Karma Thegsum Choling Minneapolis

The KTC Meditation-Thon 2008 begins January 31 at 8:00 a.m. and runs through February 7 at 8:00 a.m. For the week of the Meditation-Thon we have someone sitting in meditation at the Center 24 hours a day. This is the major yearly fund raiser for the Center and we ask people to collect pledges from friends, family members and acquaintances at the rate of $1 per minute of meditation. If you would like to meditate and raise funds or contribute funding for someone who will be sitting, contact the center at KTC’s Karma at Ktcminneapolis dot org, with M-Thon 08 in your e-mail subject line. We would be very happy to have you join us for this event which is dedicated this year to a sustainable Earth.

The KTC Meditation-Thon 2008 begins January 31 at 8:00 a.m. and runs through February 7 at 8:00 a.m. For the week of the Meditation-Thon we have someone sitting in meditation at the Center 24 hours a day. This is the major yearly fund raiser for the Center and we ask people to collect pledges from friends, family members and acquaintances at the rate of $1 per minute of meditation. If you would like to meditate and raise funds, or contribute funding for someone who will be sitting, contact the center at KTC’s Karma at Ktcminneapolis dot org. We would be very happy to have you join us for this event which is dedicated this year to a sustainable Earth.

The following quote written by eminent scholar and Buddhist practitioner of note Robert A. F. Thurman is from his Introduction to The Way Of The White Clouds by Lama Anagarika Govinda.

… as we begin the twenty-first common era century in hopes of not repeating the violence of the world wars and genocides of the previous ones - it is crucial that we face up to some important lessons that Lama Govinda tirelessly taught. Western culture, based on the religious forms of Christianity and Islam, which, in Lama’s words, “lost themselves … by overpowering the human mind through the dictatorship of a partially world-creating and at the same time world-negating spirit,” is still relatively uncivilized, focused on the external conquest of other civilizations, violence, war, imperialism, and a rampant need for material possession and self-aggrandizement. Contrary to its inflated self-image, it is not the most advanced culture the world has yet seen. Its very developed material technology is, in fact, put to the childish uses of violent destruction and thoughtless consumption. Its worst problem is its foundational confusion, which leads those of us under its thrall to feel disconnected from nature. Hence we tend to be not responsible for the consequences of our actions, and distract ourselves from the extreme danger of destroying everything in our path by the irrational promise of either a blissful salvation by an absolutely disconnected omnipotent “God” or else a blissful oblivion.

Hence our barbarous culture - I do not call it a “civilization” - poses the ultimate threat to planetary life, to all the human beings of other more ancient and better balanced cultures, all other life forms, and the eco-system itself. … The urgent need, therefore, is for we bearers of ths unbalanced, disconnection culture to rediscover our interconnection with the rest of life, our infinite responsibility to ourselves and all other living beings, the extreme negative danger of our continuing on the path of destruction and consumption, and the positive potential for us to find a reliable happiness within our own souls, to conquer our own inner negative habits, and to cultivate our infinite capacity for love and joy.

The Buddhist world movement is not accurately thought of simply as a “world religion,” undersood as a set system of beliefs and institutions that parallel those of religions. It can be viewed that way with some validity - indeed both proponents and opponents do so - but it is only one-third a religion at most. It is more fundamentally a way of living and a pattern of ethics, a basis for numerous civilizations that emphasized individualism, wisdom, gentleness, altruism, and universal equality. And it is a way of understanding the world, a tradition of sciences based on the possiblilty of human beings developing a complete and accurate understanding of the realities of life and death. Its fundamental teaching intends to help beings understand their causal interconnection with all life, find the causes of all their sufferings, intervene to prevent those causes from giving their effects, and achieve the evolutionary goal of enduring and shareable happiness. It is therefore just what the victim/bearers of a confusion, violence-, and greed-based culture need to cure their self-imprisoning malaise and world-endangering malfunction.

“Let us pray for world peace, social justice, and environmental balance, which
begin with our own breathing.
I breathe in calmly and breathe out mindfully.
Once I have seeds of peace and happiness within me, I try to reduce my selfish
desire and reconstitute my consciousness.
With less attachment to myself, I try to understand the structural violence in the
world.
Linking my heart with my head, I perceive the world holisitically, a sphere full of
living beings who are all related to me.
I try to expand my understanding with love to help build a more nonviolent
world.

I vow to live simply and offer myself to the oppressed.
By the grace of the Compassionate Ones and with the help of good friends, may
I be a partner in lessening the suffering of the world so that it may be a proper
habitat for all sentient beings to live in harmony during this millenium.”

