Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

THANK YOU! From Our ANNUAL KTC MINNEAPOLIS MEDITATION-THON 31 JAN - 7 FEB 08

Saturday, February 23rd, 2008

Thanks very much to the people who sat in meditation, the people who sponsored each minute and the people who did both - again this year - to make another successful MEDITATION-THON for KTC Minneapolis. We are grateful to be able to do this work in this place in this lifetime.

Each year just prior to Losar, the Tibetan Lunar New Year, our Center is open for sitting meditation for seven days straight, 24 hours a day, dedicating all of the meditation to relief from suffering for all sentient beings. KTC asks sangha, patrons & volunteers to sit in meditation during this time and raise sponsorship from friends, family, coworkers, businesses and others at the rate of a minimum of $1 for each minute of this peaceful, healing meditation.

Other than membership pledges, this event is our one major yearly source of funds to help defray our operating expenses, and equally importantly, it is a genuine blessing for all it touches. To balance our budget we need it to raise several thousand dollars, as it has historically done in the past. JOIN US. Fill out our Contact Form and send it back to us, including the time period(s) that you will be here to do your meditation. When you come to do your medition bring the money you have raised in pledges in an envelope with your name on it and put the envelope in the donation basket. Please note: We need valid contact information, including phone number and email address, on the Contact Form in order to confirm your participation with you.

We gratefully accept donations in support of this event from those who are unable to come to sit in meditation here but would like to be connected to this healing activity. Send donations in any amount to the Center. We will allocate your donation to support a meditator’s time. To capture the feeling of participating in this event you can read blog comments by 2006 meditation participants discussing their experience here.


About “Our Sangha’s Footprint”

Saturday, December 23rd, 2006

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?

- Library Additions

Thursday, June 29th, 2006

Library Additions - We are just adding the books and materials in this list to the KTC Sangha Library. New books and materials will be added to this list as we get them until they can be found in our online library that you can now access from the KTC Minneapolis home page at www.ktcminneapolis.org

  • The Psychology of Buddhist Tantra, Rob Preece. ISBN 1-55939-263-0
  • What Makes You Not A Buddhist, Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse. ISBN 1-59030-406-3
  • The Teacher-Student Relationship, Jamgon Kongtrul The Great. ISBN 1-55939-096-4.
  • Practicing Peace In Times of War, Pema Chodron. ISBN 1-59030-401-2
  • Zurchungpa’s Testament, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. ISBN 1-55939-264-9
  • Chogyam Trungpa: His Life and Vision, Fabrice Midal. ISBN 1-59030-098-X
  • The Middle-Way Meditation Instructions of Mipham Rinpoche, Thrangu Rinpoche. ISBN 0-9628026-6-2
  • Bardo Interval of Possibility, Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche. ISBN 0-9741092-2-3.
  • Showing the Path of Liberation, Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche. ISBN 1-93157-00-7.
  • Creation and Completion, Essential Points of Tantric Meditation, Jamgon Kongtrul. ISBN 0-86171-312-5.
  • Some Science Adventures with Real Magic, William A. Tiller, Ph.D., Walter E. Dibble, Jr., Ph.D., J. Greggory Fandel. ISBN 1-929331-11-8.
  • Emotions, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche. Vajra Echoes DVDs.
  • Entering the Path, Outer and Inner Refuge, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche. ISBN 096876893-8.
  • Awakening the Mind, Lightening the Heart, The Dalai Lama. ISBN 0-06-061688-1.
  • The Wisdom of No Escape and the Path of Loving-Kindness, Pema Chodron. ISBN 1-57062-872-6.
  • Dangerous Friend, The Teacher-Student Relationship in Vajrayana Buddhism, Rig’dzin Dorje. ISBN 1-57062-857-2.
  • The Twelve Links of Dependent Origination, Khenpo Ugyen Tenzin. 2 DVDs. Available from Namse Bangdzo.
  • The Tibetan Book of the Dead, Translated by Francesca Fremantle & Chogyam Trungpa. ISBN 0-877773-074-1.
  • Magic Dance, Thinley Norbu. ISBN 0-87773-885-8.
  • Introduction to Buddhism, Lama Kathy Wesley. 5 DVDs. Published by Vajra Echoes.
  • Trainings in Compassion, Manuals on the Meditation of Avalokiteshvara, HH XV Karmapa, Jamgon Kontrul, Thangtong Gyalpo, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, and Chandrakirti. ISBN 155939206.
  • The Dalai Lama in America. Live From the Beacon Theater. Mindful Enlightenment. VCR. ISBN 0-7435-0892-0.
  • Lion in Action. The Record of His Holiness the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa.DVD. English Subtitles.
  • An Aspiration for the WorldTaiwanese DVD of His Holiness the 17th Karmapa.
  • Under the Bodhi Tree. The Jewel Ornament of Liberation. His Holiness the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa at the 2003 Kagyu Monlam.6 DVD set.
  • His Holiness the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa.2006 DVD.
  • The 23rd Great Aspiration Puja of the Glorious Unequaled Kagyupa Lineage. His Holiness the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje. The 2006 Kagyu Monlam Chenmo, Bodhgaya, India.1 DVD.
  • KTC Online Library

