Reports From The Mandala
Head Lama of TNMC
Gateway-entrance to the newly renovated Nyingma Institute Stupa
Over the past decade, the Nyingma Mandala of Organizations has expanded dramatically and in unexpected ways. Existing organizations have continued their activities on behalf of the Dharma and all sentient beings, typically intensifying their efforts. At the same time, at least nine new organizations have been formed, adding new dimensions to the founding Head Lama’s vision.
In the reports that follow, we lay out recent developments throughout the mandala and introduce the work of our new organizations. We start with the work of TNMC, where the Head Lama is most directly involved: Yeshe De, Odiyan, the Light Foundations, and the Sarnath Institute. From there we move on to describe the structure and mission of the Nyingma Association of Mandala Organizations (NAMO), founded in 2011.
We go on to lay out the recent work of the organizations that belong to NAMO. As a structure for presenting this wealth of developments, we start with the organizations located in Sonoma County, then turn to developments in Berkeley, and finally report on the expanding efforts of our international centers, under the direction of Nyingma Centers.
Mandala Organizations In Berkeley
Nyingma Mandala of Organizations had its beginning in Berkeley in 1969, when Rinpoche founded the Tibetan Nyingma Meditation Center. In 1971, TNMC moved into its new home, an old fraternity house that Rinpoche named Padma Ling, Land of the Lotus. Padma Ling remains a center of community activity as a residence and place of practice and the site of ongoing art projects and editorial work. Its ample gardens are tended as an offering to the Dharma, and its stalwart bear statue, left behind by the fraternity, has been adopted as a Dharma protector.
The next development came in 1972, when Rinpoche founded the Nyingma Institute in another old fraternity house on the other side of the University campus. Active briefly at Padma Ling, the Institute moved to its present location the next year. We start our reports on the Berkeley mandala organizations with the Institute, which has now flourished as a gateway to the Dharma for more than four decades.
In 2009, the mandala expanded into downtown Berkeley. We had been looking for over a year for a new home for the Tibetan Aid Project, which had occupied the same building as Dharma Publishing and the Yeshe De Project prior to their move to Ratna Ling. In 2008, the opportunity arose to purchase two adjoining buildings in the heart of Berkeley. Although far grander in scale than what we had been looking for, the new buildings offered remarkable opportunities to develop new petals of the mandala. Renovated in secret for nine months as a surprise for the larger community, the buildings witnessed opening celebrations in the summer of 2009.
Mangalam Centers, a 26,000 square foot building next to the main Berkeley post office, built in 1913 and a Berkeley landmark, became the home of the Mangalam Research Center for Buddhist Languages; it also houses a grand temple, office and residential space, and common facilities for dining, community events, and instruction. In addition, it serves as the headquarters for Light of Buddhadharma Foundation, the Center for Creative Inquiry, and NAMO. The smaller building next door became the home for the Tibetan Aid Project, the Dharma Publishing Bookstore, Nyingma Trust, a work space for the Prayer Flag Project, and (initially), the Guna Foundation. In 2010, another opportunity arose—this time to purchase the large building next to the Tibetan Aid Project Building. Known as Armstrong College (later, Armstrong University), it was over eighty years old, also a Berkeley landmark and built by the architect responsible for Mangalam Centers. Because it had been designed for use as a business college, it was perfectly suited for expanding the educational dimension of the mandala. Rinpoche named it Dharma College. After extensive renovation, Dharma College celebrated its opening in 2011. Soon after, it became the new home of the Guna Foundation, which moved from next door. It features a vast public space that Rinpoche lovingly prepared as temple capable of seating hundreds, as well dining facilities and a large lower level that is currently used mostly for storage.
Mandala Organizations In Berkeley
Nyingma Institute
With an emphasis on joyful engagement in life, the Nyingma Institute in Berkeley California has been bringing the riches of the Tibetan tradition to the Western world since 1972. We offer training in meditation, Buddhist studies, and Tibetan language in ways that blend cognitive and experiential learning. It was at the Institute that Rinpoche introduced Kum Nye Tibetan Yoga, Nyingma Psychology, Skillful Means, and the Time, Space, and Knowledge vision.
The Institute’s mission is to make the living spirit of the Dharma available to the West in forms appropriate to the contemporary world. Accordingly, the Institute sustains a rigorous and cohesive curriculum of classes, workshops, and retreats that speak directly to the lives of its students.
Over the past decade we have offered 4,500 classes, workshops, retreats, talks and events. In the past year we initiated several programs, including a Nyingma Psychology program called “Mastering the Art of Happiness.” One student wrote of this program, “I wish I had taken this program earlier in my life”—a sentiment we often hear from our students. Another new five-month Nyingma Psychology program is called “Reclaiming the Heart.” A new year-long meditation program, “Finding Inner Peace,” provides the structure and encouragement needed to establish a regular meditation practice.
The Institute continues its long tradition of art projects that students can join, contributing their energy toward wholly meritorious ends. The lantsa characters of the Manjushri Namasamgiti, a powerful prayer, were prepared at the Institute for shipment to its sister institute in Sarnath. We are currently in the early stages of starting a new project to produce tsa-tsas, supplementing the production now coming to completion at Odiyan. Institute staff and volunteers also sew prayer flags and chevrons whenever time allows.
An oasis of calm and healing energy in the midst of the city, the Institute buildings and grounds integrate sacred symbols into their design. New House, acquired in 1998 and dedicated in 2001, greatly expanded the space available for teaching, residence, and art projects. We continue to improve and ornament the grounds whenever opportunities arise, and volunteers regularly come in to garden.
In 2013–14, the Institute undertook extensive renovation of the Stupa in its garden, a gift to Rinpoche from Dharma Enterprises that has been a focal point for meditation practice for almost two decades. The purpose was to provide a path for circumambulation, but the project led to many other improvements and embellishments to the garden, which already delights visitors with its rose garden, giant enclosed prayer wheel, and spaces for quiet meditation.
Recently dedicated, the Stupa is now elevated on a newly poured concrete pedestal, and is approached by an ornate new bridge across the pond, entered through a hand-carved gate. The bridge symbolizes the path that leads beings across the ocean of suffering. A statue of Kwan Yin, the Bodhisattva of Compassion in female form, rests on a rocky outcrop above a waterfall to the left, while the circumambulation path opens to the right. The stupa spire is framed against the sky by gracefully arching Japanese maple trees. For years the Institute garden has drawn visitors from far away to meditate in its sacred space; now the power of that space has been magnified many times over.
According to Buddhist scriptures, a Stupa has the power to remove karmic obscurations, avert natural disasters, and promote peace. Like a great seal impressed on the land, the Stupa integrates and balances natural forces, a wish fulfilling jewel for beings everywhere.
The Institute has helped cultivate the ground of our Western culture so that the seed of awakening can be planted and flourish. Hundreds of thousands of students have passed through our doors. Person by person, we introduce new ideas, new methodologies, and a new educational model based on a union of cognitive and experiential knowledge.
These seeds are taken back into each person’s community and country, inspiring new directions for Western psychology, theology, and education as well as facilitating positive personal transformation. It is not always possible to trace the fruits of this decades-long work, but we see enough, and hear enough from our visitors and friends, to know that the impact has been felt in communities and countries around the world