the lamrim. The one I often recommend to people is called, Becoming Enlightened, it’s a book His Holiness wrote with Jeffrey Hopkins, to go through the Lam Rim in a very sequential way. It’s a wonderful overview and gives people a taste of what they’re heading into for the retreat. 

You don’t have to sign up for everything in the Lam Rim, like rebirth and karma, which are challenging concepts for many Western students. The gift of this retreat is the chance to discuss with others and explore your hesitations about some of the teachings, and to see how others have worked through their questions and doubts.

Much of what we do in the West is receive teachings but we don’t have the opportunity to process them with others. In the Tibetan Tradition, especially the Gulug tradition, in the monasteries the monks and nuns all do debate, they’re out in the debate yards working with their material. I was told by one of the geshes, Tenzin Tenphel, that in the monasteries you gain about 25% of your knowledge from the teachings of the abbot or instructors, 25% from your own self-study and working with the material outside of class, and 50% from debate. 

They spend a lot of their time in the monasteries in debate. It is important to work with debate, to gain some insight from discussing with others what you heard or if you have questions, and have people reflect on that. The discussion groups are a wonderful opportunity for that. In our centers I feel we don’t do enough to promote that. I don’t think we know if we’ve digested something until we’ve expressed it to others. Once we’ve said it to others we have a better idea of whether we hit the mark or if we are not complete in our understanding, what things need to be changed or reviewed.

They also do a translation into two or more languages, when I was there they did French and Spanish. They do simultaneous translation then they break into discussion groups for those languages, so they can discuss in their language. It’s a chance for people to express their understanding and investigate topics in their own language, rather than always being forced to do everything in English, which sometimes happens in these sorts of gatherings. 

The meditation isn’t terribly long, someone very experienced with meditation might find it shorter than what they might like to have in a retreat. Nonetheless, it’s to give everyone the opportunity to sample meditation, you don’t need a meditation experience going into it. You’ll get plenty of instruction and an opportunity to engage in it without a lot of difficulty. It’s not like going to a Vipassana retreat where you’re going to be meditating for 10 or 12 hours a day. 

They always choose teachers well, the teachers leading the retreats have a lot of hours under their belts of guiding people. And there are opportunities for students to meet with the teachers, students can set up a private meeting to talk about practice and what’s coming up for them. They do provide that support. 

The food is also very good. When I was there there was an embargo on the Indian-Nepali border on fuel, so they had to do all of the cooking using wood, which is a scarcity in Nepal. They were doing all the food outside, using wood fires, and they had a lot of Nepali dishes like dahl and rice and veggies. It’s an all-vegetarian menu, and it was quite delicious. 

The staff was very attentive, caring, and really look forward to everyone being there. Kopan is an active monastery, it’s not like you’re off in some isolated retreat in the woods, it’s a fully operational monastery, with the debates going on, pujas, and all of this stuff happening. It’s quite nice to be held in that type of environment. It’s an immersion into monastic life to some degree. 

Christopher Harris

The retreat was 30 days, and there was quite a bit involved with it. The monastery is pretty spectacular and the energy was very special. It was interesting because it was very loud; there were monks chanting and doing pujas all the time. And it is at the top of a mountain, under the flight path of the Kathmandu airport, so every five minutes or so there were jets flying overhead, which was interesting and fun. 

The course was pretty intensive, which struck me right away. They basically tried to induce mental, spiritual, and physical fatigue; the reason I think they do that is to show you your “I,” and it becomes apparent quickly. When you wake up at 4:30 in the morning to do 30 prostrations, then the schedule goes to 9 p.m. every day, without any days off, it’s intense. 

They basically tried to induce mental, spiritual, and physical fatigue.

We started off with meditations, we had Venerable Steve who facilitated the teachings. He’s a brilliant monk, very high level, and he knows Tibetan, so he gave a lot of etymology on the language. That’s the thing about Tibetan, depending on the interpreter there are different words they choose, so the interpretation of the language is very dynamic. Tibetan is very contextual, so it’s interesting to learn all the synonyms and what means one thing in one context means something different in another. 

Basically, it was a crash course on the Lam Rim. We had a little workbook, it was pretty short, only 100 pages because the Lam Rim is very thick. They did a really good job of introducing all of the concepts of Buddhism. That was the first time that I had delved into the Lam Rim, it was everything in a nutshell of the teachings we receive from Gen Don and Geshe Sherab at The Buddhist Center; it was just the first time I had seen it all put together, so that was very important for me. A lot of it was things I’d heard before but seeing it all threaded together in continuity was very interesting.

Basically, it was a crash course on the Lam Rim.

After the meditations, we had minor breaks and then we would start in on the teachings with Venerable Steve and then we would break for lunch. Lunch was always eaten in silence. They did silence from the beginning of lunch through the next day’s lunch sometimes. So every other day it was silent and that was kind of an interesting thing to experience with so many people there, maybe high 200s in attendance. It started out close to 300 people, only about 20 people left. There have been some classes where 50 or 100 people leave.

 Most people in attendance were not Buddhists, so that was an interesting experience. After teachings we’d have these lunch discussion groups, kind of mock debates. One of the things that Tibetans really believe in is debating what you’re learning—it’s about hearing, contemplating, meditating, but also discussing what you’re learning with your peers in a debate format. 

One of the things that Tibetans really believe in is debating what you’re learning.

We would take topics from what we learned and apply them in a conversation with each other and we had people from all over the world, all different backgrounds, religions, and perspectives; one of the highlights for me was those discussions with people. Once you try to put into words what you’re learning it takes on a whole other perspective in your mind. That was the point of debate, to really seal the learning in a deeper way. 

After the discussion groups, we had more meditation, then group talks after the evening meditation, we even did movie night a couple of times. Then they’d have other people come in and speak, different monks nuns and lay people. It was a very intensive and wonderful experience, I highly recommend it.

It was a very intensive and wonderful experience, I highly recommend it.

What advice would you give to someone before going?

It was hard to get in, it’s first come first serve, so you log into their website at a specific time on the day they open registration. If you wait past the time you may not get a slot. There are a lot of people that go from all over the world, there were like 300 seats and it filled up within a few hours. It was like going to a Taylor Swift concert, from what I hear. 

The other thing is you can’t have your phone, I was tied to my phone and email, so that was a struggle. People should be aware of that. To prepare, you can start digging into the Lam Rim, if you’re a practicing Buddhist you’ll be doing that anyway. But they’ll give you everything you need when you’re there. And be ready to see your “I,” it’s not always pretty.

I highly recommend this course to anyone who is interested, not just in Buddhism, but in looking inward.

Interviews conducted by Isabela Acebal

How has The Buddhist Center impacted your life?

