Friday, 30 September 2016
Wednesday, 28 September 2016
Monday, 26 September 2016
Sunday, 25 September 2016
Saturday, 24 September 2016
Friday, 23 September 2016
Wednesday, 21 September 2016
Tuesday, 20 September 2016
Saturday, 17 September 2016
Wednesday, 14 September 2016
Tuesday, 13 September 2016
Monday, 12 September 2016
Saturday, 10 September 2016
Healing Relationships a Public Talk with Lama Choedak Rinpoche
Healing Relationships, a public talk by Lama Choedak Rinpoche
Friday, 9 September 2016
Dudjom Rinpoche about Meditation 1979
Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche's Teaching in London, requested by Sogyal Rinpoche.
Tuesday, 6 September 2016
Ryan Jasper’s reporting trip in Tibet introduced him to an old woman whose life and story symbolised the tumultuous history of Tibetan culture
5 SEP 2016 - 12:02PM
'The story of Tibet was alive in her and her ancient home’
The western provinces of China are some of the most dramatic and unexpected areas I've travelled to, and to this day remain a constant source of fascination for me.
Towering mountains, fertile valleys, vast deserts and barren wastelands sprawl across the Tibetan plateau, where ethnic tribes go about their business herding yaks and migrating with the seasons. Yak butter tea, prayer beads and earth houses are common.
This week’s Dateline looks at attempts to preserve Tibetan building practices in China. Find out more here:
Bulldozing Tibet's Past?
Is Beijing trying to consign Tibet’s ancient culture to history? Traditional houses are being replaced with new, concrete buildings in an effort to ‘modernise’ these earthquake-prone areas. Dateline finds Tibetans in fear of losing their architectural and cultural identity.
To our Western minds – it's the stuff of fantasy and fairy tales. By contemporary Chinese standards though, it’s a primitive and backward existence that needs to be modernised.
For me, it’s an opportunity to learn more about this complex region and its intricate past, current state of flux, and uncertain future.
When I first arrive in Layew, in southern Qinghai province, I am struck by the ambience of the place. A delightful, simple life embraced us – sleeping in a two-storey mud house, Tibetan homemade meals, and hand washing our clothes in the village stream, which was clear and fresh as it tumbled down from the mountain.
The construction of new Chinese built concrete houses down the bottom of the hill seemed a world away. They stood in stark contrast to the traditional Tibetan homes built entirely from local materials.
Yet I had something else on my mind that I wanted to follow up.
When I first tell my hosts I would like to interview Soeyak, the very old woman featured in the Dateline story, there is resistance all around.
“I don't think it's a very good idea”, “it's too difficult to arrange”, and “nobody understands her dialect”, are the responses.
All too often Tibetans shy away from media attention, particularly in relation to sensitive issues, and for good reason; they've been manipulated and threatened for over half a century.
Nonetheless, I persist and persuade our reluctant local interpreter and arrange a time to visit her ancient house, rumoured to be a thousand years old, to sit and talk.
It will require two translators, as Soeyak’s dialect is specific not only to the region of Jiegu, but the village of Layew, and further nuanced with an accent and slang that very few can interpret.
After setting up my equipment, we sit and I tilt the camera to her. Her vision is severely impaired so she could barely see me anyway, but I sensed she felt comfortable with my presence.
I speak Mandarin but Soeyak certainly doesn’t, so I stick with English and rely on the two translators. They were edgy and fearful, concerned, I think, that we may broach a controversial topic, that could ultimately land them in trouble. Their English isn’t great so it’s a long-winded process, but we begin to talk.
However, the translations I receive are barely sufficient.
“She thinks the new houses are good”, was the common response. “She has lived here for long time”.
Well I could certainly tell that.
“She remembers when Red Army march through”.
Oh, now I think we’re getting somewhere.
After the interview was done, the women left hastily, looking relieved. They had difficulty communicating with Soeyak and showed little interest in her affairs. To them, she was old and her house was literally in ruins – rather than regarding her as an iconic link with Tibet’s past who was living in an architectural marvel.
Here lies the difficulty in maintaining Tibet’s rich cultural heritage. The bright lights and other attractions of modern living influence many Tibetans, in the same way they attract many in the West. As well, China is obsessed with modernity, so it makes for a very powerful force acting on what was traditionally a deeply spiritual, non-materialistic society.
Though the two interpreters are by no means advocates of a gaudy lifestyle, there is pressure to be modern and conform to contemporary demands, even in villages as remote as Layew.
After the two translators leave, I find myself alone with Soeyak. She has a remarkable presence. Each deep line on her weathered face has a story to tell. Though the language barrier prevented us from talking, she knew who I was and why I was there.
We sat in silence, and I listened to her chant. Then I held her hand and looked deep into her eyes. I saw her incredible resilience. She had lived through Tibet’s tumultuous modern history; she remembered the coming of the communists and what it meant for her people. She had outlived all her relatives and even her daughter. I saw her age -old sadness. The story of Tibet was alive in her and her ancient home.
Her eyes still linger with me.
Sunday, 4 September 2016
Life In Exile pt 1: Conversations with Tibetan Philosophers (1988-90)
Deep conversation with Tibetan Buddhist Masters.
Life In Exile pt 1: Conversations with Tibetan Philosophers (1988-90)
Deep conversation with Tibetan Buddhist Masters.
Buddhist Monks Debate at Ka Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery
A monastic student shares his views on the benefit of debate based learning.
Buddhist Monks Debate at Ka Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery
A monastic student shares his views on the benefit of debate based learning.
Film on Institute Of Buddhist Dialectics, Dharamsala, India
Dear Readers,
I am sharing here a video from early 1980s, which tells us how students at Tibetan Buddhist Institute in Dharamsala, India, study and practice Buddhist Contemplative studies, Philosophy and Logic.
