Art Prize runs between September 22, and October 10, 2010. Exhibits are located throughout the city of Grand Rapids.

Artist Bio:
Venerable Gyudmed Ngarampa Thupten Tsondu (Tashi) was born in Tibet but fled to India in 1959 to seek political asylum along with his parents and the Dalai Lama. At age 13 he entered Gyudmed Tantric University to become a monk according to his wishes. In 1995 he was given a dialectic exam in front of 400 monks which resulted in the Geshe Ngarampa degree, a Ph.D. in Tibetan Tantric Buddhism.

He has visited the USA, Canada, Switzerland, England, Mongolia, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Nepal and India and has taught ritual chanting, sand mandala construction and dialectic debate to monks at the Gyudmed Tantric, Gaden Jangtse and Drepung Gomang Monasteries of India and the Pethub Stengeyling and Gyud Monasteries of Mongolia. Tashi also served as chief administrator of Gyudmed Tantric University and wrote a book on tantric ritual.

Venerable Gyudmed Ngarampa Thupten Tsondu (Tashi) is currently a Buddhist spiritual teacher in Florida.

About the work
Title: The Sacred Art of Sand Mandala
Art form: 3-D, Performance
Medium: colored sand on wood
Year created: Work not created yet
Description of work: ‘Mandala’ means ‘cosmogram’ in sanskrit and the painting of mandalas with sand is a Tibetan Buddhist art thought to have originated in India during the middle ages. In Tibetan ‘dul-tson-kyil-khor’ means ‘mandala of colored powders’. The most common substance used is colored sand, ground from stone.

Sand mandalas are created whenever a need for healing of the environment and living beings is felt and there are different types, each with different lessons to teach and blessings to confer. Most mandalas contain a host of deities; symbolic archetypes of the landscape of the mind. In Tibetan Buddhism mandalas are imaginary palaces contemplated during meditation.

When finished, to symbolize the impermanence of all that exists, the colored sands are swept up and poured into a nearby river or stream where the waters carry the healing energies throughout the world.

Following the Saturday, October 2nd lecture will be
Tibetan Tantric Chanting for Peace (approx. 7:00 p.m.)

Donation based series – suggested $12 per or $65 for the series.

About Ven. Thupten Tsondu (Tashi):
Venerable Gyudmed Ngarampa Thupten Tsondu (Tashi) was born in Tibet but fled to India in 1959 to seek political asylum along with his parents and the Dalai Lama. At age 13 he entered Gyudmed Tantric University to become a monk according to his wishes. In 1995 he was given a dialectic exam in front of 400 monks which resulted in the Geshe Ngarampa degree, a Ph.D. in Tibetan Tantric Buddhism.

He has visited the USA, Canada, Switzerland, England, Mongolia, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Nepal and India and has taught ritual chanting, sand mandala construction and dialectic debate to monks at the Gyudmed Tantric, Gaden Jangtse and Drepung Gomang Monasteries of India and the Pethub Stengeyling and Gyud Monasteries of Mongolia. Tashi also served as chief administrator of Gyudmed Tantric University and wrote a book on tantric ritual.

Venerable Gyudmed Ngarampa Thupten Tsondu (Tashi) is currently a Buddhist spiritual teacher in Florida.

Ven. Tashi is in the Grand Rapids area for the creation of a Sand Mandala as part of the Art Prize 2010 exhibition.

Sister will give a public talk from 2 -4 p.m. on Saturday September 11, 2010; lead a day of mindfulness on Sunday September 12;  and then continue with a full seven day retreat for more advanced practitioners.  The public is invited to any and all events.   All events are  at Amitabha Village Retreat Center near Williamston (15 min. east from Lansing, 50  min. west from Ann Arbor).   There is no retreat fee.  Free will donations are welcome.   To register or for more information please contact Lansingbuddhist@gmail.com or call 1-517-292-3110.

All are welcome!

About Sayalay Sister Susila:

Born and educated in Malaysia, Sayalay Susila ordained as a Theravada Buddhist nun in 1991 at the age of 28, and has trained with two renowned Burmese meditation masters – the Venerable Sayadaw U Pandita and the Venerable Pa-Auk Sayadaw, under whose guidance she continues to practice today.

Sister mastered the Burmese Vipassana meditation systems from these two venerable Sayadaws.  She is well known especially for her teaching of the Theravada Buddhist Abhidhamma, which she taught initially in Taiwan, Malaysia, and Singapore, as well as in Buddhist centers across Canada, the United States, and Australia.

Sister has two books in print: The Nine Attributes of the Buddha (in
Chinese) and Unravelling the Mysteries of Mind and Body Through
Abhidhamma (in English).  She speaks fluent English, Mandarin Chinese, and Burmese, and has translated widely from English to Chinese for Venerable Pa-Auk Sayadaw in Malaysia and Taiwan.  When not traveling and teaching Sister lives at Sayadaw’s meditation center in Burma (Myanmar).

For this retreat, Sister Susila will guide students in the practice of
Samatha and Vipassana (Concentration and Insight) as taught at
Pa Auk Tawya Meditation Center. Meditation instruction to the group will  be given in English, however, interviews can be in Chinese or English.

