Kagyu Samye Dzong London
News

April 2007

Contents

1. Visit of Choje Akong Tulku Rinpoche - 5th - 9th April
2. Report on the opening of Manor Place
3. Low cost clinic at Manor Place
4. Medicine Buddha instructions
5. Forthcoming events

1 - Visit of Choje Akong Tulku Rinpoche, celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Samye Ling and the 9th Anniversary of Samye Dzong London -
Thursday 5th to Monday 9th April

This year we have a very special visit from Choje Akong Tulku Rinpoche, celebrating both the 40th Anniversary of Samye Ling as well as the 9th Anniversary of Samye Dzong London.

During his visit, Rinpoche will give refuge to those wanting to enter the Buddhist path and give the Empowerments of Medicine Buddha and Dorje Sempa, as well as the scriptural authorisations for those practices. He will also answer questions and give advice on how to integrate the Dharma in daily life. He will be assisted by Ken Holmes and Samye Ling Sangha.

We will also show a video of Rinpoche's recent visit to his monastery in Tibet, Dolma Lhakang, where he was welcomed by 300 khampas on motor bikes and 200 on horseback. Maybe this will inspire people for the pilgrimage there in July / August 2008.

For full details of the programme, click here to visit the website.

To book your place now please either email or phone the office on 020-7928 5447. Accommodation is limited and must be booked well in advance. PLEASE NOTE - This event will be taking place at Carlisle Lane Samye Dzong.

2 - A report on the opening of Manor Place

David Bates writes:

Before talking about the opening, there's one very important thing that needs to be said to all those who have helped us in our journey to this point, and it can't be said too often. Manor Place has been brought back into use by volunteers who have given a phenomenal amount of time and effort. We won't name names here because there are too many and we don't want to miss anybody out - but you know who you are. Whether you spent a couple of hours there or a couple of years (well, it may have felt like that!) please accept a very big, deep and heartfelt

THANK YOU

Not to mention an invitation to a party at Manor Place on Monday 9th April from 7.30 pm (see News in Brief for details).

Without that effort I wouldn't be able to sit here now and write about the opening and weekend of celebrations that followed it.

Cutting it fine as usual I was fortunate to arrive just in time for the official opening. Heralded by a fanfare of traditional Tibetan instruments, and under the watchful gaze of TV cameras (not to mention various enthusiastic amateurs), Lama Yeshe and local MP Simon Hughes untied the white ribbon that stretched across the doorway to the former Manor Baths. Then, after a few well chosen words, we were all admitted to Manor Place Samye Dzong.

Those who have seen Manor Place in recent weeks must have wondered what was going to greet them when they went into the building (I know I was!). My memories were of a dusty, dirty indoor building site. We'd probably better not go into the details of what time the painting was finished but suffice to say that it was just in time for the opening and so what greeted us when we went in was a beautifully restored building ready for use again.

On the ground floor I found the wonderful shrine room with a skylight above the shrine, and prayer flags strung across it outside. The light coming in from above the shrine gives a somewhat different quality to the room compared with Carlisle Lane. Also on the ground floor a fascinating display on the history of Manor Place which has been the site of not only public baths and boxing, but also a zoo, and of course the recycling plant that is there today.

It was a privilege to take part in the first group meditation in Manor Place after its opening, even if it didn't take place in the Shrine Room. The TV crew reporting for London Tonight wanted to film a group of people meditating - and given that celebrations were in full swing on the ground floor, a small number of us found ourselves in the workshop downstairs with a cushion each. It must have been great for the reporter and cameraman - at last, a group of people who would just sit still and quiet while they got on with their report. Nobody jumping up and down and waving at the camera behind the reporter's back. And while sitting cross-legged is the last position I'd normally use for meditation, it was still an incredibly calm and peaceful few minutes that I'm glad to have participated in.

To hear what Lama Yeshe had to say,
click here and scroll to the bottom of the page
where you can watch the video.