Hope you will enjoy this video.
Geshe Lobsang Tshultrim
Film on Institute Of Buddhist Dialectics, Dharamsala, India
Dear Readers,
I am sharing here a video from early 1980s, which tells us how students at Tibetan Buddhist Institute in Dharamsala, India, study and practice Buddhist Contemplative studies, Philosophy and Logic.
Hope you will enjoy this video.
Geshe Lobsang Tshultrim
Saturday, 3 September 2016
A World of Her Own - A personalized peaceful world
 |
A Tibetan grandma doing her focus meditation along with mantra recitation while enjoying her tea in a traditional tea cup made of wood.Take a closer look at this picture, what do you see?Each individual may have different interpretations of this picture. When I look at this picture, it reminds my grandma's life. By now, my mind is influenced by a long gone, pleasant events with my grandma, so I see, this grandma as well, doing her mantra recitation in a hymn style with a cat purring and an Tibetan Apso dog sleeping on each side of her. With her left hand, she is rolling each beads; meanwhile, she is singing the sacred mantra hymn. With her right hand, she is spinning the silver hammered wheel, filled with text scrolls, which is printed with millions of sacred mantras, hence she is feeling the positive energies of the mantras. With her mind, she is focusing on the mental image of a beloved and entrusted master, or meditational deity, to whom she sees the sublime spiritual qualities and hence, she experiences the blissful state of her mind. In brief, she is cultivating a positive attitude, speech and body postures, which is healing her within and toning her on the outside. |
A World of Her Own - A personalized peaceful world
|
A Tibetan grandma doing her focus meditation along with mantra recitation while enjoying her tea in a traditional tea cup made of wood.Take a closer look at this picture, what do you see?Each individual may have different interpretations of this picture. When I look at this picture, I recall my grandma's memories. Now probably, my mind is influenced by my good old memories, so I see, this grandma is also doing her mantra recitation in a hymn style. With her left hand, she is rolling each beads; meanwhile, she is singing the sacred mantra hymn. With her right hand, she is spinning the silver hammered wheel, filled with text scrolls, which is printed with millions of sacred mantras, hence she is feeling the positive energies of the mantras. With her mind, she is focusing on the mental image of a beloved and entrusted master, or meditational deity, to whom she sees the sublime spiritual qualities and hence, she experiences the blissful state of her mind. In brief, she is cultivating a positive attitude, speech and body postures, which is healing her within and toning her on the outside. |
A World of Her Own - A personalized peaceful world
|
A Tibetan grandma doing her focus meditation along with mantra recitation while enjoying her tea in a traditional tea cup made of wood.Take a closer look at this picture, what do you see?Each individual may have different interpretations of this picture. When I look at this picture, I recall my grandma's memories. Now probably, my mind is influenced by my good old memories, so I see, this grandma is also doing her mantra recitation in a hymn style. With her left hand, she is rolling each beads; meanwhile, she is singing the sacred mantra hymn. With her right hand, she is spinning the silver hammered wheel, filled with text scrolls, which is printed with millions of sacred mantras, hence she is feeling the positive energies of the mantras. With her mind, she is focusing on the mental image of a beloved and entrusted master, or meditational deity, to whom she sees the sublime spiritual qualities and hence, she experiences the blissful state of her mind. In brief, she is cultivating a positive attitude, speech and body postures, which is healing her within and toning her on the outside. |
A World of Her Own - A personalized peaceful world
|
A Tibetan grandma doing her focus meditation along with mantra recitation while enjoying her tea in a traditional tea cup made of wood.Take a closer look at this picture, what do you see?Each individual may have different interpretations of this picture. When I look at this picture, it reminds my grandma's life. By now, my mind is influenced by a long gone, pleasant events with my grandma, so I see, this grandma as well, doing her mantra recitation in a hymn style with a cat purring and an Tibetan Apso dog sleeping on each side of her. With her left hand, she is rolling each beads; meanwhile, she is singing the sacred mantra hymn. With her right hand, she is spinning the silver hammered wheel, filled with text scrolls, which is printed with millions of sacred mantras, hence she is feeling the positive energies of the mantras. With her mind, she is focusing on the mental image of a beloved and entrusted master, or meditational deity, to whom she sees the sublime spiritual qualities and hence, she experiences the blissful state of her mind. In brief, she is cultivating a positive attitude, speech and body postures, which is healing her within and toning her on the outside. |
Thursday, 1 September 2016
Voidness between August 2, 2010 and September 1, 2016
 |
| Guelph, Canada 2015 |
Dear Readers,
Hello! Sorry, I haven't been able to post any blogs in the last 6 years. Today, I am visiting my blog for the 2nd time since I started writing my original blog. From now onward, I will continue to share my stories, pictures and videos (which I feel it is worth of sharing with my blog readers) weekly as much as possible. Hopefully, you will enjoy them. I welcome your kind comments, questions, and of course, critical comments as well.
Thank you.
Geshe Lobsang Tshultrim
 |
| Guelph, Canada 2015 |
Voidness between August 2, 2010 and September 1, 2016
|
| Guelph, Canada 2015 |
Dear Readers,
Hello! Sorry, I haven't been able to post any blogs in the last 6 years. Today, I am visiting my blog for the 2nd time since I started writing my original blog. From now onward, I will continue to share my stories, pictures and videos (which I feel it is worth of sharing with my blog readers) weekly as much as possible. Hopefully, you will enjoy them. I welcome your kind comments, questions, and of course, critical comments as well.
Thank you.
Geshe Lobsang Tshultrim
|
| Guelph, Canada 2015 |
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