Lama Kathy’s Dharma Blog: Prayer Flags in the Wind

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Prayer flags flying in the wind is a timeless symbol of Tibetan Buddhism. Strings of multicolored flags printed with sacred mantras – white, red, blue, green, and yellow – dance on the wind like a rainbow-colored wave, bringing blessing to all who are downwind of its prayers.

Prayer flags have been a symbol of Columbus KTC’s participation in the Community Festival – Comfest – for the last 10 or 15 years. We’re really not sure when KTC put together its first booth at Comfest, but ever since then, we’ve been “the prayer flag people,” offering prayer flags and incense sticks to passers-by who want to hear a little about meditation and the Buddhist path.

“We mainly talked about Buddhism and answered questions for people,” said Stacey Berry, KTC’s assistant director, who helped shepherd booth during Comfest last weekend. “We met a lot of people who are already meditating, but said they were looking to sit with a group.”

Comfest, an annual celebration of music and community organizations, is the main outreach activity KTC participates in each year.

It’s a great volunteer activity, and Stacey says our booth volunteers – many of them new folks themselves – enjoy meeting people and talking about the KTC.

The hours our volunteers spend at the festival come to fruition in the following months, as those passers-by carry through on their aspiration and come through our doors.

So if you see new people at KTC in the next few months, think of those aspirations and be the continuation of our Comfest hospitality, uplifting and encouraging them to connect at KTC.

In other words, you can be a “prayer flag” too ☺

Thanks to Our Comfest Chenrezig Chanters!

Many great, good THANKS go out to this year’s Chenrezig Chanters, who took to the Live Arts Stage at Comfest on Saturday morning to chant the short Chenrezig sadhana and the Miribai Lee Harrington “Kirtan” version of the OM MANI PEME HUNG chant.

Guitarist Ron Hess and chanters Michael, Rufus, Em, Chantal, Aiden, Olivia, Marilyn and Julane did a marvelous job of chanting and blessing the Comfest grounds with the compassion mantra. May all beings benefit!

Lama Kathy’s Dharma Blog: We Are Not Alone

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Standing in the lobby of the Riverside Church in New York City, we were surrounded by a wall of people several layers thick. They were interested in hearing about our KTC Rebuilding Project, and were impressed by the six-foot-tall poster we had next to our table – featuring a photo of the Columbus firefighter rescuing our Karmapa Namchen “Vision Banner” from the top of our burned building in January 2016.

We had been fundraising for a few hours over the last few of days at the famous church, where we had been invited by Khenpo Karma Tenkyong of KTD Moanstery to share our project with dharma friends attending His Holiness Karmapa’s program on “The 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva.”

Our opportunity to meet new dharma friends in New York City came just a few weeks after His Holiness had heard of our construction fundraising shortfall and had promised to pray for us to hasten the fundraising of the needed cash.

On this particular day, we had generated some interest with the Donor Gifts we had on display, as well as gold-covered copies of “The 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva” packed into little gift bags with polished sandalwood wrist malas. On small boxes sat clear glass statues of Vajrasattva that were to be blessed by His Holiness Karmapa the following day. It was a fountain of goodness in the center of a stone church lobby.

Then, all at once, out of the crowd emerged a statuesque Asian woman with striking features and a regal air. Dressed in flowing white dress and blouse, she approached our table with purpose, her elegant fingers grasping the books and malas, creating a pile of them in the center of our table. “I’ll take this, and this, and this,” she said, continuing her collection.

After a few astonishing minutes, we had bagged her gifts and she had made her donations, and we stared at each other in disbelief. The woman in white who had come from nowhere left us with nearly $5,000.

It didn’t take long for the symbolism of her visitation to sink in: His Holiness Karmapa had blessed us with a generosity dakini – right there in the middle of a church lobby.

The rest of our sojourn in the church was not as exciting, but no less wondrous; over those few days, thousands of dollars were donated to the KTC Rebuilding Project. We made new friends, and brought many others the inspiration of our new home.

Although we had been telling the story of KTC to people in Central Ohio for 2 ½ years, the folks we met in New York City had never heard our story before. They studied our posters and read our description of the fire and Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche’s vision for a new center, and were inspired to give a donation to see that vision carried through.

And we found ourselves being refreshed and re-inspired by their interest. It was as though the vision of a new KTC was a spiritual dynamo for both our new dharma friends, and for ourselves – the more interest put into it, the more inspiration came out of it. And on and on.

Working on a large project like ours, we may sometimes feel alone, but as we reflect on the words and gestures and donations of dharma friends far and wide, we know that we are not alone – because all of our dharma friends are with us.

And these friends are everywhere. Those “37 Practices” booklets? Sent to us by a dharma student in Taiwan. Those 100 sandalwood wrist malas? Created by a Tibetan man and his friends in California. Those glass Vajrasattva statues? Bought from the KTD Bookstore and personally filled (in his office, no less!) by KTD President Khenpo Karma Tenkyong. Those KTC posters? Created by a designers in Athens, Ohio and Dallas, Texas, and printed out by a print shop manager in Newark Ohio on a tight deadline in beautiful living color.

Add to that the work “on the ground” at Riverside Church by folks who took time off their daily lives to travel to New York City – KTC Director Kim, Assistant Director Stacey, Secretary Justin, as well as Lama Tom and Cathy Lhamo Jackson, Tanya Schroeder and others – and you have a formula for inspiration a thousand miles wide.

Creating a new dharma center is a huge source of virtue – it’s a river of goodness that flows and nourishes everyone it touches. From time to time, we should pause a moment and feel some of that nourishment ourselves; we can’t just let it inspire others without taking a little of that nourishment ourselves.