    Thursday, June 29th, 2006

    We get quite a few requests - especially from students during the school year - for recommendations for books on meditation and Buddhism to study. We also want our sangha to be able to look through their library from wherever they are. So we are very happy that after much discussion, research, planning, testing, scanning of barcodes, editing of entries, etc, our KTC sangha library is now online. To look at it, go to the KTC home page and click on “KTC Library Online— Beta Testing.” Be sure to read the note about internet connections and the age of your computer. The library may take a minute to download but will stay cached on your computer, and therefore be fast to use, after that. We will let you know each time we update it so you can download the new version.

    As you look at the library you’ll see there are 2 columns. When you click on a book in the left column you will see details about that book in the right column. Depending upon the way your computer is set up, the left column may have a scroll bar along the bottom of its window as well as on the side. If your machine is set up that way you will miss a lot of books if you do not notice and use the scroll bar on the bottom.

    Some books have nice covers and some have plain brown covers. That has to do with the lookup function in the library software, not the content of the book! (PS This is a dharma joke)

    See the “Library Additions” page nested under this one for a list of items that will be added to the library soon.

    Enjoy your visit to our virtual library!!

    Macintosh

    Sunday, June 11th, 2006

    Safari puts everything you need to browse, search, view RSS feeds directly in the navigation bar. You can use this as an alternative to the other suggestions.

    Click the built-in RSS icon and Safari automatically displays any available RSS feed for the current site.

    The URL for the KTC Minneapolis Blog site is http://www.ktcminneapolis.org/ktcblog/.

    Operating Systems

    Tuesday, June 6th, 2006

    Starting an area to support the various operation systems.

    Manage your account

    Saturday, May 6th, 2006

    When you first login to the KtcBlog you are left at a “Profile” page. You can use this page to update or provide more information about yourself and the account. It is completely optional.

    NOTE: Your computers internet browser may store your user information. Therefore, after the first time you login it may never ask you to login again. This is OK. However, if you need to update your profile just click here.

    To change your password:

    1.) At the “Profile” page make sure you have selected the “Users” tab.
    2.) From the “Your Profile” tab, scroll to the bottom and type in the new password in the two boxes provided. The fist box is the password you want. The second box makes sure you have typed it correctly.
    3.) Click the “Update Profile” button

    NOTES: Your new password takes effect immediately. Passwords are case sensitive; for example PASSWORD and password are not the same. Also, leave the password area blank if you are updating other information. Leaving it blank will keep your password what it was, e.g. it will not change the password to blank.

    If you would like further assistance please see the support page.

    Support

    Tuesday, April 25th, 2006

    Notes and information provided to assist with your use of the KTC Minneapolis Web Log (KtcBlog).

    If you should need any assistance please feel free to contact me. You can reach me at: tomwaknitz@ktcminneapolis.org

    Beginners

    Tuesday, April 25th, 2006

    If you are using Macintosh / Safari take a quick look at the Macintosh page under Operating Systems for an alternative.