The Buddhist Center is a source of inspiration because you see so many other people who are engaged in the same goals as you and everyone is helping each other along. There have been times in my life when I’ve lived close to a Dharma center and other times when I haven’t. When I haven’t, it’s much harder to keep my Dharma practice going. 

It’s also much easier to have wholesome friends. Especially as a beginner, you’re pulled in many different directions. Your friends may not have the same goals, ideas, or values. It can be difficult if all friends are going out late at night drinking. Drinking by itself is okay, that’s not a big deal, but when it’s to excess, you lose control, and then you engage in negative behavior. Those kinds of things are much easier for a beginner if you’re near a Dharma center. 

These Dharma centers have shaped who I am. Plus, I have met some of my close-to-my-heart teachers at those Dharma centers because they’ve either been traveling through or were teaching there, and I got to know them better. I really understood how special they are and how special the teachings are. In all of those ways, the Dharma center is very important, for me at least.

I see the Dharma center as a continuation of Rinpoche’s vision, especially now that he is gone. For each of us who are his students, and especially those of us who have been his students for a long time, it’s our responsibility to help with the Dharma center as much as we can, in the best way we can.

I see the Dharma center as a continuation of Rinpoche’s vision, especially now that he is gone.

What is your journey with Buddhism?

I grew up and lived in India until I was 15, my parents were Hindus, and my mother was a very devote Hindu. They had their gurus, and we went to the ashram every month. I even had a special mantra that some guru whispered in my ear that I used to do every day until I was 14, but then I came here and forgot it. 

I was a cultural Hindu at best, and it never particularly resonated with me, that’s not to say—there are lots of great things about Hinduism and there are amazing teachings in it, but I was never really exposed to them. The idea of praying to a creator or god didn’t work for me either. 

The idea of praying to a creator or god didn’t work for me either. 

Anyway, in my 20s I was searching because I was going through a difficult period—as most young people do—with relationships, that was the start of it. I started searching, and I guess because I grew up Hindu, the Tibetan Buddhist approach appealed to me because of all the iconography, deities, and statues. But for some people, like my wife when she first got involved, it was just too overwhelming, she grew up in the Episcopal church but still, episcopal’s do have some iconography and stuff but still, this is just over the top in the gompa. 

But it appealed to me. So I started in the mid-90s, in a different tradition, in a Nyingma tradition, another Tibetan Buddhist school, and I met some of Rinpoche’s students in the late 90s and I realized what a special teacher he was. He had a center of gravity that pulled me in, and I started studying and practicing seriously in the late 90s with Rinpoche, many retreats, and teachings.

What relationship problems led to you discovering Buddhism?

It’s been so long, it’s hard to remember. But there was the break-up with my girlfriend that was a cause of distress. But the other thing I realized was there was a lot of dysfunction in my family, with my parents and I, there was just a lot of dysfunction. I was trying to process it and I realized that there had to be a better way than just muddling along. 

I was going to therapy—this was in the 90s when people still thought that therapy was kind of strange, I was doing the work needed, but it still didn’t quite work for me that well. It made rational sense, I was able to talk it out, but the patterns never changed. You just talk. 

When you’re going through therapy you’re talking about these things, it’s all on a rational basis, but when things happen you don’t think about them rationally, you react instinctively, so it wasn’t really making any change for me. I thought, There must be a better way for me to do this. I started reading Sogyal Rinpoche, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, which is an amazing book. Everyone who is getting started should take a gander at that book. That’s how I got started. 

The Buddhist approach really made a lot of sense. The idea that 1, how one is, is basically a product of one’s own karma/actions, not like the world is out to get me, or that it’s all my parent’s fault. But really it’s up to me, especially as an adult. When you’re young you can blame your parents because you don’t have any agency, but once you’re an adult you can no longer blame your parents, they don’t have control over you anymore.

Once you’re an adult you can no longer blame your parents, they don’t have control over you anymore.

I realized that I have the agency and I’m the cause of all these problems that I’m having and I’m also the solution. That’s the good and bad news. And because things are never permanent, that’s a good thing because it doesn’t mean I have to live like this forever, I can make the change. So that’s how I got into it. 

As I learned more about it, it just made more sense and I saw the changes happening within me over time, and that gave me a sense of confidence that I was on the right path. Because if you don’t see change maybe it’s not the right path. Buddhism isn’t the right path for everyone, and that’s fine. But if one sees change, then you know that that’s the right path. Unless there’s a better path, which is fine too. Maybe there’s something faster, maybe magic mushrooms will do it. I don’t know, but if it works, great!

Buddhism isn’t the right path for everyone, and that’s fine.

How has meditation impacted your life?

Meditation has totally changed my life, I used to be a very impatient, self-centered, self-absorbed, jealous person. Everyone has these qualities to some degree or other. Then with meditation, it’s really interesting because I have become much more patient now, especially with family relationships. The people you are closest to are the ones you hurt the most, that’s just the way it is. 

The people you are closest to are the ones you hurt the most, that’s just the way it is. 

I’m much more patient, I don’t rise to anger as quickly, I’m able to have more humor in my life, and I can laugh about things more and not take them as seriously. Not every little thing that is annoying makes me annoyed. I am able to see the forest from the trees, to see the bigger picture. 

I am able to see the forest from the trees.

Especially with Rinpoche’s guidance to be able to be outside of oneself, not everything is about me. It’s no longer all about me. There are so many teachings on bodhicitta, for example, which brings you outside of yourself. So when you get a gut punch or you’re in a depressive mood, it’s much easier to rise out of it, you don’t go into that rabbit hole. 

Rinpoche had a great book called Letter to a Friend, which are letters his students had written to him about various problems in their lives and what his answer was. Many asked about depression—which I struggled with as well—and he said to meditate on compassion and to think about others. And I’m not talking about clinical depression, this is not a solution for everyone. 

But certain types of depressive moods are a self-absorbed mood, you are wrapped tight around yourself, and you can’t see anything outside of yourself. If you are able to meditate on the bodhicatta, you can feel a connection with other people, and that brings you out of that mood, to be able to relate to others again. 

There are antidotes that I learned about doing these different meditations. For example, I learned how to use impermanence for annoyance, like this enemy could be my friend soon. Or I remember my wife shouting down the stairs at me because she was upset with me and my anger arose and at that moment I felt the “I” arise, the ego, that was going to come back with a zinger. You look at it and think, Wow, there is that “I” again, and because you have done these meditations you know what the “I” looks like and what emptiness of the “I” means. 

You can look at it and say, Wow, there is that thing, it feels so solid, but I know that it’s totally ephemeral, it’s an illusion. I don’t need to go back with a zinger because it’s not real. It’s a thing manufactured by my mind. Those kinds of things really make a real difference in one’s life. You’re able to be more forgiving, more patient, less prone to anger, more compassionate, and more compassionate towards oneself. 