How do we take that nourishment? By dedicating and rejoicing. When we dedicate, the work we have done is sealed and preserved by goodness; when we rejoice, the virtue increases and expands.

We still have a way to go to re-create a new home for Columbus KTC, but meeting our fellow travelers – as so many of us will do in the coming months as we renew our community outreach and share our story with the world – will help us feel connected, and a part of this fountain and river of goodness in our little part of the world.

UPDATE: Over the next few days, Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche is conducting a fundraiser for Columbus KTC at our “home” monastery, Karma Triyana Dharmachakra, where ceremonies in honor of Khenpo Rinpoche’s 95th birthday are taking place this week. Dharma friend Amy Wu of San Francisco and none other than our own Cathy Lhamo Jackson are “working the table” this week to help raise money for the KTC!

Lama Kathy’s Dharma Blog: We Are Part of Something Larger than Ourselves

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Sitting just inches away from the stage at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City, I knew that something historic was about to occur. The stage, which had just hosted a collection of performers from Tibet, China and the western world, now was awash with golden light and a carpet of fog.

Into the center of the stage, near the edge of the performance space, stepped a tall Tibetan monk in Buddhist robes. He held a single golden-colored lamp chalice in his hands, right near his heart.

As the lights came up and shone upon his face, waves of applause came from the crowd of 5,000. His Holiness Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, began to lead us all in a prayer:

“May the bowl of this lamp become equal to the outer ring of this world realm …

“May a hundred million [lamps] appear before each and every Buddha …

“May its light dispel the darkness of ignorance …”

At that moment, focused on a single figure on the stage, I realized that I was part of something larger than myself; a great family of beings trying to live a spiritual life, stumbling and making mistakes, but always illuminated by the light of hope.

The “Marme Mönlam” (translated as “Lamp Aspiration”) has been the final prayer in the Kagyu Mönlam cycle for more than a decade. And each time it is sung, His Holiness Karmapa asks participants to be led in the prayer by monastics and lamas standing before the gathering.

This is not done as a way of merely “putting on a show” – although with modern lighting and stage technology, it can certainly look like that – it’s as thought His Holiness is asking the monastics and lamas to take their role as leaders and guides for beings, aiming them toward not just their own spiritual evolution, but the evolution of a loving societal conscience.

The Buddha himself gave teachings with a touch of drama – his miracles (fountains in the air, drops of light and so forth) before the crowd at the debates with non-Buddhist masters held during his lifetime were one such example – and the 7th Karmapa Chödrak Gyatso was known to put on “great spectacles” to bring the attention of many to the teachings and their blessing effect on our lives.

The Buddhist path can sometimes feel like a solitary one; trying to follow the Buddha’s directive to “do no harm, practice virtue, and tame the mind” can seem like an endless inner struggle removed from the struggles of others.

But it is our teachers who remind us that even though we cultivate virtue alone – by wishing for the benefit of others, restraining our wish to harm them, and looking within ourselves to perceive and nurture our own awakened nature – we are part of something larger than ourselves, a world where everyone is struggling, everyone is hurting, and everyone needs our help and support to go forward in their lives.

Through their teachings, public, private, and in our own minds (how many of us have recalled our teachers words in our minds before acting badly, and then restrained ourselves?) our teachers take the role of the Buddha in offering caring support for us and a reminder that we are not alone in our striving.

Through this, we have the potential for an opening, a softening of our hardened hearts, and an encouragement for the future.

All through the week of the recent North American Kagyu Mönlam, His Holiness was teaching us, telling us to let go of selfish clinging and remember than harming others harms ourselves, and that while there is breath there is hope for change and a more conscious life.

He said the most important thing was allowing ourselves to see the suffering of others, rather than being only concerned with our own obstacles and difficulties. When we become aware of the suffering of others, he said, and the knowledge that through our own awakening we can benefit others, our path to service to others becomes perfectly visible.

During the Mönlam, in the late mornings and early afternoons His Holiness would disappear for a while, working on the staging and performances for the Marme Mönlam, knowing that a crowd of people would be able to see the Buddha’s message more readily when the example was put before them in a pool of golden light.

And, during his concluding act leading the crowd in the lamp offering prayer, although he stood in the center of the stage, rather than being the object of all of this attention, His Holiness was more of a focusing lens, asking us to aim ourselves outward and reach for something larger: love for our fellow human beings.

“May my parents in the fore, may every sentient being …

“In this lifetime and all the places they take birth …

“See the pure realms of the perfect buddhas directly …

“And then become inseparable from Amitabha [the enlightened mind]…”

May we be uplifted in our hearts, see our Buddha nature, and, more importantly, the pain and suffering of others, so that the wish to relieve their suffering arises in our mind.

E MA HO!

Lama Kathy’s Dharma Blog: What a Difference Two Years Makes …

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Dear Dharma Friends:

While busily pouring over diagrams and floorplans and samples of tile and brick the other day, someone sent me a message online and reminded me – that day, Jan. 31, was the 2nd anniversary of the fire that destroyed Columbus KTC.

There was a moment, a catch in the throat, an instant of sadness, as the past became the present in a sudden shattering of the linear timeline that we sometimes use to circumscribe our lives. For a moment, there was a pang of sadness. And then the image of the warm red bricks, the soft golden stone, and an inexpressible feeling of the future being at hand.

That’s how it’s been these last few months, as folks send me photos of our happy lives in the “old” KTC and architects and builders show us the future “new life” of the KTC in drawings and photographs. After two years, we are still processing the grief of losing our home so suddenly, but at the same time, there is the tug of the future, a time and place where we will be comfortably “home again.”

