namaste and greetings to group.

I am uncertain as to my direct involvement in this project, however i felt good things from reading about this, and one never knows where a future path may lead.

Just thinking about and visualizing Buddhist monasteries built and functioning in our very own Rocky Mountains - made me very happy and smiling all over... such are the beacons of hope.

To this group, I will contribute what and where I can.

I wish all inner peace ~ and Goddess Blessings

OM Shanti

Holly

Thank you for the invitation Sapan. If I can be of assistance, please let me know.

May the New HOME Be BLESSED.

Peace, Love & Harmony

stevetrueheart

Welcome back to Tatanitak - Tiger of the Stars and the new Vice-President of Communications & Fundraising on the PCL Board of Directors, and a warm welcome to Dagmar Two Bears, from Europe, who is a Host on the Worldwide Interfaith Healing Circle and active in many other areas of Care2.com, where people that care2 make a difference happily congregate!  Please weigh in whenever your way is open.

All other new members, WELCOME, and feel free to communicate and introduce yourselves here in this Main Member Blog. 

Kindest warm regards,

Sapan Rinpoche

hear and dropping in to say Hello.

I do not know what brought me here as i do not see a possibility to getting directly involved ( but may it exists nevertheless?!)

This project appeals to me and I will simply stuck around and see what developes.

The vision of a monastery like this so high up in the mountains is just amazing !

Light from me Heart, dagmar

AS WE MOVE INTO the New Year 2007, and on January 20th this year, LOSAR, the Tibetan New Year, I would like to share with you some thoughts about our project. PCL is currently in the process of reconstituting its BOARD OF DIRECTORS, and the members of that auspicious group will be introduced to you by early February, actually on February 2nd, the Full Moon or 15th Day of LOSAR! Forming a new Colorado Corporation and Foundation, we are hopeful this year to put our Fundraising into high gear and to acquire the LAND upon which PCL will be built and unfold. Jerry Gehringer, a fine Artist in Lyons, Colorado, has recently completed drawings and a design for our projected "Mountain Rescue Medical Helicopter Pad," in a marvelous Lotus Mandala design, with the internationally recognized Red Cross on a White Background (and FAA-approved) design. PCL will innaugurate its SUMMER PROGRAM beginning on July 15th, with Treks and Campout-Lectures in the Front Range along the Continental Divide. We hope to be able to purchase and dedicate the Land by the Early Fall, before the snows come. AND NOW, from the Vision of PCL, imagine this: Eventually a MAJOR FULLY-ENDOWED DHARMA ISTITUTION -- the Highest in America -- with Six Monks & Six Nuns in a revolving Ordained Sangha, housed in the main monastery building; 15-18 people, Ordained and Lay, in extended Retreat in the "wrap-around" Contemplative Retreat Center; and a thriving community of Yogis & Yoginis in our new YYCC -- Yogi & Yogini Contemplative Community, with Yurts, privately built and a Common Yurt as a focus to the Northwest of the Monastery, near the Continental Divide. Just imagine all of this. This is OUR DREAM! Feel free to communicate and become involved. Your comments, questions and suggestions are warmly welcomed! Kindest sincere regards, Sapan Rinpoche and the new Board of Directors

WHERE & HOW ought the next GENERATIONS of Western Dharma Teachers be trained?

The vision of Sapan Rinpoche for the Phuntsok Choephel Ling Monastery is one RIGOROUS ANSWER to that question! 

"Without more response to the needs (and the need, indeed) for the development of Robed, Ordained Sangha and a Vital Mountain Yogi and Yogini Community and Deep Retreat Facilities, with the best Guides that our system will allow, there will be little real evolution of the Dharma here in the West. That is what I believe. Simply expanding the opportunities in the Metaphysical Marketplace for Lay Practitioners, alone, or relying on the present University "Dharma" Processes, will just not do the job of Transmission, Ripening, and Evolution that Buddhism deserves in this current 21st Century Dharma Diaspora!"

        -- From the book, now in preparation, entiled "Visions for the Future of Western Dharma," by Sapan Rinpoche, to be initially published on a PCL Website and, in print, by PCL Monastery Publications, Boulder, Colorado, USA, North America  

Merril & Rick ... thank you so much for these fine thoughts. I have just returned from my 11-days of "Retreat" and will get back into the discussion here when I have cleared the decks so to speak. Peace, Love & Harmony, Sapan

It would be nice to have a central location that would allow for the training of Buddhist teachers. I see that we have some problems with many of the Asian Buddhist communities. There is some reluctance to open their doors to Western followers. Much of that reluctance being culturally based along with the fear that Westerners will take over "their church". We've had, in my area, a number of monks sent back home by their congregations for accepting too many non-asians into the "church" community. I understand the reluctance on their part, some of it's roots lay in our own laps. So it appears that we will have to largely build our own foundations and establishments with the idea of eventually intregrating it into the existing Asian groups. We'll have to shape the new emerging branch of Buddhism... the Western school.

I would like to see a place that would be more interdenominational... where Buddhist teachers of all the schools could come and learn the teaching skills. Where they could go on retreat to strengthen those skills through meditation and support.

My one big concern with a meditation retreat centre is that I'm seeing a growing emphasis on just meditation in many Western sanghas. Where students aren't being taught to incorporate it into the whole of their life. Meditation in Buddhism is more than just time spent on the mat. The real meditation begins when your every moment... awake or sleep becomes a meditation on the path. Buddhism begins when you become aware of your day to day activities. The mat is a powerful tool and without it, the rest can't grow..... but the mat too can become a chain if it doesn't move beyond and into the everyday world. I think that the problem itself, is that many new Western teachers only understand meditation in terms of the mat. They haven't been given the tools or skills on how to incorporate it into everyday life. Many sanghas stand a very real risk of becoming "mat" Buddhists, much like the "Sunday" Christians who drove those among us who were Christians away.

I see that some of the problems with "mat" Buddhism is that very few of us have been in this path for long. There are only a small number of us who have seen three or four decades. It takes time to develop the inner path... so there are few "veteran" Western Buddhists who understand both the Buddhist path and western society so the two can be blended. I hope that the PCL monastery project will keep this need in mind as the project grows. The Western school of Buddhism will only succeed if it can move the mat into the heart.

Hello everyone,

Phuntsok Choephel Ling, if we can get support for the training of Western teachers of Dharma, will be a pioneering adventure where serious practitioners can do extended meditation retreats.  Retreats are not an escape but require courage, high motivation and understanding of what one is doing, I think. 

Perhaps as a result, our minds can become so rock solid that nothing can disturb our inner peace; perhaps our minds can become so still that we can do what is needed to be done to be there for others, in the most skilful and yet deeply compassionate way.  Perhaps in embracing and facing pain, we can see it for what it is.  As it is, or perhaps as it is not.  Smile.. the exploration is part of the journey.

Inner peace is my dream.  Perhaps inner peace may inspire others in a good way.  Inner peace does not mean NOT being assertive, just calmly skillful, I think.

So for me, to retreat, is actually to become more involved in the world, but only when one is more skilful/skillful. 

What do you think?  Any thoughts on retreat and retreating?  Is it just sheer escapism?

Please bring on the challenging questions.  The best ones are the so-called naieve ones.  They make you think more deeply and I confess I just LOVE questions.  Smiling.

Much warmth,

Merril

THIS IS YOUR MAIN MEMBER BLOG ... for running, ongoing General Discussions. It is moderated, but feel free to communicate and express yourself about the PCL Project!