We are almost there! Just $40,000 to go to secure the land.
We are so fortunate to have the opportunity to put the rescue for dogs, cats, and who knows what else in the future, on secure ground once we secure the land. It is looking possible to have this completed by the end of the year.
Why is this important? In the US alone, 3 - 4 million dogs and cats are euthanized by shelters that are overcrowded and unable to provide permanent homes or at the very least long enough fostering for them to be adopted. The problem is not with the shelfters alone: it's a matter of overpopulation and unwanted animals. Half of the animals that go into shelters each year are adopted out.
Tara's Babies, which is an outgrowth of the compassionate activity of Jetsunma Akhon Lhamo (find out more about Jetsunma at www.tara.org) is saving lives of dogs and cats that would likely be destined to be killed due to overcrowding. Imgaine it: just because there is not a bed for you in different circumstances you would be taken away and killed. It's tragic from a buddhist perspective that holds up the equality of all the lives.
If Tara's Babies does not have to worry about location of it's animal shelter, that's one primary problem resolved that gives dogs and cats a longer life. A chance to live out their karma.
This is a good thing.
It's not too late to be part of this campaign. Go to www.tara.org and hit the "donation" button which will take you to a PayPal page.
Thanks for your generosity.
By this effort may all sentient beings be free of suffering!
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Sunday, October 22, 2006
A jewel from Jetsunma's teaching today
Jetsunma taught today on Guru Yoga and the view that we can hold that will help us develop the love which will heal the world -- Buddhists refer to that love as Bodhichitta.
On the path of Vajrayana Buddhism view and the Lama is the first and last word. Summarizing this Jetsunma said, "There is only love. There is nothing wrong. There is only opportunity."
Think about it: all experiences stripped of pride are just an opportunity for developing Bodhichitta.
If you want to download an mp3 of Jetsunma's teachings, contact www.palyulproductions.org.
By this effort may all beings be free of suffering!
Gonpo
On the path of Vajrayana Buddhism view and the Lama is the first and last word. Summarizing this Jetsunma said, "There is only love. There is nothing wrong. There is only opportunity."
Think about it: all experiences stripped of pride are just an opportunity for developing Bodhichitta.
If you want to download an mp3 of Jetsunma's teachings, contact www.palyulproductions.org.
By this effort may all beings be free of suffering!
Gonpo
Friday, October 06, 2006
Jetsunma teaches live every Sunday 11am EST
Jetsunma is teaching every week at 11am EST and it is possible to call into a conference hook-up to hear her teachings if you are not within driving distance to Poolesville, MD, where we have a temple. She is teaching from that temple.
If you haven't had a chance to hear pure Dharma in a Western presentation you may want to follow Jetsunma's teachings. She is qualified to teach and has the blessing of her Root Teacher, His Holiness Penor Rinpoche.
Copies of teachings are also available at www.palyulproductions.org. Her most recent teachings are in MP3, CD and cassette formats (MP# is $5.00 and you get the teaching immediately - it's my choice).
Definitely try to hear her give the Dharma, whether live at the temple or through the conference hook-up or by getting a copy of teachings that she has already given.
May all beings benefit!
If you haven't had a chance to hear pure Dharma in a Western presentation you may want to follow Jetsunma's teachings. She is qualified to teach and has the blessing of her Root Teacher, His Holiness Penor Rinpoche.
Copies of teachings are also available at www.palyulproductions.org. Her most recent teachings are in MP3, CD and cassette formats (MP# is $5.00 and you get the teaching immediately - it's my choice).
Definitely try to hear her give the Dharma, whether live at the temple or through the conference hook-up or by getting a copy of teachings that she has already given.
May all beings benefit!
An Update on the campaign to "Secure the Land"
Ani Alana, who wrote the following email this afternoon, is on of Jetsunma's "original 25" monks and nuns who took ordination 18 years ago. She is a driving force for many things we do. A week ago she said, "let's get this done" and it looks as though we just may! There is still time if you would like to be part of this campaign. Go to www.tara.org and hit the donation button.
"Dear Sangha,
"I am hearing of great efforts at outreach and fundraising and am hopeful that by the end of the weekend we will have reached our goal of $600,000. We are just now approaching $500,000 which is just too amazing given that we began one week ago yesterday. 95% of that has come from a handful of extremely generous donors (about 8) and I am sure I have not received everyone's contribution as yet.