Buddhism encourages us to not live in the future or the past, but to always live in the “now” of freshness, where the nature of our mind – free from being a material thing, free from habitual tendencies and clinging – is glowing and empty and present. It’s a reminder that clinging to feelings and emotions needs to give way to a comfortable rest in mind as it is, in the beauty of our unestablished nature – the nature that we all share and that makes us all “children of the Buddha” under the skin.

Accompanying this understanding is love and compassion – for ourselves, still stuck in the grinding mill of our habits, and for others, wincing in samsaric bondage beside us. Remembering to generate love and compassion for ourselves and others helps us to realize the appearance of awakening, even if we haven’t yet manifested that awakening in our minds.

So we work to build a container for our practice, for our human failings and yet also for our human aspirations to be more than we are, to be better, to be uplifted and to see ourselves as children of the Buddha, no matter how things might look to the outside world.

And building a new KTC is creating that container, and brings that blessing into every moment – including moments of indecision about tile and wood and stone.

The KTC Board has worked tirelessly and continuously for two straight years to bring this new building to fruition – the vision that Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche said when he asked us to “not be sad … (but to) rebuild,” and to “make it bigger” and better than before.

So if you see a Board member – Director Kim, or Assistant Directors Tanya and Michelle and Stacey (our glorious tag-team of dharma), or Treasurer Steve and Secretary Justin and Member-at-Large Eric – please give them a hug and a bit of thanks for all they are doing to bring us home again.

Two years is a long time to be without a home, but we have grown so much in those two years – learned about ourselves and each other, about what’s important in community (hint: it’s love, compassion, patience, cooperation, assistance, coffee and donuts, among other things), and about how always looking forward with a core of solid Bodhicitta (the mind of awakening that has compassion at its center) can make miraculous things happen.

Thanks to all of you, dharma friends, for carrying us and seeing us through. We have a little ways to go yet, and not everyone will like the choices of colors and tiles, but we’re working to create a space for practice that will shelter us as we seek our future in this amazing city of Columbus.

May the blessings of your intentions spread throughout the universe!

The Journey Home: Short Notes

  • KTC in Tricycle Magazine: You might have seen that Columbus KTC was featured in the “Meet a Sangha” feature of the online edition of Tricycle Buddhist Magazine. Well, another article is in the works, and if you’re at the KTC this coming weekend for our annual Tibetan New Year (Losar) events, you may meet writer Mary Talbot, who is coming to Columbus KTC from New York to profile us for an upcoming issue of the print edition. She will be attending our Friday Feb. 16 morning events and the Shabbat dinner in the evening, as well as our “Losar Sunday” events and sangha luncheon on Feb. 18. If you see her (or the photographer who will accompany her) please say “hello” and “Happy Losar!”
  • Lama Kathy Birthday Fundraiser – for fun this past week, I signed up for a Facebook fundraiser to raise some of the $7,000 needed for a KTC audio/video/internet system. We raised $2,600! Thanks for all who participated.
  • Also, don’t forget that even if you are short on cash, you can join the “Prayer Team” that is praying for the KTC Rebuilding Project to be a success. Decide on a prayer or mantra you will say for us, and write to me at kmwesley@me.com to let me know what you’re doing for us. Thanks in advance for your help!
  • KTC plans – the latest version of our rebuilding plans are being reviewed now by the Board, and Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche already is picking out decorations for the shrine room. We will share more pictures when they are available.
  • East Franklinton Review Board: The architects and builders working for KTC are almost ready to present the next-generation design for the building to the East Franklinton Review Board for approval. This zoning commission’s approval is the next critical step in the rebuilding process. The group meets March 22; please mark your calendars and keep us in prayers on that day.
  • LOSAR – thanks to all who attended the “three-lama” Mahakala protector puja on Sunday Feb. 11. Lama Wangdu, Lama Tom and myself gathered with our stalwart crew of Mahakala practitioners to thank the awkened protectors for their help in the “old year” and their assistance in the New Year.

Also, please try to remember the old adage that “what you do on Losar is what you will do all year,” and try to do some practice on the Sacred Day of Losar – this Friday Feb. 16. We will be at the KTC from 8 a.m. until 10 a.m. that day, chanting the Green Tara sadhana (for the first hour) to clear obstacles for the new year, and will have open practice from 9 to 10 to start the new year off right. If you can join us, that would be wonderful, but even if you can’t join us in person, you can join us in spirit by doing some dharma practice or prayers right where you are. You are always our “Dharma Family” in spirit!

We are sending our beautiful golden “prayer flag” T-shirts to our teacher Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche and all the lamas at KTD Monastery; we’re also sending a card and gift to Khenpo Rinpoche (our founder) to thank him for all he’s given to us ever since founding our center in September 1977. May he have a long life, good health, and ever-expanding dharma activity!

Lama Kathy’s Dharma Blog: The Value of Great Masters

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The Buddha Shakyamuni is well-known for encouraging his students to think for themselves; to try out his teachings about meditation and self-awareness for themselves and test them like a precious metals merchant weighs and assesses gold.

But he also described The Three Jewels – the Buddha as the teacher, the Dharma as the path and the Sangha as the community, or guide – as being essential to our spiritual journey, and encouraged us to take Refuge in them.

How do we reconcile these two famous views?

Perhaps the answer can be found in the example (often quoted in Buddhist texts) of a person aspiring to make a journey. A person who wishes to make a journey first thinks of her destination, and then chooses a route and a guide to make the journey.

A destination without a route means a very long journey, as one wanders without a path; and a route without a guide might mean extra time spent losing one’s way and needing to find it again.

In other words, having a destination (in this case, Awakening or Buddhahood) is not the same as arriving at that destination. One needs a route, and a guide.

In the example of the Three Jewels, the Buddha is our destination, the Dharma is how we get there, and the Sangha are our companions and guides for making the journey. To finish the journey, we really need all three.

