Take Charge of Your Mind

TAKE CHARGE OF YOUR MIND
Liberating your Thoughts and Emotions and Transforming your Life
through the Buddhist Wisdom of Tibet

Kirchheim Winter Retreat in Germany
27 December 2007-6 January 2008
with Sogyal Rinpoche
world-renowned Buddhist teacher from Tibet
and author of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

As His Holiness the Dalai Lama has pointed out:
“A great Tibetan teacher of mind training once remarked that one of the mind’s most marvellous qualities is that it can be transformed.”

Mind is both our greatest asset and our worst, and most dangerous enemy. The mind can recognise, in the matter of an instant, its own nature, or it can grasp and chase its own deluded perceptions of reality, provoking negative thoughts and emotions, which perpetuate and intensify our suffering. The key to finishing with suffering, then, is to understand and tame this mind of ours, and this is the very essence of the teachings of the Buddha.

During this years’ Winter Retreat in Kirchheim, Germany, Sogyal Rinpoche will share teachings from the heart of his lineage that clearly show us the nature of delusion and of emotion, and will offer practical, authentic methods for working with our minds and for defusing the destructive power of our negative emotions and habitual tendencies. In particular, he will share the importance of training the mind in meditation, and its elements of carefulness, mindfulness and awareness; compassion, or lojong, and bodhichitta, the heart of the enlightened mind; and devotion, the entrance way for blessings, the ultimate method for arousing the wisdom of realization in one’s mind.

This retreat will provide a unique opportunity, not only to receive these teachings, but also to draw out the crucial points needed to be able to remember and actually apply the teachings to ourselves. Because, at the end of the day, even if we have been fortunate enough to receive many teachings, what do we really remember, and of that, what do we actually apply and integrate in our everyday lives? This year at Kirchheim, we will explore together how we can truly live a spiritual life in every moment of every day so as to bring meaningful transformation and a glimpse of our enlightened nature. We will experiment with working with our minds from the moment we wake up in the morning, until the moment we go to bed at night, in order to discover practically how we can avoid harming ourselves and others, always have good hearts, bring our minds back home and avoid falling into the vicious cycle of samsaric tendencies.

For upcoming on-line registration and more information, click here!

If we can tame the mind then nothing can frighten us, because all fear comes from a mind that is untamed.
—the Bodhicharyavatara

His Holiness the Dalai Lama Receives US Congressional Gold Medal

The United States Congress bestowed upon His Holiness the Dalai Lama its highest civilian honour, the Congressional Gold Medal. This historic ceremony took place in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington D.C. on 17 October 2007.

US President, George Bush, and Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, presented the medal to His Holiness in front of an audience of four hundred. Sogyal Rinpoche and Patrick Gaffney were among the guests.

Seven thousand people gathered outside the US Capitol to watch the ceremony on giant screens, while tens of thousands of people in 172 different countries watched the ceremony on a live web cast.

The retreatants at Lerab Ling also watched from the Lerab Ling Temple.

President Bush spoke of others who had received the Gold Medal, including past US presidents, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., and Elie Wiesel. He said:

Over the years, Congress has conferred the Gold Medal on many great figures in history -- usually at a time when their struggles were over and won.

Today Congress has chosen to do something different. It has conferred this honor on a figure whose work continues -- and whose outcome remains uncertain. In so doing, America raises its voice in the call for religious liberty and basic human rights. These values forged our Republic. They sustained us through many trials. And they draw us by conviction and conscience to the people of Tibet and the man we honor today.

The Gold Medal depicts His Holiness standing in front of three holy mountains—Kawalurig in Kham, Amnye Machen in Amdo, and Chomalungma (Mt. Everest) in Central Tibet.

The back of the Gold Medal quotes His Holiness, and reads:

World peace must develop from inner peace. Peace is not the absence of violence. Peace is the manifestation of human compassion.

In accepting the Gold Medal, His Holiness said,

It is a great honor for me to receive the Congressional Gold Medal. This recognition will bring tremendous joy and encouragement to the Tibetan people, for whom I have a special responsibility. Their welfare is my constant motivation and I always consider myself as their free spokesperson.

I believe that this award also sends a powerful message to those many individuals who are dedicated to promoting peace, understanding and harmony.

Read the complete transcript of His Holiness' speech.

Photos courtesy ICT/Sonam Zoksang.

Sogyal Rinpoche Teaching in Bhutan 2008

In 2008, Sogyal Rinpoche will teach in Bhutan for five days from 11–16 March.

As Rinpoche visits Bhutan rarely, this will be a special opportunity to receive teachings from him in this Buddhist kingdom.

For more information and to register, go to www.bhutanretreat.com.

The Making of the Buddha Statue for Rigpa's New Berlin Centre

Inauguration of the New Rigpa Centre in Berlin

On 4 October 2007, Sogyal Rinpoche officially opened Rigpa's new Centre in Berlin, Germany, in the presence of officials from the Mayor's office, representatives of other Buddhist groups, and 350 sangha members also attended.

At the opening ceremony, Rinpoche gave a moving speech about the future of the centre and its purpose. He said:

I feel a great sense of joy and inspiration to be here with you this evening, and to take part in this opening of the new Rigpa centre in Berlin.
This centre has come into being through the vision, generosity and commitment of a number of my students here in Germany, and today, as we gather in this magnificent building, I would like to pay tribute to their kindness and dedication.

This centre is one of the largest Buddhist city centres of its kind in Europe... It is a truly remarkable achievement, something that we can indeed celebrate and feel proud of. And it offers tremendous possibilities for our activities in the future... The whole point of a centre such as this is to be of service and of benefit to as many people as possible.

We can sum up the essence of the Buddhist teachings in just two words: wisdom and compassion. If you were to ask me what is the purpose of a centre such as this, it is precisely that - to bring the wisdom and compassion of the Buddha's teachings directly into people's lives, in a way that can truly be of help to them. That is the goal of our centre here.

The building has been painstakingly and beautifully renovated and has three shrine rooms. The main shrine room houses a three metre Buddha statue, a replica of the seven metre Buddha statue in the Lerab Ling Temple. These statues are made in the likeness of what is universally recognised in the Buddhist world as the most sacred representation of the Buddha, the renowned statue at Bodhgaya in northern India, the place where the Buddha attained enlightenment more than 2,500 years ago.

The centre also has 28 apartments, a vegetarian cafe, the "Lotus Lounge”, a bookshop & library.