"As you know, not only are we saving the land, we are turning around a karmic pattern through great personal generosity, so it really is very important EVERYONE participate no matter what the amount of your donation is. For some, $10 is a stretch, and for others, $100,000 is disposable income. It's the heart that counts. As Mother Teresa used to say, "Give until it hurts". That's when you know you've hit the boundary of generosity you had BEFORE and have broken through. Remember to dedicate the merit, and keep in mind all the dogs whose lives you are saving in this activity.
"As important are all the names of people who are newly connecting to this compassionate activity and will for lifetimes to come have a better opportunity. We could do a commercial:
Land: $600,000
Food and Pens: $200,000
Lives Saved and Connections with the Path: Priceless
"You guys are great ~ Alana
"Dear Sangha,
"I am hearing of great efforts at outreach and fundraising and am hopeful that by the end of the weekend we will have reached our goal of $600,000. We are just now approaching $500,000 which is just too amazing given that we began one week ago yesterday. 95% of that has come from a handful of extremely generous donors (about 8) and I am sure I have not received everyone's contribution as yet.
"As you know, not only are we saving the land, we are turning around a karmic pattern through great personal generosity, so it really is very important EVERYONE participate no matter what the amount of your donation is. For some, $10 is a stretch, and for others, $100,000 is disposable income. It's the heart that counts. As Mother Teresa used to say, "Give until it hurts". That's when you know you've hit the boundary of generosity you had BEFORE and have broken through. Remember to dedicate the merit, and keep in mind all the dogs whose lives you are saving in this activity.
"As important are all the names of people who are newly connecting to this compassionate activity and will for lifetimes to come have a better opportunity. We could do a commercial:
Land: $600,000
Food and Pens: $200,000
Lives Saved and Connections with the Path: Priceless
"You guys are great ~ Alana
Here is a chance to make a difference
My sangha, Kunzang Palyul Choling, has a wonderful place of refuge for rescued animals tucked in the Tonto National Forest of Arizona and we have a campaign to raise enough money to secure the land and pay off the mortgage on it. Responding to this appeal is your chance to make a difference!
Dear Friends,
"You may be interested in a special project I am directly involved in that is very dear to my heart and is of an urgent nature.
"It is about saving the lives of dogs and cats from being euthanized unnecessarily, as well as helping to rescue animals from disaster situations, such as Hurricane Katrina.
"As you may know, the Buddhist organization I am part of set up an animal sanctuary for this very purpose right after Hurricane Katrina, and our group rescued over 150 dogs and cats from New Orleans (that's a whole other story!), reuniting or adopting out almost all of them by the following spring.
"We have expanded our mission to include creating a dependable staging ground for taking in animals that are set to be killed in overpopulated shelters across the state of Arizona, so that we give them a chance to be fostered or adopted by a loving home. Did you know that over 30,000 unwanted or abandoned pets were euthanized in the Phoenix area alone last year?
"The animal sanctuary we have created is called Tara's Babies Animal Welfare and it is situated on 148 secluded acres of pristine wilderness land in eastern Arizona that we call "Dakini Valley".
"This land is precious to us and important for the welfare of sentient beings. We want to secure it far into the future.
"We are asking all of our friends who might be able to help us, to go to www.tarasbabies.org and make a secure online donation so that this compassionate work can be continued in a big way. If you would prefer to give by check please send your contribution to Tara's Babies, PO Box 1142, Sedona, AZ 86339, marking the Memo Line: Secure the Lands!
"Another way you can help is to send a link to this post to your friends who care about the welfare of dogs and cats. We must secure this land now! At this writing, approximately $400,000 of the $600,000 is pledged but that is based on real estate sales closing quickly. Anything you can do to help at this time is so gratefully appreciated by us and on behalf of animals everywhere!
"You have my promise that your donations will be used to save the land and animals’ lives now and for future generations.
Thank you!
So here is the bottom line in terms of “encountering happiness” in terms of this specific appeal. From a Buddhist perspective, happiness is the result of compassionate activity. Contributing to this campaign is your link to compassion and therefore to creating the causes for your own happiness.