The teachings say there are two types of Sangha: ordinary beings like ourselves are our companions on the journey, and awakened beings are our guides. Good guides can help us understand the teachings, answer our questions when we feel lost, and help us correct errors in our path. The best teachers are those who know us well and want only for us to accomplish awakening, and who will do whatever they can to help facilitate that accomplishment for us.

So, to reconcile these two teachings of the Buddha, we use the Three Jewels as our destination, path, and guides, and approach the teachings, path, and guides with intelligence and enthusiasm, testing what we’ve heard for ourselves and trying them out in our own lives to see what benefits they bring.

At KTC, we have a good container for the Three Jewels – the Buddha is our destination, the Dharma is our path and the sangha are our companions. And our guide is the Gyalwang Karmapa, a bodhisattva who has returned generation after generation to hold the highest teachings of our Karma Kagyu tradition.

The 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, speaks very humbly of his position, saying he “carries the weight” of the “name” of the great Karmapa. He says he wants to benefit all beings and will dedicate his life to giving the teachings and blessings we need so that we can take the path of the dharma and try the teachings out in our own lives.

He has spoken about the need to bring the teachings into our everyday lives, he has spoken about (and worked to improve) the status of women in monasteries around the world. He has spoken passionately about saving the Earth and improving our environment. And he has taken time to speak to college students about ways they can take responsibility for the Earth and the world’s societies and make them better.

We are very lucky to have such a teacher in our world, and to have such a person as our connection to the teachings of Mahamudra meditation – a tradition of awakening that goes back 1000 years.

When His Holiness Karmapa lived in Tibet, it was difficult to travel and visit him; then, when he escaped over the Himalayas in 2000 and settled in India, it became easier to see him, but still a bit difficult for most people. When he began traveling a few years ago, many more in the US could see him.

Meanwhile, His Holiness’ staff has arranged for his teachings to be broadcast around the world through the miracle of webstreaming. Now, no matter where we live, we can have his teachings available to us.

THIS Coming Sunday, Jan. 28, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., His Holiness will be bestowing a Long-Life Empowerment in New York, and while we may not be able to physically be there, we can observe the empowerment online and join our aspirations with his.

At KTC, we want to help connect folks to the teachings of His Holiness, so we are sharing with you this announcement from Khenpo Tenkyong about this Sunday’s webcast, so you can watch it at home.

Here is the announcement we received this week from Khenpo Karma Tenkyong, the president of Karma Triyana Dharmachakra Monastery:

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Sunday, January 28th

LIVE WEBCAST ANNOUNCEMENT

Tomorrow, Sunday, January 28th, the Gyalwang Karmapa will bestow the Thangtong Gyalpo Longevity Empowerment to the Himalayan community of New York and New Jersey. The event will be webcast live at the address below and available in Tibetan, English, Chinese and Spanish.

Please click the video on the next page to set a reminder for your timezone. http://kagyuoffice.org/webcast/

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Sunday, Feb. 4th

Additionally, His Holiness will give a teaching on “The Eight Verses of Mind Training” – a great teaching about the bodhisattva attitude and practice – on Sunday Feb. 4, also in New York.

For this event, KTC will have a “watch party” at the home of Cathy Lhamo Jackson, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The address is
205 Sunset Cove, Columbus, OH 43202.

To register for this FREE event, please write to Cathy Jackson at cathylhamo108@gmail.com

We are fortunate indeed to have such a wonderful teacher as His Holiness Karmapa, and through the miracle of technology we can see him teach anytime and anywhere. May all beings have connection to such teachers – and may all beings benefit!

The Journey Home: “Next Generation” Building Designs on View Dec. 12; “Sprint to the Finish Line” Rebuilding Campaign (with Donor Gifts!) through Dec. 31

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From left, Director Kim and Lama Kathy introduce the KTC to Franklinton Community leaders on Oct. 24 at The Idea Foundry

I. Building Community Interest in A Little Meditation Center

As autumn leaves fall, we approach the two-year anniversary of the fire that changed our lives at Columbus KTC.

January 31, 2016 will live in memory – first, as the date when our beloved shrine building was lost; but second, as the date Columbus KTC spilled out of its four walls and flooded Central Ohio with meditation and everyday blessings.

Before the fire, we were a bit shy but working our way out of our shell – our 10 a.m. Sunday meditation drew 5-30 visitors a week, and our Y Family Center dinners for the homeless, our prison project and our booth at the Community Festival let folks know we existed and were open to serve the public with meditation and Buddhist-style love and compassion.

After the fire, we were moved to make new friends outside our usual sphere.

The Sunday of the fire, a local church reached out and offered us a place to conduct our usual Tuesday night Chenrezig sadhana practice. Four days after the fire, we started making friends with local churches and religious groups at a prayer gathering given in our honor by the Interfaith Association of Central Ohio, and within a few weeks we were welcomed by Congregation Tifereth Israel, where we remain today.

Five months later, we expanded our offerings and partnered with Trinity Episcopal Church downtown to offer meditation instruction and practice every Wednesday at 12:15 p.m.; Midday Meditation Wednesdays is still on our calendar – stop by an see us sometime!

We also started reaching out to the local business community, meeting business people in Franklinton and Downtown Columbus to let them know our little meditation center could use their investment and support.

Our Franklinton neighborhood is changing, and it’s exciting for our center to be a part of this revitalization. It’s also great that more and more business people and young professionals are embracing meditation and mindfulness as part of their wellness discipline. So, reaching out to our friends in business seemed like a pretty good idea.

Our founder Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche actually gave us this advice early on: “find and meet friends who own businesses, and ask them to help you,” he said.

Those early contacts gave rise to more contacts, and the effort blossomed last month, when we sponsored a “meet and greet” for two dozen business friends at The Idea Foundry, a maker’s space and business incubator on West State Street in Franklinton.