All young people are hard on themselves to some degree. But with these meditations, one learns to be compassionate with oneself. You realize you are not that different from other people, what you see in others, is how you are. That also makes you more humble too, it keeps you grounded. It’s not like I’m some big deal because I have all this money or this promotion or this beautiful wife or whatever it is, there are all these reasons you put yourself above others.

All young people are hard on themselves to some degree.

Advice for beginners to meditation?

It is a constant struggle, it’s not just beginners, I struggle with it. Until you get to a certain point, a certain level of realization, you are always swimming against the tide. We have so many distractions and things pulling us in different directions, so it is totally normal for it to be hard. What is good for beginners is to not put pressure on oneself, that is the biggest thing. 

What is good for beginners is to not put pressure on oneself, that is the biggest thing. 

Do whatever is needed so you enjoy yourself, there’s no pressure. It’s only you and your mind. It’s not like anybody knows what going on in there. Nobody can judge you, nobody can see inside, you have total freedom to do what you want and that is pretty cool. If at the beginning, 5 minutes is all you can do, then do 5 minutes. That’s all it takes.

For beginners, what the teachings say, is to make a pleasant spot for meditation, whatever that happens to be. If there’s a view out of a nice window, or if you meditate in front of flowers on a table, or an altar with pictures of whatever inspires you, doesn’t have to be Buddhist, it could be the pope or flowers, whatever makes one feel good. Make a space that feels good, so you want to be there. 

Then, pick the same time and same place, and pick a certain time of day. The easiest is in the morning, but it doesn’t work for everyone, so whatever works. You pick that spot, you pick the same time, then you sit down and just meditate for five minutes. If 5 minutes is too long, you do three minutes. The teachings say that in the beginning, you do short and many, each session can be 1 or 3 minutes, you have total freedom, do whatever is natural and comfortable. Then take a break, 30 seconds, 1 minute, however long, but not long enough to get distracted, still staying in the zone but relaxing the mind. Then do another 1–3 minutes, then take another break, and then do as many as you like. 

Then over time, as you get better at it, and build the habit, you make them longer and with fewer breaks. That’s the way to do it, to really make progress. Some days you will have a fabulous meditation, your mind will be totally focused, and time will feel like it’s flying and it’s effortless. Then the next day can feel like crap, the mind is everywhere, with no focus, it’s a struggle, so that’s when people get discouraged. But it’s important to remember you can never recreate that feeling of a good day, so you have to just let go of that expectation. 

It’s not a straight line of progression, it zigzags and goes up and down. But hopefully, over time, the trend is going up. So just take it as easy as possible, and do it consistently for 6 weeks because it takes 6 weeks to make a habit, that’s what modern psychology says at least. Make an effort to do it for 6 weeks, even if you don’t have time to do 5 minutes, just do 1 minute. It is the consistency that matters, it’s not how much time one spends, it is that one made the effort that day. That is what makes a difference.

I know this for myself in many different disciplines, I play the violin as well, the hardest part is getting the violin out and starting to play, the rest is easy. But if you’re playing 10 minutes a day, at least you have consistency. Consistency is most important for beginners. Then when you are more advanced you can be more flexible. You do different things on different days, and you know that even if you haven’t spent as much effort that day, you still have this reservoir that you built up, so you can count on that when you really don’t have the time. 

Consistency is most important for beginners.

There are some days that I can’t get myself to sit down for a meditation, but I don’t beat myself over it because I’m at a point where I have the luxury to be able to do that because I spent the effort in the beginning. It’s doable for anybody, if I can do it, anyone can do it, it’s not like I have some great gift. That’s the whole thing with the Buddhist approach, anyone who has interest and is willing to put in the work 5–10 minutes a day, can make incredible progress, it does not take that much effort. 

That is the wonderful thing about Buddhism, if this approach doesn’t work, there are other approaches, they say the Buddha gave 84,000 baskets of teachings for 84,000 types of minds because no size fits all. Some find Buddhism so confusing because there are so many different things, it’s like going to the supermarket for the right kind of toothpaste and there’s a whole aisle of toothpaste, which do you choose? It’s difficult to choose, so you need a guide or teacher to help you choose the right toothpaste. 

But maybe you try the first toothpaste, and it’s awful and doesn’t work. But there are so many other toothpastes, so you just try another one, you tell the guide, Okay this isn’t working, what else can I try? That’s the beauty of it, there are so many different approaches, so there is something that works for everyone. You just have to make an effort. That is why the spiritual guide is so important. 

That’s the beauty of it, there are so many different approaches, so there is something that works for everyone.

For me, for example, breathing meditation is so difficult. I can’t do a breathing meditation, I’ve been trying to do a breathing meditation for 30 years now. After about 2 minutes I’m not on the breath, I’m somewhere else. I know for certain that it’s not an approach that works for me, but that’s okay. I can meditate on a mental image or a sound or holy object or my mind itself, there are so many others. I don’t need the breath. That is where the power of Buddhism comes. 

It’s not just mindfulness. In the West, Buddhism is equated with mindfulness; mindfulness is absolutely important, there is no Buddhism without mindfulness because you need to be mindful of one’s actions, to have ethical behavior which is a cornerstone for Buddhism. You need mindfulness to know what you’re doing with your body, speech, and mind, but it isn’t everything. 

You need mindfulness to know what you’re doing with your body, speech, and mind, but it isn’t everything.

There are many higher-level goals in Buddhism; the ultimate goal is to benefit others, to perfect oneself to the point where one has all the skillful means to best benefit everyone in the universe. That is the ultimate goal of Mahayana Buddhism, which is incredible, and almost seems unachievable. Mindfulness is the beginning, it’s a tiny part, so if people were really practicing bodhicitta, compassion meditation, and all of these other things, it would be amazing what they would be able to do, not just leading a stress-free life, which is also important.

The final piece of advice is to stop meditating before you get tired, stop at a high point. Don’t wait for the downhill, it’s like the football player who leaves on a high note instead of waiting for everyone to want him out. If you stop on a high note you leave with positive energy and want to do it again. Don’t just keep doing it until it’s all a struggle.

Interview conducted by Isabela Acebal

Growing up in the Tsum Valley

I was born in the Himalayan region, right on the border of Tibet and Nepal, in Tsum Valley or Happy Valley. It is said that there is hidden Dharma treasure here, buried underground, in stupas, and in the atmosphere. For thousands of years, many masters have mediated there, like Milarepa.

Before, the village was a restricted area and quite isolated, but about eight years ago it opened for outsiders to visit. It is a very humble village, but whoever travels there finds extraordinary peace. They fall in love immediately. 

It is a very humble village, but whoever travels there finds extraordinary peace.

