Dear Friend,
We are now a ways into the new year – may 2021 bring comfort and relief all over the globe, and to you and yours, wherever you may be.
With thankfulness in our hearts, we rejoice to have accomplished much already in this new year, and have several new offerings to share with you as we head into the springtime of new possibilities.
In January we held our first ever online Manjushri Namasangiti, with over 100 attendees chanting together from India and Nepal, North and South America, and Europe. Dr. Rajesh Pandey led the chanting together with his beautiful family throughout the three days, with Dipankara Tripathi spontaneously stepping in one day to assist. On our final day, we welcomed the Byomi Kusuma Sangha from Kathmandu to lead a final recitation, after which Mani Pokrel performed the sacred Newari dance of Manjushri.
From this experience, many participants asked for a training to help learn to recite along with our chant leaders Dr. Pandey and his family in India, and the Byomi Kusuma Sangha of Nepal. We are pleased to offer our first online instructional Sanskrit chanting program for the Manjushri Namasangiti with Dr. Pandey on Sunday March 14 from 9:00-10:00 am Pacific Standard Time / 9:30-10:30 pm India Standard Time / 5:00-6:00 pm Central European Time. Click HERE to register.
These prayers online along with the annual Tibet Peace Ceremony and Longchenpa anniversary pujas have all been conducted at the Institute with great devotion and care at the end of January and early February!
In February SINI held the Four Noble Truths Self-Paced On-line Course with live Q & A sessions once a week with our monks from the Institute. We heard presentations from Khenpo Choephel, Khenpo Gyaltsen, Pema Woeser, and Lopon Kuenzang Tshering. What a blessing to present our questions directly to the monks in the English for Dharma Purposes program at SINI, and receive their guidance and instruction from the comfort of our own homes. Truly, we find opportunities and blessings even in the most difficult of times when we remain open and follow our hearts.
With the full moon, we are distributing food in Sarnath this very weekend, as we have done as much as possible since the beginning of the pandemic in April 2020.
Coming up is the release of the brand new Quotes III, completing the Quotes Trilogy. To celebrate this new publication of Tarthang Tulku’s words of wisdom, I will be speaking with Barry Schieber in a Quotes Conversation on March 7. See below for how to join us, and to order your copy today.
With all best wishes for a happy and healthy new year, with love and appreciation,
Tsering Gellek
Director
Manjushri Namasanghiti Sanskrit Chanting – Training
White Manjushri, Tibet 17th Century
Food Baskets for Sarnath’s Hungry
Lopon Thinley Wangchuk with children, Full Moon Food Offering