We showed our new friends the plans for our new building, spoke about our service to the community, and encouraged them to invest in us. Over the next few weeks, we will be following up with them to see if they can donate to our vision of a new meditation center in Franklinton.

With the blessing of His Holiness Karmapa and with the blessing and prayers of Khenpo Rinpoche and the generosity of our own KTC members, we are getting closer to making our center a reality.

What’s next???

From Left: Bill Jones of Centerpoint; Lama Kathy; Director Kim; Treasurer Steve; and Architect Pete Macrae.

II. Our Building Plans: Updates, Upgrades and a Return to City for Review

This summer, our rebuilding project moved closer to reality when Centerpoint Construction of Columbus, led by principal engineer Bill Jones, came on board to help us.

Our beautiful initial plans (created by Wisconsin architect Keith Spruce with input and encouragement from the entire sangha) were then handed to a new team of architects, Pete Macrae and Peter Lenz.

“Peter and Pete” then began studying our vacant land at the corner of Rich and Grubb streets and made an in-depth analysis of City of Columbus Zoning and Building Codes to refine our plans and meet all local code requirements.

You’ll see the results of their work very soon, as we’re inviting the entire sangha to “Meet the Team” at a Sangha Meeting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday Dec. 12 at the KTC meditation space at Tifereth Israel.

Some highlights of their report include plans to provide more storage space and light in the main shrine room, an elevator and ramp to help make the center more accessible, a larger kitchen, and more downstairs storage space.

Once the designs are finished, we need to re-submit them to the East Franklinton Review Board for final approval. The EFRB already approved our initial plans, so we have a bit of a head start on the approval process.

Then, it’s on to the final planning phase – creation of construction documents. If all goes well, we will have a formal land blessing and consecration in the spring, and shovels will go into the ground soon after that. If all goes well, we could be in our new home at this time next year!

And should you ask, “how can we help?” Well…

III. A Sprint toward the Finish Line: KTC Fundraising Enters a New Phase!

The KTC Rebuilding project continues to excite and inspire people, both in our local sangha and in dharma centers around the world.

Ever since His Holiness the 17 th Gyalwang Karmapa personally gave our project his prayers and blessings when we met him in June and July, we’ve made good progress on our $1.4 million initial construction goal.

By the time we opened our Sangha Pledge Drive on July 31, we’d received almost $900,000 in insurance and fundraising proceeds, leaving about $513,000 to raise.

Then, the Hummingbird Fund of Christina and Jim Grote blessed us with a $100,000 challenge grant. If we could raise $100,000 they would match the cash and pledges dollar for dollar up to a total of $100,000!

Filled with the wish to benefit beings, and inspired by the Hummingbird Fund challenge grant, our KTC sangha members answered the call and generously pledged more than $20,000 in just a few weeks!

Since then, more than half of our community has pledged, and many will be receiving Donor Gifts (see below!) for pledging $700 or more. The generosity of our little group has warmed our hearts!

We’ve also been amazed by the folks who have pitched in to help our little sangha reach its goal: our founder Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche; his many Asian students, the Ocean of Merit donor group; KTC centers; grant writers; and now local business people and community leaders.

We’re building quite a team, and that team is going to help us meet our goal.

Now that we have a team, we’re going to encourage all of them to help us make A Sprint Toward the Finish Line between now and Dec. 31, 2017.

As our teachers have told us, helping build a dharma center provides immense merit, as thousands of people see, interact and are inspired by the dharma represented by our new center. The benefit of this virtue accrues both to those who give as well as those who rejoice in the giving. So, no matter how you participate, you have a chance to benefit all sentient beings.

But if you’d like to help out with our “Sprint Toward the Finish Line,” here are some great reasons for you (and perhaps your family, or your friends) to give between now and Dec. 31.

This Is a Great Time to Give, Part 1: Matching Grant Doubles Your Gift!
As mentioned above, Christina and Jim Grote have confidence in Khenpo Rinpoche’s vision and KTC’s plans, and have offered to match any pledge or gift made up to $100,000. Giving between now and Dec. 31 helps us meet the match, and can give some folks an end-of-the-year tax advantage, too.

This Is a Great Time to Give, Part 2: Donor Gifts ONLY from Now to Dec. 31!
Our friends at the Ocean of Merit donor group in Asia and the United States have been incredibly generous during our initial construction fundraiser, giving us more than $170,000 in donations.

But they also are offering DONOR GIFTS to anyone who donates (or pledges and makes their first pledge payment) by Dec. 31, 2017.

  • $700 donation receives a 108-bead green sandalwood mala blessed by His Holiness Karmapa
  • $1,000 donation receives a 4-inch Guru Rinpoche statue
  • $1,500 donation receives a 4-inch statue of Guru Rinpoche AND a pendant prayer wheel
  • $2,000 donation receives a fine wood hand-held prayer wheel
  • $2,500 donation receives a 12-inch Guru Rinpoche statue

Donations and pledges (along with first pledge payment) MUST be received by 12 midnight on Dec. 31, 2017 to qualify for Donor Gifts. As gifts are being shipped from Asia, allow up to three months for delivery.

This Is a Great Time to Give, Part 3: Three-Year Payment Plan Makes It Easy!
If you pledge by Dec. 31, you will have three years (until Dec. 31, 2020) to make your payments. Giving becomes easy when your gift-giving comes in small monthly payments.

All gifts are tax-deductible, and will be acknowledged with a thank-you card and/or receipt.

To donate, please click here, and/or contact treasurer Steve Phallen at treasurer@columbusktc.org.

Short on Funds, but Want to Participate? Join the Prayer Team!