I was born there in 1975, the oldest of seven children. My mother had a difficult birth with me, I was told that I was coming out the opposite way—usually, the head comes first—and over there all births are natural births. My feet came first, and then I was halfway stuck. 

A meditator in the cave—who came from Tibet and settled there, to whom my family had a spiritual connection—suddenly appeared at my home, as if he knew what was going on. The moment he saw what was happening, he asked my aunties to get butter. I think I was born in January, in the middle of winter, because the butter was very hard. He blessed the butter and asked my mom to swallowed it. 

The moment she swallowed it, my body naturally pushed back in, and within less than a minute I did a U-turn and came out. That was my first spiritual contact to my master—in this lifetime—who I regard as my guru. His name is Geshe Lama Konchog; he is in the documentary Unmistaken Child. When I first came into the world, I put my mother and myself in danger and my master saved us. That was my first exposure to the world.

Then I had a quite tough childhood. By four I had to look after the cows, and collect wood and cow dung which we would dry and use for the fire. All my siblings were about two years apart. By then I had two brothers and you could see my face didn’t look like any of my family members. 

By four I had to look after the cows, and collect wood and cow dung which we would dry and use for the fire.

Even before that, when I was born, I was told my face was so ugly that my family didn’t even show me to the other villagers. When you’re born, about after a week, people in the village will come visit and congratulate you, wanting to see the baby’s face. I was told I looked like a worm. 

When I was born, I was told my face was so ugly that my family didn’t even show me to the other villagers.

Then I evolved, but I still didn’t look like any of my family members. In that very small village friends would tease my father saying it seemed like I was not his boy. Since it’s a very small village and people are narrow-minded, he started to think I wasn’t his son. He started to have a bit of an aversion to me. 

My brother is like a copy of my father’s face, and he was the favorite. Since I was little, I longed for a hug, I always longed for kind words from my father. My mother was very loving to me, and the rest of my family was very loving to me. But my father would give them obstacles to express that love openly. 

Whatever expressions of love that I got from my mother was when my father wasn’t around. As a little baby, I had a hunger for love, for a hug, especially when I’d see my brothers always put on my father’s lap, and he’d pet them. There was jealousy. 

Whenever he talked to me, it was scolding, like something was wrong with me. There was no sympathy for me at the age of four, I had to go work, collect firewood, and look after the cows. But during that time, fortunately, my master was still in the cave, and somehow—without people telling me how precious he is—my mind was full of him. 

Geshe Lama Konchog

The journey to his cave took about an hour and it was straight uphill. I would just go. But I couldn’t stay too long because if my father didn’t see me at a certain time, I’d get into trouble again. He had a big cot, and he hardly talked. I used to go in there and fall asleep immediately, the most peaceful time, and I experienced physical warmth. Mentally, I felt protected too, and I finally had the chance to rest or sleep. 

Sometimes one of my family members would come to take me away. Then my master would say, You better go back. Along the way, my whole body would get scratches, passing through the bushes. My life was very much like that until the age 7, when I started to follow my father when he’d do business, he’d trade and collect herbs for incense or medicine from the mountains, then he’d go to Kathmandu which takes 16–19 days walking from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

He’d have to carry all of the herbs by himself before I turned seven. I don’t know how he carried everything, food and supplies, but when I started traveling with him, it was mainly to carry the food supply. I’d help him carry spelt flour or barley flour for food. Because we didn’t have money for food for restaurants. This flour would be our breakfast, lunch, and dinner every single day. We’d carry one wooden bowl and scoop two or three spoons of water from a waterfall or river and make it into a drink. 

When we reached Kathmandu we didn’t have a place to go, we mostly went to one stupa (Kathesimbu), right in the middle of the city, next to Thamel, the center of the tourist area. That stupa used to be my home when we’d come down to Kathmandu, it is believed to hold relics of Buddha Kassapa, one of the fortunate Buddha who already came to this world.

Around the stupa there weren’t many shops, but lots of houses and sheds. In Nepal, they go inside quite early on and stay inside. My father and I used to find a space and sleep there, then in the early morning we’d display the herbs and hope someone would come and buy them. Or we’d walk around and exchange, usually for rice and sugar. 

One of the main purposes was to get rice and sugar and if there was extra money then we would buy some threads, needles, shoes, or something for the family. And in fact, this rice and sugar was not for the family to eat. Once a year our family would invite 15-20 nuns and monks from the local monastery and nunnery to perform Tara Puja, and during that time they’d make a rice meal for them and sweet tea. 

At that time, in my village, rice and sugar was more rare and precious than gold. Most women would wear gold, but rice cost money while gold was passed down. If you had the chance to eat rice, it meant you were rich, it was that precious. 

At that time, in my village, rice and sugar was more rare and precious than gold.

I was a porter for three years, from age seven to nine. I found life to be very miserable. I didn’t have shoes, it was very cold at home, and Kathmandu was too hot. There were many mountains to cross and we had to walk nonstop. I was carrying 10 kilos at the age of seven, that’s a full supply. Since my relationship with my dad was not so good, I couldn’t express my misery, or he would scold me. 

By nature, he was not a bad person, I think he was suffering a lot. He had to take care of so many family members. My mother got a lot of scolding from him. But it was mainly to me, he was just pouring his own stress to me. As a young boy, I saw him as kind of a monster, he was like the worst person in the world. 

Then, when I was around seven, my master disappeared. In my family, everyone acted like he was dead. Every opportunity I’d have, I’d go up to the cave and see if he was there, but he never was. I asked my other family members, and while they didn’t answer me, they acted as if he was no more. In actuality, my father had told the rest of the family that they couldn’t tell me that my master had left for Kopan. 

But I had a deep feeling that he was alive. Finally, when I couldn’t take it anymore, I asked my father, Where’s Grandpa Lama? I thought he was a family member. He never answered, he would scold and ignore me. At nine, on my last trip as a porter, I told my father that I strongly felt Grandpa Lama was not dead, and that he knew where he was, and if he didn’t let me see him, I’d kill myself. I would jump from the cliff. My father truly believed me, and I think I really meant it as well.

At the time I had lots of suicidal thoughts, I really wanted to jump from the cliff. The roads were very scary with lots of cliffs and in every sense you would feel so much pain—you were walking on all the pokey rocks without shoes, your head hurting from carrying the heavy load, and emotionally you felt discarded, ignored, and unloved.

At the time I had lots of suicidal thoughts, I really wanted to jump from the cliff.

Suddenly, within one or two hours, he brought my Grandpa Lama. It was like seeing a loving grandpa, and I jumped on him and said, I’m not going away from you. My father is not from the local village, he is from Tibet, he was in the army and a bodyguard for the Dalai Lama. His hometown was by the border, so he had either returned home or was sent to cross the border and then got stuck in the village where I grew up. 

