Gesar

In 1973, four years after coming to America, Tarthang Tulku began publication of Gesar Magazine (known then as Gesar News). The editor’s introduction for the first issue announced the wish to make “more personal and frequent contact with the many people who have asked about our Center and Tibetan Buddhism.”

Today, more than 40 years later, Tibetan Buddhism is far better known, but there is still a need for good, reliable information on the tradition. As for the activities at our centers, we now host close to two dozen websites that can keep people informed, but this wealth of information brings with it the need for a central source to report on the constantly expanding activities of the Nyingma Mandala.

The Nyingma Association of Mandala Organizations was formed in 2011 at the request of the Head Lama. When its Leadership Council met recently, we decided that reviving Gesar, which last appeared in 2002,  would  be  a  perfect  vehicle  for  communicating  what  the Mandala is about and sharing some of what we are learning.

In the dozen years since Gesar ceased publication, the Mandala has grown in remarkable ways, with new initiatives on four continents that none of us could have dreamed of at the turn of the century. Some of these developments are described in Annals of TNMC 7, published in 2009, so we have used 2009 as a cut-off point, not reporting in any detail on projects before that time. We hope you derive benefit and pleasure from reading what you find here.