Buddhist SPORTS: "brainball" at Sera (video)

Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly; KL.Lau (wiki); TricycleMag (video)

"When the Iron Bird Flies: Buddhism for the West" (with Richard Gere) from BPS/Sera:

The Fix Is In (Brian Tuohy)

The pitch (field) was crackling. Everyone was suited up. Game books in hand, teams formed, star players and cheerleaders, then it was game on.

  

Take that! No, you take that! Click and clack, fripp and frap, with vorpal sword (vajra) in hand. Now you've gotten yourself in a bind you'll never be able to get out of! Here's my retort; now you're trapped! Bam, take that right back! Lama on lama and the rinpoche can referee.

Sacred thunder bolt: Vajra

Here is a poetic play-by-play of an idealized match for The Phörpa (Cup):

One, two! One, two! And through and through,

The vajra hand goes snicker-snack!

He left him slumped, and with his head held high,

He went galumphing back.

- Lewis Carroll's imagination

Diagram of the pitch (mandala) for a match (debate) in the head space of reality.

The debate is on. Bam (hand clap)! Try to get yourself out of that one! (KL.Lau)

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Debating Buddhist scriptures － Tibet's Sera Monastery 西藏色拉寺 

They'll get it when they meditate (KL.Lau)

Sera Monastery (gompa or Himalayan lamasery) is one of the great three Gelukpa sect university monasteries in Tibet. It is located 1.25 miles (2 km) north of the capital, Lhasa. The other two are Ganden and Drepung.

 

Sophistry? The only way to debate is to study, question, and contemplate (KL.Lau)

 .

Gamble? Larceny Games

The origin of the name "Sera" is attributed to the fact that the site of the monastery was once surrounded by wild roses (Tibetan se ra) in bloom. The original Sera was located in Lhasa about 3 miles (5 kms) north of the Jokang and is responsible for some 19 hermitages, including four nunneries, all located in the foothills north of Lhasa.

Sera Monastery is a complex of structures with a Great Assembly Hall and three colleges, founded in 1419 by Jamchen Chojey of the Sakya Yeshe of Zel Gungtang (1355-1435), a disciple of Tsongkhapa.

During the 1959 revolt in Lhasa, Sera suffered severe damage, its colleges destroyed, and hundreds of Buddhist monks killed. After the Dalai Lama escaped and found asylum in India, many of the Sera monks who survived the Chinese invasion moved to Bylakuppe in Mysore, India.

When Iron Bird Flies (Ayya Khema)

After initial tribulations, they established a parallel Sera with Sera Me and Sera Je colleges and a Great Assembly Hall similar to the original monastic complex with help from the Indian government. There are now more than 3,000 monks living in India's Sera, and the community has spread its missionary activities to several other countries by establishing Dharma centers propagating knowledge of Bon shamanism and  Buddhism known as Himalayan Vajrayana, Indian Tantra, Chinese Esoteric Buddhism, and Lamaism. [This is what was bound to happen "when the iron bird flies," according to Tibetan lore.]
 

Ven. Trijang, Dalai Lama's tutor, Sera Mey

The Sera in Tibet and its counterpart in Mysore, India are noted for their dramatic and very animated "monastic debates." This stylized form of intellectual combat is meant to enhance learning and reflection on the Dharma, the teachings of the Buddha and elaborated, Hindu-synthesized Buddhist philosophy (aka Mahayana). Sera developed over the centuries as a renowned place of scholarly learning, training hundreds of scholars, many of whom have attained fame in Buddhist countries.
   

After the match everyone gathers for a group photo at Sera Me Tratsang College  "stadium"

"The Oldest Son" Tibetan lama incarnation

Wisdom Quarterly; BroadwayWorld.com (4-10-14) via Buddhist Art News, April 22, 2014

High lama of the Gelug sect of Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism teaches (dalailama.com)

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The Lincoln Center Theater will premiere Sarah Ruhl's new play "The Oldest Boy" this fall. The production, directed by Rebecca Taichman, will begin previews on Oct. 16, 2014 and open on Nov. 10 in the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater (150 West 65 Street). In it, Tenzin, the toddler son of an American woman and a Tibetan man, is recognized as the incarnation (tulku) of a high Buddhist teacher. Differing cultures contend with competing ideas of faith and love [as they did in Hollywood's "Little Buddha"] when two Buddhist monks seek permission to take Tenzin to a monastery in India to begin his training as a spiritual master. His parents must decide whether to send their young son away or keep at him home. More

 

Day 8 teaching the Dharma in Mundgod, India (dalailama.com)

• 2014 Mt. Everest avalanche kills 16
• Former Dictator George W. Bush is no "artist," he "copied off Google images"
• Autobiography of Thai Buddhist elder Ajahn Lee (PDF) 
• Katy Perry gatecrashes a children’s birthday party and makes everyone cry
• What a surprise, Israel abruptly pulls out of Peace Talks [so it can continue its militant ways]
  
  

  The right wing Israeli government is "furious" that after all its divide and conquer efforts, Hamas and Fatah have decided to unite for one Palestine with an invader and occupier in the self-styled God-told-us-we-could country of new "Israel." It will continue to build and expand illegal settlements as it usurps more precious land. The current government of Israel wants endless war.

