September 2007

FROM THE NEWS DESK: HEADING TO HAMBURG
Will Tibetan Nuns Finally Gain Full Ordination?

The very First International Congress on Buddhist Women's role in the Sangha (Buddhist community) was held in July in Germany. The main topic on the agenda was full ordination for nuns in the Tibetan tradition. While full ordination for nuns exists in other countries with Buddhist traditions, such as Korea and Taiwan, it has never existed in the Tibetan tradition. The Tibet Connection's Pema Dhondup talks with VENERABLE ANI TENZIN KACHO who attended this conference to get a broader view of this hot topic, and asks some serious questions about gender equality in Tibetan Buddhism and what we can look forward to in the future.

VENERABLE BHIKSHUNI TENZIN KACHO was ordained by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1985. She is an American Buddhist nun and teacher in the Tibetan tradition who lives in Long Beach, California where she is the Assistant Spiritual Director of Thupten Dhargye Ling under the direction of Ven. Geshe Tsultim Gyeltsen. Tenzin-la also has an MA in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and Tibetan language from Naropa University and occasionally resides at Geden Chöling Nunnery in India.

Kyizom in action at the mass protest in New Delhi. CLICK IMAGE FOR MORE PHOTOS

The Tibet Connection is proud to give a voice to young Tibetan exiles in a new segment TIBET YOUTH RADIO.

We kick off this series with a piece produced for the Tibet Connection News Desk by LHAKPA KYIZOM, a 24 year-old Tibetan woman, who participated in August's mass protest of Tibetans in New Delhi. Kyizom, as she is known to her friends, was one of 20,000 Tibetans and supporters who descended on the Indian capital from all over Asia on the one year count-down to China's Olympic Games. She observes the differences between the young and the old protesters and the spiritual overtones that permeate the event. In the end, Kyizom comes away even more committed to the Tibetan cause and to the path of non-violence, inspired by the spirit of a protest that she compares to the historic popular uprising of her grandparent's generation in Lhasa in 1959.

A practicing Buddhist, Kyizom graduated with an MA in Communications from Madras Christian College. She has recently become a Training/ Teaching Officer in the Active Non-Violence Education Center, a new Tibetan NGO dedicated to educational programs on the principles of non-violence.

The checkpoint in the middle of nowhere...

Click photo for more images from the Journey to Nako

"Where's Nako?" you may well ask. Producer, Rebecca Novick, had the same question when she read on a website that the Dalai Lama was scheduled to teach there. Having almost everyone she spoke to insist that the Dalai Lama was NOT teaching there, plus not being able to find a soul who had heard of it, only made her more determined. Finally, with a driver who knew "someone who had been there before", and a good map, she took off with her husband, Ronny, and Tibetan friend, Nyima. This is PART ONE of a two-part story of a modern-day pilgrimage to a remote mountain village in Northern India, where the people smile easily and the 21st century is left far behind.

With ORIGINAL MUSIC by fellow traveler RONNY NOVICK.

The most exhalted of figures in Tibetan history, Jetsun Milarepa, who the Tibetan people consider a saint, is now taking the lead in a new film. Far from Hollywood, shot in North India and directed by a Tibetan lama, Neten Chokling Rinpoche, the film depicts the early life of this 11th century yogi and is now finding its way to the mainstream. What is it about Milarepa that makes the Dalai Lama weep almost every time he hears his name? What is it about Milarepa's life story that can inspire us today and cross cultures, traditions, and coasts? In this segment we hear from the film's creators, prominent Buddhist teachers, and others about this famous and very real story.

May those who practice the Dharma through asceticism
Harvest immeasurable merits.
To those who encourage others to follow this path,
Immeasurable gratitude is due.
May those who hear my story receive immeasurable blessings.
Through these three immeasurable blessings,
May those who only hear my story achieve liberation,
May those who meditate upon it fulfill their aim.

'Sentient Being' is a commonly used term in Buddhism, particularly in Tibetan Buddhism. On this month's segment, Tibet scholar TENZIN DORJEE explains both what it is AND what it's not.