There’s a great possibility that my father knew Geshe Lama Konchog even before coming to the village. The reason for that is Lama Konchog left Lhasa, his monastery, Sera Jey, before the Chinese army arrived in Lhasa, he has this dream, vision—he can predict a lot of things—that the Chinese army was about to arrive, and he told people, We better escape, otherwise we will get into trouble. But none of them believed him. 

So he left. He walked through the mountains to the border in about three months. At Lhodrak, there’s a central holy place of Milarepa, where Milarepa grew up and met his teacher, Marpa. My father’s hometown was actually nearby, and Lama Konchog disappeared during that period, he must have done retreat in Milarepa’s cave.

When Lama Konchog came to my village, he completed isolated himself, for another 26 years in a cave. About 10 years into his 26 years of retreat, finally, villagers began to become aware of his existence. Even though people had known of his existence, but they saw him not as a mountain monkey or some stranger animal.

He went through hard times because the villagers would use a slingshot and chase him. But that gave him the opportunity to express his spiritual abilities, like quick feet. He could run without even touching the ground, and he could even fly. 15 men found him in his first cave and they thought he was some kind of monkey or bad thing, and they tried to chase him, then they saw him cross over the mountain, that no human could climb, as if he was flying. 

He could run without even touching the ground, and he could even fly.

I think this is true, because 15 people all see this. Also, in our scripture, there are yogi-conducive conditions that help you succeed in meditation, in whatever conditions. One of them is quick feet, so you don’t need bridges or roads, whenever they see a place that is suitable for their practice they can just arrive there. There’s no roads, cars, airplanes, but they reached all of these places, how is that possible? They must have used quick feet. 

Another yogi-conducive condition is being able to control the elements, controlling hot and cold. You can even stay without shelter, in maybe minus 40 degrees. I think Lama Konchog actually stayed like that in the snow region. Another yogi conducive condition is called Chulen, like extracting nutrition from medicinal substances or blessing a stone with a mantra and concentration samadhi and put that stone under their tongue and they can get all the nutrients from it. 

The most advanced one is getting nutrients from air. You just inhale air and you can survive. Lama Konchog practiced this, so he didn’t have to eat anything. He just inhaled air and was able to survive. In one way it seems unbelievable, and in another way, there are such practitioners. In the past, many other practitioners must have practiced like that. In the scripture it shows this, Lama Konchog, during our lifetime, is one who displayed all of those. 

He didn’t have to eat anything. He just inhaled air and was able to survive.

Geshe Tenzin Zopa’s Motivation for Becoming a Monk

Back to my childhood, the monks and nuns would come to my family home to perform pujas. They used lots of instruments, like the longhorn, trumpet, bell, and symbol. The chanting was with a lot of tune, I didn’t understand it but anyone would enjoy this melody. I used to feel so much peace, usually during the puja period. My job was to clean, serve tea, serve meals, and wash dishes. 

The mountain monks and nuns would come with big smiles and lots of talking, in my family we were so tense and quiet, and when my dad talked we had to be quiet. But when the monks and nuns came, there was lots of laughing and teasing. Then they would go to the shrine room and sing songs, which were actually prayers, but when I was young I thought they were just singing. 

By lunchtime, the best food was served for them, and I knew how much hardship it was to get that food; we slept in the rain, and in hot weather, my father had to beg to exchange herbs for rice. They would lick the plates, but after the meals, I would still go and try to find one grain of rice while I was cleaning. I thought it was so unbelievable, even though there was no taste, but just the preciousness, I felt it was so special. Even the sweet tea that they drank completely, I would try to find any drop there before I washed it. Even a little taste felt so amazing. 

My father used to buy little orange candies, which were delicious and cheap, and he used to give it to all the kids expect for me, and this built an attachment for me. I used to think if I want to be happy and if I want to eat rice and taste sugar, then I should become a monk. That’s the actual inspiration of why I became a monk and why I chose this kind of life.

I used to think if I want to be happy and if I want to eat rice and taste sugar, then I should become a monk.

Actually, there’s a movie about it that some students from New York made. They have their own interesting stories and some are similar to mine, of conflicts with family or partners or friends. But through my teachings and spending time with me, they felt like they could let go, feel consoled, and they feel benefited. 

So one day, they asked me how I became a monk. They said, You carry so many blessings, you must be someone very special to be here. Many great masters can trace back their previous lives. They said, You must be somebody because there are so many lamas, and we listen to many people, but after spending time with you our lives are transformed. They asked who are you? 

I said, I may be even more ordinary than you. I have no idea who I was in past lives, I’m not like the special lamas, I’m a monk, but I became a monk from an ordinary motivation, nothing about enlightening sentient beings. I simply wanted to eat rice, taste sweetness, and be happy. The students felt touched and they said, This is something very interesting and down to earth.

I simply wanted to eat rice, taste sweetness, and be happy. 

Everything depends on your mind

When you became a monk, you usually shave all hair. And my skull had a big divet in the middle from the rope—you can imagine this seven-year-old boy carrying 10 kilos from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., nonstop. After I shaved, my master, Geshe Lama Konchog, would go over to my head and touch it, and he’d say, The kindest person in your life is your father. It used to make me so angry, but I could not express that to him.

He knew my family, my mother and my aunties were the most loving, not my father. So why did he say my father’s name, who is the worst person, who made me suffer? He never explained to me, I never dared to asked, it took about three years, but the more he’d do that, the more angry I’d get. 

Suddenly, my father appeared after three years of not seeing him, and at that time my master was somewhere else. I wanted to impress him, I was longing for just one hug from him and for eye-to-eye contact, for him to see me. 

I saw him from the gate, from the second floor you can see straight to the main gate. I immediately ran into the kitchen, we had one Nepali cook and I told the cook, When you see my father can you bring him to my Lama’s room? In his room, I brought his table next to the bed, as if it were my bed, and I brought all his books and texts, and I opened the door. I wanted him to see that I was studying so much, I know so much. But I was just pretending that I was reading. 

He got to the door, saw me, I could sense him, he was there for five minutes observing me, then he finally came in, and he didn’t look at me, he looked at the texts, then he said, “I’m very proud of you” and he still didn’t give me a full hug, it was a side hug. Then he left. 

After that, I felt happy but still incomplete and empty. I was happy because after three years I got to see him, and at least he said he was proud of me. But at the same time, he still didn’t look at me or hug me. But then three hours later he came back with a very colorful, soft blanket with flowers.

He didn’t even sit down, he just gave it to me, and said, This is for you. Then he says, You’re very lucky, I’m very proud of you, you just follow your Grandpa Lama, I’m very happy for you. But he still didn’t give me a hug, and deep in my heart I was still longing for that, then he left. 