    It might be helpful to just print this page first :-)

    1. Go to http://bloglines.com/ on the Internet by typing that address into the address window of your Internet browser (usually at the top –a narrow, white horizontal rectangle) and clicking the “Go” or arrow button to the right of that address window. Or you can click on the blue-highlighted link just above (print out this page first for reference).

    2. Point your mouse to the “sign up now, It’s free!” line in the middle of the page and click on that.

    3. At the registration screen, give them one of your e-mail addresses. It must be a working one that you have access to right now. Invent a password, provide your local time zone, your default language, and I would leave “subscribe to bloglines newsletter” unchecked for now.

    4. Click on “register”. Once you have done that the web page will update and you will receive the following: “You are registered with Bloglines. Soon you will receive a confirmation email. Reply to that and you will be fully registered.”

    5. Sign in to the e-mail account of the address you listed in registration and wait.

    6. Within three minutes, you will receive a confirmation e-mail to the address you gave Bloglines. Open that e-mail.

    7. In the text will be a “confirmation link.” That will be an Internet address that looks something like http:www.bloglines.com/val?key=wl8JANRH-TO. In some e-mail programs, that Internet address will be underlined and appear in blue type. Simply click on it. (If it appears in plain text, you will have to copy it into the address window of your browser; the easiest way to do this is to use the cut/copy/paste feature in your computer, then click “go.”)

    8. Your browser will then take you to a welcome page for Bloglines.

    9. In the upper left hand corner you will see “My Feeds”, select it by clicking on it once.

    10. Right below the “My Feeds” tab after the Web site refreshes you will see “add”, select it by click on it once.

    11. After the Web site refreshes you will see “Blog or Feed URL:” and an open space to type in information. Fill this open are with http://www.ktcminneapolis.org/ktcblog/ and click “subscribe. The easiest way to do this is to use the cut/copy/paste feature in your computer, then click “subscribe.”)

    12. On the next page after the Web site refresh there is a bunch of scary technical looking stuff. All you need to do is put a check mark in the box under “Karma Thegsum Choling Minneapolis”. You do this by clicking on the box next to “subscribe to this feed”. Then select “subscribe” by clicking on it at the bottom of the page. NOTE: Sometimes in setting this up I have seen multiple KTC Blog feeds, just select one. The top one has usually been correct, reading something like this http://www.ktcminneapolis.org/ktcblog [http://www.ktcminneapolis.org/ktcblog/feed/]

    13. At this point you should be back to the orginal “My Feeds” page on the left side. You should now see 2 feeds; one for bloglines and the other for Karma Thegsum Choling Minneapolis. If you click on that link you can begain to read the RSS Feed created at KTC Minneapolis. What fun!!!

    14. Create a bookmark in your browser for http://www.bloglines.com/myblogs Your computer should store your password and log-on info so that bloglines will open automatically when you click on that bookmark. The page automatically refreshes itself every few minutes to let you know how many unread postings are in your list of feeds.

    If you would like further assistance please see the support page.

    Advanced

    Tuesday, April 25th, 2006

    Over time I will be adding notes for alternative RSS feed readers. However, for now we are going with the keep it simple method. If there is something you would like assistance with please feel free to ask :-)

    If you would like further assistance please see the support page.

    Good but geeky :-)

    Tuesday, April 25th, 2006

    What is a “feed”?

    It is a Web product that allows you easily to see (and read, if you wish) what is new on the Web site and Web logs you visit most often.

    Why can’t I just visit these sites myself, one by one?

    You can. This way is easier.

    What is RSS?

    Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is a great way for you to know when new information is posted on a Web site you subscribe to. RSS is an XML (Extensible Markup Language)-based format for distributing Web content.

    How do I read RSS feeds?

    You can setup up a service provided through your internet browser (for beginners) or you can download and install a RSS reader on your computer or web browser (a little more advanced).

    Does it work on Macintosh, Linux, and Windows?

    Yes. I will begin to provide instructions for various operating systems.

    Generally speaking in the open sources internet browsers (Safari, Firefox, etc) there is a built in RSS Feed reader built in.

    We will start nice and easy though :-)

    General

    Tuesday, April 25th, 2006

    Notes and information provided to assist with your use of the KTC Minneapolis Web Log (KtcBlog).

    If you would like further assistance please see the support page.