The only point of quite and calm otherwise was during Lama Yeshe's afternoon talk and the brief Chenrezig puja. Throughout the rest of the day a constant supply of delicious food made its way from the kitchen, and throughout the weekend the afternoon a group of dedicated therapists gave a range of free treatments to those who got there in time to put their names down.

Over the weekend, several hundred people visited Manor Place - and not just the usual suspects like me, but also a reasonable number of local people. Hopefully, from this, the word will start to spread so that Manor Place Samye Dzong can start to become a real part of the local community and be of benefit to the greatest number of people possible.

To see a slideshow of the run up to and the opening of Manor Place, click here.

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3 - Low cost clinic at Manor Place

In keeping with the spirit of the Centre and the desire to help as many people as possible, a number of therapists have come together to offer a low-cost clinic at Manor Place Samye Dzong. Every Tuesday a number of therapies will be on offer from 9.00 am to 7.00 pm at only £18.00 for a 45 minute session (concessions available).

The therapies on offer include:

• Acupuncture
• Cranial Sacral Therapy
• Reflexology and
• Shiatsu

If you are interested, feel free to just drop in or make an appointment to guarantee the treatment of your choice.

If you are a therapist interested in hiring space at Manor Place you can find more details about the rooms available by clicking here. To make an enquiry please contact us on 020-7708 8969 or by email.

4 - The Medicine Buddha - from a teaching by the Venerable Thrangu Rinpoche

It is said that if one meditates on the Medicine Buddha, one will eventually attain enlightenment, but in the meantime one will experience an increase in healing powers both for oneself and others and a decrease in physical and mental illness and suffering.

"We might think that fundamentally we are practicing the Medicine Buddha in order to benefit our own bodies, whereas the motivation of bodhicitta is the wish to benefit all beings. But in fact there is no contradiction, because, in order to be effective in benefiting other beings, we need to accomplish an excellent samadhi or meditative absorption; and in order to accomplish that, together with the insight and realization that it brings, we need to have a stable practice. In order to have a stable and profound practice, we need to be physically and mentally healthy or comfortable, because by being comfortable in our body, and comfortable in our mind, we will be free of obstacles to diligence in practice and free of obstacles to the cultivation of meditative absorption. So therefore, we are practicing the Medicine Buddha in order to attain states of mental and physical health or balance, not merely for our own benefit, but for the benefit of others as well."

"The primary technique in the meditation consists of imagining ourself to be the Medicine Buddha, conceiving of yourself as the Medicine Buddha. By replacing the thought of yourself as yourself with the thought of yourself as the Medicine Buddha, you gradually counteract and remove the fixation on your personal self. And as that fixation is removed, the power of the seventh consciousness is reduced. And as it is reduced, the kleshas or mental afflictions are gradually weakened, which causes you to experience greater and greater well-being in both body and mind."

"In most religious traditions, the deities of that tradition, when they are related to or imagined, are imagined in front of one. Then, visualizing the deity or deities as being present in front of one, one prays to them, and by doing so hopefully one receives their blessing, which benefits one in some way. In the vajrayana tradition, however, we regard the blessing and the power and the qualities of the deities as being innate, as being within one’s own mind."

"It is through regarding oneself as the deity that defects are gradually eradicated and qualities gradually revealed. The primary technique of visualization is to visualize ourselves as the deity, because the potential to transcend our problems is innate rather than external to us."

Following the empowerment to be given by Rinpoche on Saturday 8th April, Lama Zangmo will be giving instructions on the practice of the Medicine Buddha on Saturday 28th April. Contact the office by email or phone on 020-7928 5447 to book your place now. A monthly Medicine Buddha puja takes place on the second Sunday of the month at Carlisle Lane.

5 - Forthcoming events

To see the full programme of activities at the Centre, please click here to visit the website

This newsletter goes out to those who have expressed an interest in Kagyu Samye Dzong London. It covers news of the efforts and progress towards finding and funding a new site for the centre, and other events taking place in the coming weeks

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