Rev. Danny Fisher

The Seventh Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche has been named as a plenary speaker for the 2007 Association of Professional Chaplains (A.P.C.) Annual Conference.

The conference will be held in Burlingame, CA, from April 28th until May 2nd. This year’s theme is Discovering Sacred Horizons: Encounters that Enrich. Rinpoche and the other speakers will “illumine” this theme for the gathered caregivers.

For the uninitiated, the Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche is a respected scholar in both the Kagyu and Nyingma schools of Tibetan Buddhism, as well as the founder of the Nitartha Institute and author of such books as Penetrating Wisdom and Wild Awakening: The Heart of Mahamudra and Dzogchen.

I had the distinct pleasure of taking a class with Rinpoche while a student at Naropa University, and I found his teaching to be as eloquent and helpful as it was accessible. I suspect he will make an excellent addition to the line-up of speakers at this year’s A.P.C. conference.

Thanks to the Buddhist Chaplains Network for cluing us in to this.

BODH GAYA, part four

Afternoon at the Mahabodhi Mahavihara.

The Buddha image inside the main part of the stupa.

The Meditation Park at the Mahabodhi Mahavihara.

The Anjapala Nigrodha Shrine, where the Buddha spent his fifth week of meditation and conversed with Brahma.

The Rajayatana Tree, where the Buddha spent the seventh week of meditation and magnetized his first lay devotees.

The Ratanaghara, or “Jewel House,” where the Buddha spent the fourth week in meditation. Also, according to the temple’s management committee, “While He sat here in deep contemplation the six rays of blue, yellow, red, white, orange and a combination of all these colours together forming the sixth colour emanated from His body. The Buddhist flag used in all Buddhist countries is designed with these colours.”

A Western pilgrim sitting among the small stupas and votives at the Mahabodhi Mahavihara.

A banner hung by the Tibetan Volunteers for Animals (TVA) at the Mahabodhi Mahavihara.

Beggars reaching through the Mahabodhi Mahavihara’s gate.

Indian monks doing morning chants at the Mahabodhi Mahavihara.

Indian monk at the Mahabodhi Mahavihara.

Burmese pilgrims paying respect to the Vajrasana at the Mahabodhi Mahavihara.

A Tibetan monk reads from a pecha (scriptural document) in a corner of the Mahabodhi Mahavihara.

Tibetan nuns making mandala offerings at the Mahabodhi Mahavihara.

A Tibetan monk (and dog) catch a quick nap between prostrations during the midday.

Tibetan monks performing a ceremony beneath the Bodhi Tree.

Tibetan monks gathered for the Kagyu Monlam Chenmo (prayer festival).

His Holiness Urgyen Trinley Dorje, the 17th Karmapa, gives teachings from beneath the Bodhi Tree at the Kagyu Monlam Chenmo.

BODH GAYA, part three

A view from the Sujata village of the rocky hills that surround the city of Gaya.

The Sujata Stupa, a votive erected at the eponymous village named for the Bihari maidan who offered the Buddha food when he came to the end of his ascetic practice.

A scene near the Tibetan Refugee Market (Mahabodhi Mahavihara visible in the background).

Downtown Bodh Gaya.

A residential area near the Mahabodhi Mahavihara.

The ubiquitous Indian cow.

A local mosque.

A Shivite temple near the mosque.

The Burmese Vihar.

Sayadaw U Nyaneinda, abbot of the Burmese Vihar.

The garden at the Burmese Vihar.

(From left to right) Sisters Dharmavijaya and Molini, of the Dhamma Moli Project, with American tourists at the Burmese Vihar.

A monk fixes a generator at the Burmese Vihar.

New puppies explore the Burmese Vihar.

A Tibetan geshe staying at the Burmese Vihar poses for a photograph.

Terga Monastery, a recently constructed Karma-Kagyu Tibetan Buddhist temple built for His Holiness the 17th Karmapa.

Local laborers working on a stairwell at Terga Monastery.

DARJEELING, part two

Monks assemble for afternoon prayers at Dali Monastery.

Siberian tiger at the Darjeeling Zoo.

The interred cremains of Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, Edmund Hillary’s partner in the historic 1953 ascent of Mount Everest, at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute.

DELHI, part two

Jantar Mantar, an astronomical observatory built in the eighteenth century by the Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh.

One of the instruments at Jantar Mantar.

Another of the instruments at Jantar Mantar.

A closer look at another of the instruments at Jantar Mantar.

GHOOM

Ghoom.

Sakya Guru Monastery.

A view from outside the main gompa at Sakya Guru Monastery.

Ghoom Monastery.

Young monks gather at Ghoom Monastery’s stupa.