There are many links like this in our day-to-day lives, if we look for them, This one happens to be an important one to me, so I thought I would post it. Please make a contribution if you can: go to www.tara.org and donate on line indicating “Secure the Land!” in the comments section.
Peace.
Dear Friends,
"You may be interested in a special project I am directly involved in that is very dear to my heart and is of an urgent nature.
"It is about saving the lives of dogs and cats from being euthanized unnecessarily, as well as helping to rescue animals from disaster situations, such as Hurricane Katrina.
"As you may know, the Buddhist organization I am part of set up an animal sanctuary for this very purpose right after Hurricane Katrina, and our group rescued over 150 dogs and cats from New Orleans (that's a whole other story!), reuniting or adopting out almost all of them by the following spring.
"We have expanded our mission to include creating a dependable staging ground for taking in animals that are set to be killed in overpopulated shelters across the state of Arizona, so that we give them a chance to be fostered or adopted by a loving home. Did you know that over 30,000 unwanted or abandoned pets were euthanized in the Phoenix area alone last year?
"The animal sanctuary we have created is called Tara's Babies Animal Welfare and it is situated on 148 secluded acres of pristine wilderness land in eastern Arizona that we call "Dakini Valley".
"This land is precious to us and important for the welfare of sentient beings. We want to secure it far into the future.
"We are asking all of our friends who might be able to help us, to go to www.tarasbabies.org and make a secure online donation so that this compassionate work can be continued in a big way. If you would prefer to give by check please send your contribution to Tara's Babies, PO Box 1142, Sedona, AZ 86339, marking the Memo Line: Secure the Lands!
"Another way you can help is to send a link to this post to your friends who care about the welfare of dogs and cats. We must secure this land now! At this writing, approximately $400,000 of the $600,000 is pledged but that is based on real estate sales closing quickly. Anything you can do to help at this time is so gratefully appreciated by us and on behalf of animals everywhere!
"You have my promise that your donations will be used to save the land and animals’ lives now and for future generations.
Thank you!
So here is the bottom line in terms of “encountering happiness” in terms of this specific appeal. From a Buddhist perspective, happiness is the result of compassionate activity. Contributing to this campaign is your link to compassion and therefore to creating the causes for your own happiness.
There are many links like this in our day-to-day lives, if we look for them, This one happens to be an important one to me, so I thought I would post it. Please make a contribution if you can: go to www.tara.org and donate on line indicating “Secure the Land!” in the comments section.
Peace.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Welcome!
This blog has been created to explore happiness through the teachings of Jetsunma Akhon Lhamo (www.tara.org) and of her teachers and other great Buddhist Teachers.
The owner is a Western ordained Buddhist monk, Gonpo Yeshe. Gonpo lives in Sedona, Arizona, at the Prayer Center run by Kunzang Palyul Choling, a Buddhist center for study and practice of Vajrayana Buddhism. KPC was established in the Palyul lineage of the Nyingma school of Buddhism.
What does this entire mean for the person reading this blog who is not a Buddhist? This blog will explore compassionate activity in the contemporary context of a secular and materialistic world. We can only truly "Encounter Happiness" through compassionate activity; at least this is the belief of the owner of this blog. It is the Buddha's teaching. It is Jetsunma's teaching. So, in this blog, we will explore compassion at a very practical level: how to let it be the driving motivation for action.
This is an endeavor where all can learn and grow!
~ Gonpo
The owner is a Western ordained Buddhist monk, Gonpo Yeshe. Gonpo lives in Sedona, Arizona, at the Prayer Center run by Kunzang Palyul Choling, a Buddhist center for study and practice of Vajrayana Buddhism. KPC was established in the Palyul lineage of the Nyingma school of Buddhism.
What does this entire mean for the person reading this blog who is not a Buddhist? This blog will explore compassionate activity in the contemporary context of a secular and materialistic world. We can only truly "Encounter Happiness" through compassionate activity; at least this is the belief of the owner of this blog. It is the Buddha's teaching. It is Jetsunma's teaching. So, in this blog, we will explore compassion at a very practical level: how to let it be the driving motivation for action.
This is an endeavor where all can learn and grow!
~ Gonpo
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)