We’re also looking for people to join our Prayer Team. If you would like to join, write to me at kmwesley@me.com and I’ll send you a lovely 8 ½ by 11 copy of the Tashi Prayer.

Also known as the Prayer of the Eight Noble Auspicious Ones, the Tashi Prayer – in which the names of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are chanted as a means of invoking their presence, inspiration and support – helps bring auspiciousness to any endeavor.

If you can chant the Tashi Prayer for us daily, you can help clear away obstacles to the rebuilding and help our transition to our new home becomes smoother and more full of blessing. It takes about 3 minutes to recite (either in Tibetan or English) and will be

However you choose to help, know that we are keeping you in our thoughts and prayers and are holding you with gratitude!!! May this project bring long lives to our spiritual teachers and benefit to all the sangha and sentient beings, far and wide!

Donor Gifts:

Lama Kathy’s Dharma Blog: Walking Each Other Home

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A friend of mine has a photograph of herself on a wall at her home marking her completion of her first-ever marathon race.

You’d think the image would be triumphant: a photo her smiling as she crossed the finish line; a photo in which she is cheered on by friends and supporters; or being doused with champagne to celebrate a race well-run.

But no; the image is of her lying sprawled out flat on the ground in her T-shirt and jogging shorts, in the shadow of a concerned onlooker worried for her safety.

At first I didn’t know what to make of this image; why did she feel such an affinity for it? Why did she display it so proudly? One would think embarrassment over having collapsed after crossing the finish line – even after accomplishing a 26.3-mile run – would overcome any sense of triumph she might have felt.

But it wasn’t the appearance that was being celebrated: it was the accomplishment itself, pure and unadulterated by ideas of what it was “supposed” to look like.

We can feel that way sometimes when we’ve undertaken any large task; we can hang back, worried about looking ragged and imperfect, fearful of mistakes or even failure. A giant task may seem too difficult for one person to handle, and it may make us feel alone and overwhelmed.

But this is where sangha, or community comes in. We can help each other forward, just by being mindful and aware – and willing to reach out, even if we don’t exactly know what to do.

The Columbus KTC is roughly half-way through its journey to find a new home. We’ve gotten through the basic building design, received provisional city permission and raised about $1 million, but now we have to complete our designs, permission and raise another $500,000.

This might feel a bit discouraging, especially since there’s so far yet to go. But what an amazing journey it has been, and what amazing friendships we have made along the way.

This past week about 25-30 local business people gathered at The Idea Foundry in Franklinton to look at KTC’s plans and hear our request for them to consider investing in our project – to help us create “a sanctuary of kindness in the center of the city.”

We spoke about the benefits of mindfulness and meditation, and encouraged them to think of us as a partner for wellness in the community. We told them about the $100,000 challenge grant from the Hummingbird Fund of Jim and Christina Grote, and asked them to consider helping us meet that match. We fed them and thanked them for their interest. We promised to call them back soon to check on their availability to help us.

In the usual insular world of local spiritual life, this might not have been possible – but these were unusual times, and KTC founder Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche encouraged us to reach out. “Find people with means and ask them to help you,” he said. So we invited 180 community leaders to a reception and asked them to assist.

This is how communities can grow and connect. We were so excited to meet them, and they were so excited to meet us. The dharma works in mysterious ways, and we hope to learn more about this soon.

But even if they cannot help us in tangible ways, they can help us with love and encouragement – and by introducing us to others who can help.

Meanwhile, at the KTC, we are heading into the winter season and will be hosting Lama Lodro Lhamo from KTD Monastery the second weekend in November. If you can help with the program – transporting cushions to First Community Church for our Friday night/Saturday sojourn there (Nov. 10 and 11) or helping set up and clean up at Tifereth on Nov. 12 – please contact KTC Director Kim Miracle at director@columbusktc.org.

And if you are visiting the KTC any given Sunday, and see people struggling to carry cushions and folding puja tables to and from the 10 a.m. Sunday pujas in the Nursery (off the atrium , where our Welcome Desk is located), please help them carry cushions and tables. And if you see lost folks with KTC badges on, greet them and help them get where they are going. And if you see a person looking down and forlorn, say a gentle hello and make them feel welcome.

As Ram Dass, the American Hindu teacher once said, “We’re all just walking each other home.” When we use the mindfulness we gain from meditation to notice the needs of other people and reach out to help them – or when we look up from our own struggle to take on a task all by ourselves and see others in the vicinity, and reach out and ask them to help us – we get a little closer to each other, and get a little closer to the “family feeling” that helps make Columbus KTC the most welcoming and warm Buddhist sangha in the city.

Our leadership team – Director Kim, Assistant Director Michelle, Treasurer Steve, Secretary Justin, and At-Large Member Eric – have been nothing short of remarkable, taking on so many tasks to keep the center open and flourishing while planning all the technical details of our new building. They are my heroes, and I ask that you continue saying the Tashi Prayer for them and the great work they are doing to bring us home again. They have taken on this work without pay and sometimes without a lot of sleep – along with taking care of their families and working full-time jobs – and are deserving of hugs and whatever good vibes that we can send their way.

It’s been a long road, and we have another year or more to go. When we finally trudge into our new dharma center in 2018, carrying a heavy load of cushions or books or furniture, we may be tired, and we may feel like collapsing in a heap in the center of the shrine room – but the accomplishment, the happiness of being home again – will certainly be worth it.

May all beings benefit from your work in the dharma, and your practice of meditation!

Tashi Prayer

Lama Kathy’s Dharma Blog: Refuge Names

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Seeing It Makes You Smile: Setting Folks on the Dharma Path

It’s one of the most enjoyable parts of my job: sitting in my easy chair, light coming through the front window, writing in ballpoint pen on little booklets the names for an upcoming Refuge Vow Ceremony.

