The Tibetan Aid Project (TAP) is an operation of the Tibetan Nyingma Relief Foundation. [1] TAP was founded in 1969 by Tarthang Tulku—a leading Tibetan master and teacher—to support the efforts of Tibetans to survive in exile and re-establish their cultural heritage. It is a 501 c (3) non-profit organization that primarily focuses on raising funds for the production, shipment and distribution of sacred texts, art and prayer wheels for the World Peace Ceremony in Bodh Gaya, India. [2]
During the Chinese invasion of 1959, more than 1 million Tibetans were killed and 6,237 monasteries were destroyed along with their libraries. [3] Over the years, TAP has filled hundreds of libraries with Tibetan books, stimulated education in the Himalayan region, fostered literacy across Tibetan society, improved the economy of Bodh Gaya, India, and enabled nuns—who were traditionally limited to non-scholastic activities—to study texts and earn advanced degrees. [4]
The monastic tradition was and still is uniquely strong for Tibetans. In 1951, monasteries had access to and occupied between 37 and 50 percent of the best, most fertile land in Tibet. In addition, the government strongly supported the monasteries, providing money for prayer ceremonies and other religious activities. In the three largest monasteries around Lhasa, there alone were twenty thousand monks. Before the Chinese takeover, between 10 and 20 percent of males in Tibet were monks. This is a much higher percentage compared to other Buddhist countries. In Thailand, for example, only 1-2 percent of its males were monks in the mid-1900s. According to Melvyn C. Goldstein, the large number of monasteries was a result from the Tibetans' belief that "Tibet's greatness lay in its development of a system wherein tens of thousands of young boys were constantly being taken away from the mundane world of inevitable suffering and thrust into a purer alternative culture—the organized community of celibate monks." [5]
When China invaded Tibet in 1959, thousands of these monasteries were destroyed along with their libraries, marking the beginning of a precarious time for Tibetans and their culture. [6]
In 1959, with around 100,000 of his followers, the Dalai Lama fled from Chinese persecution. Prior to that Tarthang (Tar-tung) Tulku, a Tibetan lama, had traveled to study in Sikkim, India with his primary teacher, Khentse Rinpoche. [7]
Later settling in India on a scholastic fellowship, Tarthang Rinpoche spent six years teaching Buddhist philosophy at Sanskrit University in Benares, India. He also began a small Tibetan-language publishing company. After years of witnessing the decline of his culture and the living conditions of his fellow refugees, Tarthang traveled to California in 1968. In Berkeley—where there was already a flourishing array of East-meets-West, his desire to help the Tibetans and all humanity had a place to grow. Later, he would establish Dharma Publishing and the Tibetan Aid Project. [8]
When Buddhism came to Tibet from India in the 7th century, the religion thrived and a steady flow of the Buddha's teachings were translated from Sanskrit to Tibetan. These texts were canonized as the Kanjur and the Tanjur. The Kanjur is the sacred teachings of the Buddha and the Tanjur, a large collection of commentary on the teachings. [9]
With the desire to publish these Tibetan texts, Tarthang searched everywhere for the Kanjur and the Tanjur. However, there were very few copies to be found. Empty-handed, Tarthang spread the word to the Tibetan refugees, some of whom had carried books instead of food with them during the mass exodus of 1959. [10] Many Tibetan refugees responded to Tarthang's search, and as a result, in 1982 Dharma Publishing was able to put together a complete canonical collection of the texts based on the Derge Edition and other editions, including nine texts from the Chinese Canon. Containing 5,109 texts and totaling 65,160 pages, the Canon also includes traditional Tibetan art and is the most complete collection of the Kanjur and Tanjur ever assembled. [11]
Besides the Kanjur and the Tanjur, Tarthang oversaw the production of other sacred Tibetan texts written by numerous great teachers and philosophers, such as Dudjom Rinpoche, Jigme Lingpa and Patrul Rinpoche, to name a few. [12]
In 1989, Tarthang organized an annual ceremony in order to pray for world peace at Bodh Gaya in Bihar, India—the site of Buddha's enlightenment. The Ceremony takes place in January and lasts for 10 days. [13] During the World Peace Ceremony, the Tibetan Aid Project distributes thousands of books to Tibetans. Over the span of 22 years, TAP has helped give away more than three million books and sacred art prints and over 140,000 prayer wheels, preserving the Tibetan teachings of wisdom and compassion for generations to come. [14]
In 2001, Chef Laurent Manrique proposed to the Tibetan Aid Project of doing a charity dinner to which he would invite some of his other chef friends to join in. Over the years, it has grown into the main fundraiser for the Tibetan Aid Project. During the event, more than 20 of the Bay Area's best chefs work in pairs to prepare exquisite meals for 220 guests at the Four Seasons Hotel in San Francisco. [15]
In addition to the Tibetan Aid Project, Tarthang established several other organizations.