When I became a monk, my master told my father that I was still his son, so he had to make the first robe for me so that it was auspicious. When he made the robe, he made it from nylon—all these ropes—and made it very big. But that blanket was his real gift to me. I realized then that whatever money he made in Kathmandu this time from selling the herbs, he probably spent all the money on the blanket. I’m quite sure he went home empty-handed. I could relate to that. I felt touched but incomplete.

Then three years later I got the news that he had passed away, and I felt completely empty, a complete void of a solid figure in my life. I ran into my room, I was saving money in a piggy bank to go home to see my mother, and I broke the piggy bank and brought all the coins to the gompa keeper. He became a monk when he was 40 or 50, and before he became a monk he had children, he had renounced his family, so he knew how to take care of kids. 

I went straight to him and held his leg and cried, saying that my father had passed away. I said I wanted to do something for my father, that I wanted to offer light, so he gave me a butter light. During that time, the gompa was small and the biggest holy object was Lama Yeshe’s stupa. I put the light in front of the stupa and cried so much. 

Then I realized all the goodness I had, my master, my friends in the monastery. When I first came to the monastery, it felt like a pure land. I didn’t know what pure land was, but now that I think about it, it was exactly like that. I was really liberated from all the suffering. 

There, I understood why my master was said, The kindest person in your life is your father. Because of his treatment, I could renounce my family life and home, and dedicate my life to the monastery. By then we were also meeting foreigners, like Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Lama Konchog, and they looked amazing, and you felt happy to just see them. 

All of this was due to his kindness. Even today, being able to come here to Santa Fe, to meet the Dharma brothers and sisters, to share my dharma, and life becoming so meaningful, all of it goes back to my father.  It was because of him that I got all the goodness in my life and was able to go away from the suffering. My brother, his favorite, is taking care of the legacy and family, and it is a really hard life. 

I realized good and bad is all about your perception, nothing substantially exists on the object side, like how we say samsara and nirvana, there is no substantial existence of it, it’s all your mind. If your mind is purified, the samsara land also becomes pure land. There isn’t a pure land somewhere else that you have to travel to, it’s right in your mind. 

If your mind is purified, the samsara land also becomes pure land.

Even if you live in the most comfortable place, but your mind is not purified, it’s a miserable place. I came to the understanding that my father was the kindest person in my life; he was actually my first guru. He taught me that everything depends on your mind, and your perception. If you can change your perception, everything can become positive and pure. 

Even if you live in the most comfortable place, but your mind is not purified, it’s a miserable place.

When I shared that with these students and the filmmaker, he said we must have a movie about it to share this message. There are so many people going through relationship difficulties, with fathers and mothers, this and that, and some people live with that grudge their whole life, and they think the problem lies in the object. 

My experience shows that when your mind changes, everything can change. Because of that they filmed this movie, and I believe the name of the movie is The Monk in the Rice, but they may change the name. After Santa Fe, where we are now, I will go to New York, and spend three days for the final part. 

Mental Health & Buddhism

In my childhood, I had mental health problems. Mainly due to circumstances, it wasn’t inborn. The masters would always remind us of the unbelievable Buddha potential we all have. 

If you aspire to be Buddha, you can be Buddha. Aspire to be happy, you can be fully happy. Aspire to serve others, you can serve others. It doesn’t matter your background, or whatever history you may have, those are circumstantial, temporary obstacles. Your ultimate being is so pure and equal to everybody, even to the Buddha. 

If you aspire to be Buddha, you can be Buddha.

As long as there’s a constant virtuous environment—and you diligently learn and practice, purify those negative thoughts and accumulate virtuous imprints—you can be completely transformed from the unhappiest person to the happiest person. From unvirtuous to virtuous. From nonspiritual to spiritual. 

I experienced that immediately, within a day, the day before I arrived to Kopan Monastery, everything was miserable. Everywhere was miserable, that was the worst period.  But the moment I entered the gate, every goodness started, right there I felt happy, it felt like pure land, even though I didn’t know the description. 

I remember when I entered the gate with my master, in Kopan at that time there were two big dogs, one was called Macala (the protector), he was dark and huge, and the other was brown, called Gomshen (the great meditator). Lama Yeshe brought them as puppies from Tibet.

Macala was huge, bigger than me when I was nine, and he jumped on me like he wanted to bite me, but he didn’t. He pushed me to the ground and I almost lost my consciousness, because for me this dog was like a tiger. Then, when my master pulled me up, he told me Macala had changed my life, he had removed obstacles. He was the protector, he was not an ordinary dog. My master said, You will succeed in your spiritual journey. 

Then due to changes of weather, changes of places, and a bit of fear from the dog, I was sick for three months with heavy diarrhea. There I experienced what unconditional love means. I was living with the late Abbott and Geshe Lama Konchog and I was completely bedridden; I couldn’t control my bowels and I would vomit everywhere. My masters would clean me, take me to the toilet, shower me, and literally cleaned me by hand. 

There I experienced what unconditional love means.

I’m sure my mom did that when I was a baby, but I don’t remember. I didn’t really experience that at home, but I experienced that with my two masters. They were so gentle and loving, they were very soft, they’d feed me with a little spoon. Overtime, I saw these masters do the same for the other children there. 

Like many others, I said I was an orphan, even though I have my father and mother, but in an emotional sense you are an orphan, and they are taking care of you like that. All of this heals you, all of this can heal any emotional crisis, any mental suffering. 

Now I am always happy, and it is a sustainable happiness. I’m sure all the spiritual teachings have the same impact, a genuine sense of unconditional love, compassion, kindness, and gentleness, this is the real medicine to heal any mental sufferings. 

Now I am always happy, and it is a sustainable happiness.

Then if there’s an element of our past karma, Buddhists believe that everything you go through, good or bad, has an element of past lives accumulation. This practice is still the main antidote, the Buddha Dharma is built on these basic values of love and compassion. This is what I experience and try to practice and share with others. 

I always try to translate everything into a day-to-day guide to make you a better human being, more positive, and direct antidote to an unhappy life and mind, negativities. Then you can enjoy life full of virtues. If you live a life full of love, then you are living a virtuous life. 

If you live a life full of love, then you are living a virtuous life. 

If you are unable to serve others, express love and compassion, then this human life is meaningless. You can be very rich, famous, with high status, but missing this element, not being at the service of others and being unable to express compassion, then it is meaningless. The real cause of joy and happiness comes from that. 

If you are unable to serve others, express love and compassion, then this human life is meaningless.

In the past 20 years, I’ve traveled to many European countries, America, Southeast Asian countries, I’ve met all sorts of people, from little kids to seniors, and the emotional crisis is very common. There is so much unhappiness. 

Even in the study of Dharma, if you can’t translate things to be sensible to your mind and emotion, then how much information you collect will not help. I see people who have been studying Buddhism for 30 to 40 years, but they are so angry, unhappy, and impatient. They’ve met unbelievable masters, but the motivation must be wrong. 