The curls and squiggles of Tibetan script still challenge me; I’m sure I write with the same American accent I use when I try to say a few words of my adopted liturgical language. There’s a secret fear in the bottom of my stomach, that a Tibetan lama someday will see my scribbling and “tsk” and chuckle quietly to herself about my atrocious penmanship.

Folks ask how I choose Refuge Names – those combinations of words, preceded by the name “Karma” to indicate the recipients as part of the spiritual family of Karmapa – that are given out near the conclusion of a Refuge Vow-Taking Ceremony.

Great lamas can size up the spiritual qualities of disciples and name them perfectly on the spot; folks like me rely on the beauty of synchronicity, choosing names from a list and letting karma guide my hand in choosing the name as the candidate approaches my seat.

The ceremony of taking the Refuge Vow is 2,500 years old, and the lineage of the vow is unbroken since that time. Since the historical Buddha Shakyamuni began accepting those who wish to “take refuge” from the sufferings of samsara by placing their reliance on the Buddha as teacher, the dharma as path and the sangha as community, the vow has been handed down, generation after generation – across the lines of country, nation, gender, species, time and space.

Each generation has held the vow close to their hearts and then passed it along, in a living lineage that carries with it the same power and blessing as it did when the first Founder of our faith, the Buddha, gave it to his disciples.

So when we receive the Vow of Refuge, we receive a core of inner strength, a core of remembrance of our powerful, hidden, beginningless and endless Buddha nature, that can reassure us in difficult times and propel us down the path toward letting go of the causes of suffering and embracing the causes of happiness.

At the end of the road – the fulfillment of the goal set by the vow – is the complete liberation from suffering called Buddhahood, enlightenment, or awakening. The vow is the entry to that path, a beginning without an end, a mystery of intention that crosses lifetimes and leads us to benefit others endlessly.

All of that is contained in these little names, these “Tenzins” and “Sangyes” and “Lhamos” (“Holders of the Teachings,” “Awakened One,” and “Goddess”) and dozens more like them. The names are a shorthand for what has always been within us, the Buddha Nature, the mind that has the potential to see its own inner nature and awaken to perfect wisdom and joy.

And the hope is that those receiving those names will take the inspiration held within them and ride it like a breath of fresh wind, moving ever closer to ultimate peace.

So, even though I chuckle to myself sometimes, and fear that I’m jumbling the names rather than making them clear, I know that at some level they will take hold of the people who receive them, and those names will travel with them into the future – when they will use them to the ultimate benefit of all.


The Journey Home

This week’s episode of The Journey Home: Columbus KTC Rebuilds Its Temple, involves lights, cameras, and action at the home of KTC Member at Large, Eric Weinberg.

In the coming months, Eric and the other members of our hard-working Columbus KTC Board – Director Kim Miracle, Assistant Director Michelle Evans, Treasurer Steve Phallen, Secretary Justin Fitch – will be unveiling a new Rebuilding Campaign goal and the latest copies of the plans for our new building.

Those drawings you see on display in the basement of Congregation Tifereth Israel are the “first drafts” of our new temple; Columbus-based architects Peter Lenz and Pete Macrae are working on “KTC Rebuilding 2.0” and will have something for us to see in a couple of months.

Until then, it’s all fundraising, all the time. Our first online auction netted $13,000 in donations, and recently, we had fundraisers with martial arts luminary Stephen K. Hayes and a booth at the 10th Annual Independents’ Day arts festival on Washington Boulevard in Franklinton.

Along with that, we’re working on a short film (just a few minutes long) that will introduce the project to a wider general audience. And for that, you need someone with a camera, lights, and experience.

As luck would have it, Ryan Sweeney, Eric Weinberg’s neighbor, has all of these, and this past week a group of us met to be interviewed on camera for the film.

You won’t see the results until late October, but we’re confident that it will help you and your friends learn more about KTC and what we do to make Columbus a great and mindful place.

May all beings benefit!

Lama Kathy’s Dharma Blog: Seeing Ourselves in Others Touched by Tragedy

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With the tragic news this week of devastating floods in east Texas, lots of folks are asking what they can do to be of help. The sight of thousands of people displaced and trying to escape the floodwaters is distressing and painful, and our natural compassion leaps up and wants to help.

Excellent efforts by the Red Cross and other governmental and non-governmental agencies are drawing material support from all over the country.

Even a small amount of money can help people suffering from homelessness and the trauma of being separated from everything they know. Refugees don’t just come from foreign countries; they come from anywhere outside our normal, comfortable sphere. Their pain is our pain, and by helping them, we help ourselves.

We’ve all experienced loss; we all know what it’s like to lose the people and things we love. In that moment of empathy, we can forget all conflict, anger and disputation, and connect genuinely in ways that really matter.

So, in tragedy, look to the heroes – all the people who run toward danger to save the lives of others; all the people who see themselves in others and let go of prejudice and fear to fully embrace that human connection.

We’re seeing it in Texas – Muslim youths banding together to rescue the stranded, people of all colors and faiths reaching across lines to scoop up those in danger and bring them to safety.

Say prayers for the safety of all those – the stranded and the rescuers – and also rejoice in the purity of their action. Make the aspiration that you, too, will be able to reach out the day a person comes to you for help.

So many people come to us each day, and there’s no way we have the energy and resources to help them all. But when we can stretch, even just a little bit, beyond our narrow view, a flood of goodness may pour into our hearts.

Stay strong, Texas; help is on the way.