Contributed by Stu Webb, from the book,
“Mindful Politics: A Buddhist Guide To Making The World A Better Place”, ed. by Melvin McLeod, (Wisdom Pub. 2006)

Here’s a list of helpful websites collected by our sangha:

www.pbs.org Go to the News Hour area of the site. Search on Climate Change. Excellent information.

www.stepitup07.org The site for the 2007 National Day of Climate Change Action. An amazing grass roots arising.

www.ewg.org

www.carbonfund.org/site/
hm-treasury.gov.uk/

www.climatecrisis.org

www.fresh-energy.org

www.newdream.org

www.coopamerica.org

www.certifiedorganic.bc.ca/rcbtoa

http://www.ipcc.ch/ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This is an international panel on climate change developed by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

http://www.giss.nasa.gov/ Goddard Institute for Space Studies: research at GISS emphasizes a broad study of global climate change.

(This list does not constitute an endorsement of any political organization)

As part of our routine meditation practice, many of us take a bodhisattva vow, a promise to live our lives and pursue our meditative development so as to benefit all sentient beings. It sometimes sounds rather abstract. Such motivation, however, can result in profound changes in the way we live.

Here are some thoughts by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, taken from the Buddhist Ecology Link, a newsletter distributed through the Network of Buddhist Organizations (NBO):

“I believe that to meet the challenge of our times, human beings will have to develop a greater sense of universal responsibility. Each of us must learn to work not just for his own self, family, or nation, but for the benefit of mankind. Universal responsibility is the real key to human survival. It is the best foundation for world peace, the equitable use of natural resources and, through concern for future generations, the proper care for the environment…The natural environment sustains the life of all beings in the world; it is important that we all take whatever steps we can to preserve and maintain it before it is too late.”

Share your Meditation-Thon Experience.

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Join us anytime from 8am February 10th to 8am February 17th for our fourth annual 24X7 Meditation-Thon, which is capped off on February 18th by the celebration of Losar, the Tibetan Lunar New Year. Sangha, Patrons and Volunteers sit in meditation for seven days straight, dedicated to relief from suffering for all sentient beings. KTC asks both individuals and businesses to sponsor each minute of this peaceful, healing meditation. To capture the feeling you can read blog comments by 2006 meditation participants discussing their experience here. We would be very happy to have you join us. Read the rest of the information in this post and then visit this link for more, important information about this event.

For those who would like to join us but do not know how to do Tibetan meditation or would like refresher instruction, there will be an open meditation lesson at the Center at 7pm on Friday, February 9th. Call the Center or use the contact form on the main page of this website to let us know you are planning to sit in meditation with us during the meditation-thon, and whether or not you will attend the open meditation lesson. We will contact you to sign you up for sitting time that fits your schedule.

For those who plan to come and sit with us and intend to find sponsors for their meditation contact us for sponsor’s materials.

For those who would like to dedicate and / or sponsor meditation time click here.

The schedule for the Meditation-Thon is: Meditation starting at 8am on February 10th - 8am on February 17th.
Karma Yoga from 10am -5pm on February 17th. Green Tara Sadhana orientation at 6pm on February 17th.

The schedule for Losar, February 18th is: 10am - Welcome followed by Green Tara Sadhana and Tsok. Lunch followed by a movie made in Tibet.

Click here next.

His Holiness Gyalwa Karmapa XVI & His Holiness Gyalwa Karmapa XVII Ogyen Trinley Dorje

Our group of White Tara practitioners’ is using a portion of their group practice time to discuss and share ideas and information about the preservation of the planet. In a recent meeting, the group members shared a number of ideas and activities each of them are pursuing in order to reduce his or her “footprint”. These included:

Click on the “Our Sangha’s Footprint” page under ‘Pages’ in the righthand column of this blog to read about our sangha’s footprint. of course!

Blog visitors may wonder about the purpose of this category of postings. As part of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, our sangha is committed to relieving the suffering of all sentient beings. We do this through meditation, ritual practices, and our lifestyle choices. It is now a widely accepted fact that human beings have wrought great environmental damage upon our planet, as evidenced by phenomena like global warming and the loss of animal and plant species and habitat. By reducing our footprint, that is, our impact upon the environment and the consumption of world resources, we seek to relieve the suffering of all sentient beings.

This blog category is intended to provide our community with an opportunity to share information and ideas about reducing our footprint and employing alternatives to our present patterns of consumption. It is not intended to promote political parties or candidates. We hope that its content moves you to examine your own choices. What size are your feet?