I see people who have been studying Buddhism for 30 to 40 years, but they are so angry, unhappy, and impatient.

There is basic criteria to receive the full benefit of this Dharma practice in Buddhism, the quality of student. There are three qualities: nonpartisan, diligent, and basic wisdom. Nonpartisan, when you practice Dharma it’s not for holy benefit, it’s for ultimate liberation from negative emotions and karma. To develop wisdom, attitudes like loving-kindness and compassion. It is not just collecting information. Some people just collect info and think that will transform you. 

Many of the teachings lack the elements of gentleness, loving, and humanness, and it is only based on the philosophy. Even in a normal school, little kids experience serious depressions and emotional crises. On top of whether you are learning Dharma knowledge, you need the basic human values of love and compassion, and sharing that human to human. 

As I mentioned before, I was greatly benefitted by these gurus, like Lama Konchog, with their love, affection, kindness, gentleness, I think that is the key that healed me. An emotional crisis can be huge, but looking at my journey, it was very intense, very serious and I was able to heal right there. At that time I wasn’t even exposed to the philosophy or extensive learning, I was just exposed to the human love, care, and compassion.

Interview conducted by Isabela Acebal

There are several ways to delve into the study of Buddhism and many traditions to choose from—like Vajrayana, Theravada, or Mahayana—that it can be difficult to know where to start. If you are interested in Buddhist tradition but confused about how to begin, let us help!

At The Buddhist Center—Thubten Norbu Ling, based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, we support each other on the spiritual journey to bring more balance, joy, and kindness to our daily lives through study, online courses, and Buddhist meditation.

We study the various formats and contexts of Buddhist practice, guided by the wisdom in the rich literatures of Buddhist sutras, such as the Pali Canon and other significant Buddhist texts. We also engage with modern science, which provides insights into the path of the bodhisattva—a being committed to achieving enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings.

Online Buddhist Course: Discovering Buddhism

The Discovering Buddhism program offers a rare opportunity to experience the profound wisdom of the Buddha’s teachings applied to everyday life. This is no dry academic study, but a chance to taste the “chocolate” of Buddha’s insights through the Gelug tradition’s unbroken living lineage stretching back over 2,500 years. The in-depth syllabus consists of 14 modules and lasts just over 2 years. Students are welcome to hop in and out anytime, no prerequisites or commitments are required unless you wish to receive the FPMT certificate of completion for this program.

Imagine gaining insights into the true nature of reality and learning methods to develop wisdom, compassion, and inner peace—the very realizations attained by the Buddha himself. The curriculum draws from Lama Tsong Khapa’s brilliant “lam-rim” teachings on the graduated path to enlightenment, enriched by the unique experiences of the great 20th-century Tibetan Gelug Buddhist masters Lamas Yeshe and Zopa Rinpoche.

But this is no mere intellectual exercise. To fully experience these life-changing teachings, you’ll be guided step-by-step in meditation practices and retreat experiences integral to the path. For those who complete all requirements, you’ll receive the FPMT completion certificate—a powerful symbol of your commitment to spiritual awakening.

Even if you just audit parts of the program, Discovering Buddhism offers a precious opportunity to expand your mind and touch the profundity and depth of Buddha’s teachings. Whether you go all-in or just dip your toes, prepare to be inspired, challenged, and transformed by these ancient insights made vibrantly alive by leading modern Buddhist scholars like Ven. Sangye Khadro, Gen Don Handrick, and others. Discover the joy and peace of the Buddhist practice and integrate it into your everyday life!

Enroll now and learn about Buddhist philosophy!

Course Duration: July 2024 – fall of 2026

Enrollment: While free registration is encouraged to facilitate communication, you’re welcome to audit the course even if you haven’t registered. One-time registration is sufficient for the entire program.

Venue: Zoom is available for all classes (access directly from calendar event pages). Some classes will also be offered onsite at The Buddhist Center in Santa Fe.

Course access: Zoom links are provided in our calendar event pages. For onsite classes, you are welcome to drop by anytime.

Prerequisites: None

Time Commitment: One evening class per week (1.5 hours), optional study/reading time 1-5 hours per week

Study Tracks: Flexible Track (self-paced, if you don’t study for certification, optional self-assessments) or Certification Track

Cost: Optional donations, included in The Buddhist Center membership

Teachers: Ven. Sangye Khadro, Gen Don Handrick, and others

Contact: Ven. Losang Dondrub

Language: English

There are several different ways to study of Buddhism and many traditions to choose from, like Vajrayana, Theravada, or Mahayana, that it can be difficult to know where to start. If you are interested in Buddhist tradition but confused on how to begin, let us help!

At The Buddhist Center—Thubten Norbu Ling, based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, we support each other on the spiritual journey to bring more balance, joy, and kindness to our daily lives through study, online courses, and Buddhist meditation.

We study the various formats and contexts of Buddhist practice, guided by the wisdom found in the rich literatures of Buddhist sutras, such as the Pali Canon and other significant Buddhist texts. We also engage with modern science, which provides insights into the path of the bodhisattva—a being committed to achieving enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings.

The Discovering Buddhism program offers a rare opportunity to experience the profound wisdom of the Buddha’s teachings applied to everyday life. This is no dry academic study, but a chance to taste the “chocolate” of Buddha’s insights through the Gelug tradition’s unbroken living lineage stretching back over 2,500 years. The in-depth syllabus consists of 14 modules and will last just over 2 years. Students are welcome to hop in and out anytime, no pre-requisites or commitments are required, unless you wish to receive the FPMT certificate of completion for this program.

Imagine gaining insights into the true nature of reality and learning methods to develop wisdom, compassion, and inner peace—the very realizations attained by the Buddha himself. The curriculum draws from Lama Tsong Khapa’s brilliant “lam-rim” teachings on the graduated path to enlightenment, enriched by the unique experiences of the great 20th century Tibetan Gelug Buddhist masters Lamas Yeshe and Zopa Rinpoche.

But this is no mere intellectual exercise. To fully experience these life-changing teachings, you’ll be guided step-by-step in meditation practices and retreat experiences integral to the path. For those who complete all requirements, you’ll receive the FPMT completion certificate—a powerful symbol of your commitment to spiritual awakening.

Even if you just audit parts of the program, Discovering Buddhism offers a precious opportunity to expand your mind and touch the profundity and depth of Buddha’s teachings. Whether you go all-in or just dip your toes, prepare to be inspired, challenged and transformed by these ancient insights made vibrantly alive by leading modern Buddhist scholars like Ven. Sangye Khadro, Gen Don Handrick, and others. Discover the joy and peace of the Buddhist practice and integrate it into your everyday life!