A tulku is a distinctive and significant aspect of Tibetan Buddhism, embodying the concept of enlightened beings taking corporeal forms to continue the lineage of specific teachings. The term "tulku" has its origins in the Tibetan word "sprul sku", which originally referred to an emperor or ruler taking human form on Earth, signifying a divine incarnation. Over time, this term evolved within Tibetan Buddhism to denote the corporeal existence of highly accomplished Buddhist masters whose purpose is to ensure the preservation and transmission of a particular lineage.
Chöje Akong Tulku Rinpoche was a tulku in the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism and co-founder of the Samye Ling Monastery in Scotland, Tara Rokpa Therapy and charity ROKPA International.
Nyingma can be referred to as Ngangyur, is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The Nyingma school was founded by Padmasambhava as the first translations of Buddhist scriptures from Pali and Sanskrit into Tibetan occurred in the eighth century. The establishment of the Tibetan Buddhism and the Nyingma tradition is collectively ascribed to Khenpo Shantarakshita, Guru Padmasambhava, and King Trisong Detsen, known as Khen Lop Chos Sum.
The 16th Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje is the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa and the spiritual leader of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. He is of the oldest line of reincarnate lamas in Vajrayana Buddhism, known as the Karmapas whose coming was predicted by the Buddha in the Samadhiraja Sutra. The 16th Karmapa was considered to be a "living Buddha" and was deeply involved in the transmission of Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism to Europe and North America following the Chinese invasion of Tibet. He was known as the "King of the Yogis", and is the subject of numerous books and films.
Jamgön Kongtrül Lodrö Thayé, also known as Jamgön Kongtrül the Great, was a Tibetan Buddhist scholar, poet, artist, physician, tertön and polymath. He is credited as one of the founders of the Rimé movement (non-sectarian), compiling what is known as the "Five Great Treasuries". He achieved great renown as a scholar and writer, especially among the Nyingma and Kagyu lineages and composed over 90 volumes of Buddhist writing, including his magnum opus, The Treasury of Knowledge.
Dzongsar Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö was a Tibetan lama, a master of many lineages, and a teacher of many of the major figures in 20th-century Tibetan Buddhism. Though he died in 1959 in Sikkim, and is not so well known in the West; he was a major proponent of the Rimé movement within Tibetan Buddhism, and had a profound influence on many of the Tibetan lamas teaching today.
Tarthang Tulku Rinpoche is a Tibetan Vajrayana teacher and lama who introduced the Nyingma school tradition of Tibetan Buddhism to the United States. Tarthang Tulku works to preserve the buddhadharma, the art and the culture of Tibet. He oversees various projects including Dharma Publishing, Yeshe-De, Tibetan Aid Project, the annual Nyingma school Monlam Chenmo World Peace Ceremony in Bodhgaya, and the construction of the Odiyan Copper Mountain Mandala. Tarthang Tulku also introduced Kum Nye to the West.
Chagdud Tulku was a Tibetan teacher of the Nyingma school of Vajrayana Tibetan Buddhism. He was known and respected in the West for his teachings, his melodic chanting voice, his artistry as a sculptor and painter, and his skill as a physician. He acted as a spiritual guide for thousands of students worldwide. He was the sixteenth tülku of the Chagdud line.
Mindrolling Monastery, is one of the "Six Mother Monasteries" of the Nyingma school in Tibet. It was founded by Rigzin Terdak Lingpa in 1676. Tendrak Lingpa's lineage is known as the Nyo lineage. The name in Tibetan means "Place of Perfect Emancipation". It is located in Zhanang County, Shannan Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, China, known as U-Tsang. Mindrolling Monastery is approximately 43 kilometers east of the Lhasa airport, on the south side of the Tsangpo river.
Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche Jigdral Yeshe Dorje was known simply as Dudjom Rinpoche. He is considered by many Tibetan Buddhists to be from an important Tulku lineage of Terton Dudul Dorje (1615–1672), and was recognized as the incarnation of Terton Dudjom Lingpa (1835–1904), a renowned treasure revealer. He was a direct incarnation of both Padmasambhava and Dudjom Lingpa. He was a Nyingma householder, a yogi, and a Vajrayana and Dzogchen master. According to his secretary Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal and many others, he was revered as "His Holiness" (Kyabje) and as a "Master of Masters".
Kyabjé 3rd Drubwang Padma Norbu, Lekshe Chokyi Drayang widely known as Penor Rinpoche, is the 11th throneholder of the Palyul Lineage of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism, and the 3rd Drubwang Padma Norbu. He is recognized as the incarnation of Vimalamitra, an 8th century Buddhist Monk. By the age of 17, he had received the corpus of Payul lineage teachings including Dzogchen teachings, and became a renowned Dzogchen master. He began his escape from Tibet in 1959 with 300 people, and only 30 arrived in India. While working alongside laborers, he rebuilt Palyul Monastery in Karnataka, India, where more than 5,000 Nyingma school monks and nuns study.
Namgyal Rinpoche, Karma Tenzin Dorje (1931–2003), born Leslie George Dawson in Toronto, Canada, was a Tibetan Buddhist lama in the Karma Kagyu tradition.
The Thegchog Namdrol Shedrub Dargye Ling(བོད་ཡིག ཐེག་མཆོག་རྣམ་གྲོལ་བཤད་སྒྲུབ་དར་རྒྱས་གླིང་།), informally known as Namdroling Monastery is the largest teaching center of the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism in the world. Located in Bylakuppe, part of the Mysuru district of the state of Karnataka, the monastery is home to a sangha community of more than five thousand monks and nuns and qualified teachers, a junior high school named Yeshe Wodsal Sherab Raldri Ling, a Buddhist philosophy college or shedra for both monks and nuns, a home for the elderly, and a hospital.
Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo is a tulku within the Palyul lineage of the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. She gained international attention when she, a Western woman, was enthroned as a reincarnated lama. Since the mid-1980's she has served as spiritual director for Kunzang Odsal Palyul Changchub Choling, a Buddhist center in Poolesville, Maryland, which includes a large community of western monks and nuns. She also founded a center in Sedona, Arizona, U.S.A., and has small communities of students in California and Australia. Ahkon Lhamo has been described by her teachers, Tibetan lamas Penor Rinpoche, Gyatrul Rinpoche, as well as others such as Jigme Phuntsok, as a dakini or female wisdom being.
Gangteng Monastery, also known as Gangtey Gonpa or Gangtey Monastery, is a monastery of Nyingmapa school of Tibetan Buddhism, the main seat of the Pema Lingpa tradition, located in the Wangdue Phodrang District in central Bhutan. The monastery, also known by the Gangten village that surrounds it, is in the Phobjikha Valley where winter visitors – the black-necked cranes – visit central Bhutan to roost, circling the monastery three times on arrival and repeating this circling when returning to Tibet. The monastery's history traces to the early 17th century and back to the prophecies made by the terton Pema Lingpa in the late 15th century.
Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche, also known as "Khen Rinpoche," was a teacher, a scholar, a lama, and a Dzogchen master in the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. He was considered by Penor Rinpoche to be one of the most learned living Nyingma scholars. Palden Sherab founded the Orgyen Samye Chokhor Ling Nunnery, the first nunnery in Deer Park (Sarnath).
The Second Beru Khyentse, born Thupten Sherap is a lineage holder of the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism and the third reincarnation of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (1820–1892).
According to Tibetan Buddhism the IXth Minling Khenchen Rinpoche is the successive reincarnation of the Minling Kenrab lineage, co-administrator of Mindrolling Monastery and Head Abbot In-Charge of Ngagyur Nyingma College in India, Vajrayana master, scholar, and teacher.
Keith Dowman is an English Dzogchen teacher and translator of Tibetan Buddhist texts.
{{cite web}}
: |last=
has generic name (help)