Note: Good prayers to say in the face of any difficulty are the Mantra of the Compassionate Bodhisattva Chenrezig (OM MANI PEME HUNG) and the Tashi Prayer, which can be found here:
http://www.lamakathy.net/resources/pdf/tashi_prayer.pdf

And here’s a short list of ways to assist those affected by the flooding in Texas: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/houston-flooding-hurricane-harvey-recovery-how-to-help-donate/

Fall Retreat: Time to “Get Away” with Your Practice

As summer draws to a close, we prepare for our annual Fall Retreat at Glen Helen Nature Preserve. It’s a yearly chance to “get away from it all” and spend time together in the company of dharma folk. We take walks in the woods and follow a monastic schedule – similar to the schedule of our “home” center, Karma Triyana Dharmachakra Monastery in Woodstock, NY – so we can slow down and give our minds a chance to relax and absorb the meaning of our dharma practice.

Here’s a little description of the program; check your calendar and reserve your space in advance!

KTC 2017 Fall Retreat: Bringing Compassion to Life

We may wish to become more compassionate people, but today’s world, with all of its strife, makes compassion feel like a very distant goal. But a short daily practice developed in 12th Century Tibet can bring compassion to your everyday life and change your experience of the world. During the teaching sessions of this weekend retreat in the woods near Yellow Springs, Lama Kathy will teach the short daily compassion training practice and how this practice can be used when anger, fear, impatience and other mental afflictions arise. Participants will take home a training program (including the traditional Lojong Mind-Training Slogans) that they can use in their everyday lives to increase their loving and compassionate response.

Lama Kathy’s Dharma Blog: Family Around the Table

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Looking around the social hall at Tifereth Israel, seeing all the smiling faces gathered at the big tables, I felt as though I were at a family reunion, a family dinner.

More than 80 people were enjoying lunch and talking about old times – how they came to Columbus Karma Thegsum Chöling, what benefits they gained from coming there, why they stayed – or why they came back.

I was reminded of another gathering, many years before, in the living room shrine hall at the home of Jerry and Kay Adams in suburban Linworth, just north of Columbus, where a group of about 15 dharma students crammed into the shrine room to bid farewell to the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa.

Sitting on the throne (covered in cloths sewn by Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche – the same ones we had in our old building on Grubb Street), His Holiness looked out over the tiny crowd, and made a prediction.

“It’s funny,” he said. “In most places I go, [other dharma centers] are much bigger than the KTC centers,” he said. “But here, the KTC is bigger. This is good. In the future, the KTC here will be a really large center.”

That was 1980. Now, many years later, we are celebrating our 40th Anniversary, and, looking over that room full of people who love KTC and its mission, I feel as though His Holiness’ words are coming true.

The 40th Anniversary Celebration commemorated the founding of Columbus KTC in September 1977 by Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche. We invited friends past and present to have lunch and share their stories about the KTC and what it’s meant to them.

During the lunch, we showed a beautiful slide show prepared by KTC Director Kim Miracle, and heard from several early KTC members – Art Chambers and Winie Wirth, among them – and from Eric Weinberg, a more recent member and KTC Board volunteer.

Art shared his feeling of “being home” when he attended a Chenrezig chant back in the late 1970s, and Winie spoke about how KTC was instrumental in the creation of a network of Columbus Buddhist centers. Eric shared how he met KTC through the visit of His Eminence Tai Situ Rinpoche (the guru of His Holiness the 17th Karmapa) at Columbus KTC in 1994, and how he returned years later to receive teachings and connect deeply with the dharma.

All spoke about how the KTC’s warmth and friendliness made them feel welcome, and how our education and practice programs “brought them up” in Buddhism.

We also heard about the amazing work being done since an arson fire destroyed the KTC building on Grubb Street in January 2016 and how the KTC is getting ready to rebuild a new center on the site of the old one at Grubb and Rich streets in Columbus’ Franklinton Neighborhood on the Near West Side.

Director Kim explained the process of surveying the sangha for ideas about the new building, conversations with our first architect, Keith Spruce of Wisconsin, and how we got permission from the City of Columbus’ East Franklinton Review Board to rebuild on our old site.

We also discussed the hiring of our contractors, Centerpoint Construction, and our new architects, Peter Lenz and Pete Macrae, and the timeline for both fundraising and completion of the project.

We will see the first drawings from our new architects later this fall, and start getting more information about the materials and methods that will be used to give us a brand-new center.

Meanwhile, we’re working with a goal of $1.4 million for the building, architecture, and basic furnishings (tables, chairs, etc.). Of that, we have raised $887,000, which includes our insurance settlement. That leaves $513,000 to raise.

We reviewed ongoing fundraising efforts, and announced a “challenge matching grant” from the Hummingbird Fund of the Columbus Foundation.

Hummingbird Fund representative Christina Grote then spoke, talking about her connections with KTC going back into the center’s earliest days, and about how she and her husband Jim Grote believe in the mission of the center and want to inspire others to give to help us rebuild.

Their foundation will match gifts given to KTC up to a total of $100,000. What an amazing start to our campaign!

During the 40th Anniversary lunch, folks had an opportunity to pledge funds toward the matching grant. By the end of the event, those in attendance had given (or pledged!) $31,416 for the campaign. They received gold Karmapa pins and entries in a drawing; Rose Spencer won the top prize, a beautiful cast metal statue of the Buddha.

Even after the event, people lingered behind to share stories and fellowship; the dharma family filled that hall with love, and the love is giving us all the strength we need for this amazing Journey Home.

Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche on His Wish for Columbus KTC [archiveorg CKTCKhenpoFinal2 width=640 height=480 frameborder=0 webkitallowfullscreen=true mozallowfullscreen=true]

Columbus KTC 40th Anniversary Luncheon Program Presentation

So Many Ways to Give!

Not everyone was able to attend our 40th Anniversary Celebration. If you’d like to participate in the project, there are lots of ways to help.