Click Here: To find more in-depth information about Discovering Buddhism

Current Class

DB3:Presenting the Path

Teacher:  Ven. Lozang Yönten
Mondays, November 11, 2024 – December 16, 2024
7:00pm – 8:30pm
ZOOM ONLY

Next Class

DB4:The Spiritual Teacher

Teacher: Ven. Thubten Nyima
Mondays, January 6, 2025 – February 10, 2025
7:00pm – 8:30pm
ZOOM ONLY

Enroll now and learn about Buddhist philosophy!

Course Duration: July 2024 – fall of 2026

Enrollment: While free registration is encouraged to facilitate communication, you’re welcome to audit the course even if you haven’t registered. One-time registration is sufficient for the entire program.

Venue: Zoom available for all classes (access directly from calendar event pages). Some classes will also be offered onsite at The Buddhist Center in Santa Fe.

Course access: Zoom links are provided in our calendar event pages. For onsite classes, you are welcome to drop by anytime.

Prerequisites: None

Time Commitment: One evening class per week (1.5 hours), optional study/reading time 1-5 hours per week

Study Tracks: Flexible Track (self-paced, if you don’t study for certification, optional self-assessments) or Certification Track

Cost: Optional donations, included in The Buddhist Center membership

Teachers: Ven. Sangye Khadro, Gen Don Handrick and others

Contact: Ven. Losang Dondrub, spc@tnlsf.org

Language: English

 by Thubten Jangsem, contributing writer 

In New Mexico, the cliffs are painted in colorful ribbons and slow-moving shadows sail across a juniper-spotted sea. A break in the clouds lights up a lone peak behind a dark mesa, striking you with joy in one moment; in just two or three, the pink glow, and one’s mood, change to match muted brown hues—eyes fixed all the while. The land in this state is nothing more than impermanence made visual. Within that promise of change, however, there is freedom, healing… “Enchantment,” as it is routinely called, when more precise words fail to come. 

 “For the visitors, seeing and paying respect creates lots of positive energy of karma, merits which can bring positive changes in their [lives]. It can give much needed inner peace and spiritual awakening.”

Though, at times, this sentiment captures—for me, personally—the experience of living in the New Mexican desert…our recently returned resident teacher, Geshe Thubten Sherab, is referring to an entirely different collection of sand, one that is painted using a palette considerably brighter than Georgia O’Keeffe’s. 

Later this month, monks from Drepung Loseling monastery in southern India will visit The Buddhist Center-Thubten Norbu Ling, bringing heaps of colorful sand with them. As part of the Mystical Arts of Tibet¹ tour “endorsed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama “to promote world peace and healing,’” the monks will perform the tantric ritual offering of a sand mandala, or dul-tson-kyil-khor (in Tibetan). 

Of the four different kinds of mandala offerings²—“outer,” “inner,” “secret,” and “suchness”—the sand mandala shares the same category as the common hand gesture, or mudra, made before requesting teachings, etc. In the latter case, the visual arrangement of one’s fingers represents Mount Meru (centrally joined ring fingers), four continents (two corners), the Sun and Moon (tips of ring fingers), and the Universe “ground” (palm). The sand mandala, on the other hand, is considered among the three most extensive types of “outer” mandalas. The symbolism in a sand mandala can be quite intricate, and depends on the theme or deity housed within the mandala. 

“Normally,” Geshe Sherab explains to me via e-mail, “we create mandala when doing empowerment, self initiation and other big sadhana ceremonies.” The Drepung monks were invited to the Buddhist Center “to purify negative karmic energy” in this country and the world, and “to create cause and positive energy to bring harmony, peace, joy in the world.” To this end, the central deity of the mandala will be the Medicine Buddha, who—with his healing nectar— has compassionately vowed to relieve sentient beings’ sufferings of bodies and minds. 

In general, sand mandala offerings are a means of accumulating merit for both the artists and visitors. As Geshe Sherab explains in the quote above, merit can bring “positive changes,” including, for example, the clearing of obstacles to dharma realizations. When observing dul-tson-kyil-khor, Geshe Sherab advises that the amount of merit generated varies, naturally, depending on whether visitors “engage in practices such as prostration, bowing down, paying homage and respect, making offering, circulating and meditating.”

The complete sand mandala will take days for the Drepung monks to build as they carefully slide the final grains of sand down small, hand-held funneled tubes. Once finished, the mandala is destroyed. The blessed sand is swept up and poured into a river or any outlet to the ocean—so as to purify the sentient beings in the Ocean of samsara—as an important lesson: “The destruction of the mandala on the last day [is] to teach and learn about impermanence and letting go of grasping,” Geshe Sherab writes.  

We are fortunate, then, in the Land of Enchantment, to be reminded of this lesson every day. With every trick of light-and-dark played out in the sky and in the landscape, residents and visitors are granted a fleeting taste of the luminous mind, lit up, ever briefly, by a “break in the clouds.”

1. https://www.mysticalartsoftibet.org ↩︎
2. As recalled from visiting teacher Geshe Tenzin Zopa’s  classes at the Buddhist Center-Thubten Norbu Ling on “The Universe in our Hands: How and Why to Offer the Mandala” ↩︎

COMING SOON: MYSTICAL ARTS OF TIBET

Interested in witnessing the magic of sand mandalas with your own eyes? We are pleased to welcome back the Mystical Arts of Tibet tour with the monks from Drepung Loseling Monastery (Mundgod, India) who will construct a Medicine Buddha sand mandala at The Buddhist Center.

The Medicine Buddha sand mandala is dedicated to clearing the obscurations that create suffering and conflict, and create a world view of peace, compassion, health, and happiness. It is often referred to as the “Master of Remedies” or the “Sage and Knowing Doctor of Suffering of This World”.

Sunday, July 21: Opening Ceremony

Starting at 2 p.m.

Monday, July 22–Friday, July 26

2:00–6:00 p.m. (end of day chanting meditation from 5:30–6 p.m.)

Saturday, July 27: Mandala Completion and Consecration

10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Sunday, July 28: Closing Ceremony

2:00–3:00 p.m.

Location: The Buddhist Center—Thubten Norbu Ling

130 Rabbit Road from July 21–28.

Additional events:

Saturday, July 27: Sand Painting Demo/Class

Contact Laura or Mickey (505) 660-4085

Starting at 5 p.m. at the Artful Soul, 227 Don Gaspar St.

Saturday, August 3: Santa Fe City Blessing

Location: Aspen Vista Lookout, Santa Fe National Forest.

Individual ceremonies or House Blessings by the Drepung Loseling Monks may be requested from July 21–28 mornings until 1 p.m. and from August 3-4 all day. Contact Harmon Houghton at harmon@clearlightbooks.com for specific times and availability.