A commonly held view is that the body houses the soul—but have you ever thought that the soul could live elsewhere? I have experienced that
The Sanskrit word “mandala” literally means a sacred center (la) that has been set apart or adorned (mand). In theory, therefore, a mandala can take
Last spring, Victoria traveled overland from Chengdu to Larung Gar Buddhist Institutue in the traditional Tibetan region of Kham. Part One* of her account describes
At 7 p.m., Lotos the 11-year-old mini-monk dashes up the stairs, his red robes billowing out behind him. He makes his way onto the monastery
Having previously established the context of Vajrayana in relation to the general Buddhist teachings and Buddha nature as the premise of its path,* this third
“Sacred art is created in order to awaken our experience of the true reality. It should not remain unattended on a wall or shelf. We
In the US, where I’m from, the words “healthcare” and “healing” carry very specific impressions: white-coated doctors, antiseptic rooms, pharmaceuticals . . . and fear.
Ngödup Burkhar has served as translator to His Holiness the 16th Karmapa and other masters in the Karma Kagyu lineage since the early 1970s. Born
The dancing mind is another mind. In Vajrayana Buddhist Cham, dance is yoga, the dancing mind the whole point—the center of the experience. Monk-dancers are
Undertaking a pilgrimage is much like gazing into a mirror to get a clearer view of oneself . . . Last year, Hong Kong’s Buddhist
“Although my view is higher than the sky, My attention to cause and effect is finer than flour.” – Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava) As our pilgrimage
At 9,000 feet in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, surrounded by long-haired hippies chanting, praying, singing, smoking marijuana, ringing bells, and waving vajras, I was