About Amitabha Village Retreat Center:

Amitabha Village, the Retreat Center of the Lansing Buddhist
Association, is located in peaceful Michigan countryside amid meadows, woods, and farmland. The retreat will take place in a newly finished, comfortable, energy efficient meditation hall (The Great Hall) built with donations and much volunteer labor. The indoor sleeping accommodations for the retreat are rustic dormitory style, camping is available in a pine forest or on meadows, and food is Chinese vegetarian.

I had a bit of trouble getting the code to calm down, but things are looking “OK” for now. If you have troubles, please let me know: webmaster@michiganbuddhist.com.

Thank you!

By Maryanne Kocis MacLeod
Macomb Daily Staff Writer

Addiction recovery, like most puzzles, has many pieces. In his book “The 12-Step Buddhist” (Beyond Words, $16), Portland-based author Darren Littlejohn explores the integration of Buddhist philosophy/spirituality into more familiar, Western recovery models.

“For me, 12-step programs alone focus mainly on the day-to-day struggle,” Littlejohn said. “Psychotherapy alone doesn’t recognize spirituality. And Buddhism, in and of itself, does not understand addiction. For me, I had to come up with my own system and work it all together to be successful.”

Littlejohn will share his unique approach to recovery from 12–3 p.m. Saturday at SHAR, 6902 Chicago Road, in Warren. Cost is $10 per person; $25 tickets include a copy of his book with a portion of the proceeds benefiting Greater Macomb Project Vox. GMPV is a recovery advocacy group aimed at reducing the stigma attached to substance use disorders.

“We need more people (like Littlejohn) who are willing to slap (their) picture on the back of a book and identify (themselves) as a person with a substance use disorder,” said Deborah Garrett, Greater Macomb Project Vox chairwoman, adding that she is impressed that he was willing to do that.

“People in recovery can utilize Buddhist principles and mediation techniques, which are already part of 12-step recovery, but not spelled out as such” to effectively work on their recovery/remission, Littlejohn said.

Littlejohn first achieved sobriety in 1984 at the age of 22. But his interest in Buddhism started when he started reading books on the Eastern religion in the sixth grade.

It wasn’t until the mid- to late ’80s, however, that he truly began seeking the Buddhist path, which in some ways, contributed to his relapse in 1994.

“That’s when I started questioning everything, and suddenly, nothing has any meaning,” Littlejohn explained. “The Christian (spiritualists) describe it as ‘the dark night of the soul.’ You get into a very dark spot, like a funnel, a depression.”

Littlejohn said he wrote the book in hopes of helping others avoid the relapse from which he came out of in 1997. He has been sober for 13 years.

Buddhism teaches that all suffering is caused by attachment and can be avoided by practicing compassion, Littlejohn said.

“Addiction is attachment gone wild,” Littlejohn said.

Tickets are available at the door, at www.careofmacomb.com/events.php or by calling or visiting The 12 Step Buddhist

To help make Michigan Buddhist a better resource to all, I’ve decided to allow registered users to be able to make their own postings. This will allow you to post news of upcoming retreats, speakers and events at your leisure. My hope is this will make Michigan Buddhist more interactive and provide for more relevant and current information.

To register, just click the ‘Register’ link in the Meta section of the sidebar. You’ll choose a username and provide an email address. A strong password will be sent to that address. Return to the site and login with your chosen username and the password sent to your email address.

This is kind of a big experiment. If it goes well, then great. If not, well, things will go back to how they were.

Please understand that all opinions expressed are those of the posting party, and in no way reflect the views of Michigan Buddhist or the Administrator.

I’ve had a few inquiries recently from practitioners looking for someone to officiate at their wedding. If you are qualified and would be willing to help folks on their wedding day, please contact me: contact@michiganbuddhist.com

The latest inquiry is from the Traverse City area, so if you’re in that area or willing to travel there, we need your help.

Thank you in advance for any aid you can provide.

Jim.

New Dharma materials at FreeBuddhistAudio

Candradasa writes from FreeBuddhistAudio with news of new on-line Dharma resources:

Dear Friends,

We’re delighted to let you know that – after a wee summer hiatus – we have a rush of new modules just posted for the FWBO’s Dharma Training Course for Mitras. The permanent web address to bookmark for the new course is:
http://www.fwbomitracourse.com/

Latest up are most of the modules for Year 2 –

Module 1 – Nature of Existence 1, Conditionality and the Middle Way
Module 2 – What is the Sangha, Spiritual Community
Module 3 – Vision & Transformation, the Buddha’s Eightfold Path
Module 4 – The Bodhisattva Ideal
Module 5 – Transcending Views
Module 6 – Turning the Mind to the Dharma

We hope you’ll enjoy using the online version of the Course, and that you’ll make steady progress in your own Dharma studies.

Year 3 coming soon!

with best wishes,

Candradasa,
The Free Buddhist Audio Team

P.S.: The new site has been developed to enable a free service to be kept in place for all users. To help us keep the service free, please think about making a donation. Many thanks!