FREE Buddhist film archive (video)

Dhr. Seven and CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Donna Beresford (meridian-trust.org)

The CIA, Democrats, Republicans, almost everyone loves the Dalai Lama, seen here in the White House with Nancy Pelosi (left) and shaking hands with John Boehner (Newsweek.com)

In 1985 the Dalai Lama urgently asked the West, through the Meridian Trust, to preserve Tibetan culture at a time when its very existence was threatened by China.

In an effort to fulfill a promise to the Dalai Lama, it would be an accomplishment to transform a Buddhist Film Archive into a FREE online learning resource.

This would be for the benefit of all living beings on the planet. For the last 18 months, the Meridian Trust - Buddhist Film Archive has been digitizing, editing, and encoding more than 2,500 hours of rare film footage on Tibetan culture, traditions, artistic practices, and teachings. 

FREE TIBET prayer flags (komodo.co.uk)

The mission is to put this unique archive online -- fulfilling a promise made to the Trust's patron, the 14th Dalai Lama, more than 30 years ago. 

The Trust is a few days into its Kickstarter campaign with a target to raise £10,000. This is what is needed to build a Website through which all of the material can be viewed. 

More information about the Meridian Trust and this project can be seen here. Help support the effort through Kickstarter, Twitter, blogs, posts on NSA spying media, and news outlets. Share it with fans, followers, and friends. Download a banner.

 

You be nice to my Michelle and Jo Boner, and stop killing people with drones! - Mm-hmm.

Help transform Buddhist films into a FREE online learning resource making the insights of Buddhist wisdom available to all (meridian-trust.org/kickstarter.com).

Naropa Buddhist University (magazine)

Ashley Wells, Seth Auberon, Wisdom Quarterly; magazine.Naropa.edu; LA.Shambhala.org

Permaculture at Naropa: designing a sustainable future (magazine.naropa.edu)

 

The fall 2013 issue of Naropa Magazine highlights one of the three pillars of a Naropa education: stewardship/sustainability. Naropa Buddhist University, Colorado, is excited to share some of its curricular innovations, including Naropa's new curricular arc and the "Roving Professors Project." It also highlight some of its alumni's groundbreaking work in addressing the multi-dimensionality of stewardship and creating a more just and sustainable world. More

(NU) Students talk about the Naropa college experience

Buddhist University

Student podcast: "The Contemplative Life"

Naropa University (formerly the Naropa Institute) was founded in 1974 in Boulder, Colorado by maverick Tibetan Buddhist monk Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, a lineage holder of both the Kagyü and Nyingma Buddhist traditions. Established to unite the great ideas and pedagogies of the East and West, Naropa attracted some of the country's most forward-thinking artists and scholars to teach -- people such as Allen Ginsberg, Ken Wilbur, Anne Waldman, John Cage, Meredith Monk, and many others. More

Tibetan Buddhism: "The Lion's Roar" (video)

CC Liu, Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly

This documentary is about the life, teachings, and passing of the 16th Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje. Narrated by James Coburn, we enter the world of this Tibetan spiritual master, who heads the Kagyu Order of Vajrayana Buddhism and explore the rituals and religious significance of his work. 

Tibetan monastics (aljazeera.com)

"The Lion's Roar" takes us to northern India to see where the Tibetan leader fled and other locales of his various travels. There are interviews with high lamas of this esoteric school of Buddhism who speak of the 16th Karmapa's works and influence in Tibet and beyond. We also learn through his life some of the basic beliefs and principles of this form of Buddhism.

(IAH) "The Lion's Roar" (full-length documentary feature on the 16th Karmapa)

World travelers find beauty in Nepal (photos)

Adventure traveler Alex Saurel; Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Stupa, Buddhist reliquary, Himalaya, Nepal (Raimond Klavins/artmif/flickr.com)

Day 37: Alex self-portrait, Kolyma road, Yakutia, Siberia, Russia (AlexSaurel/flickr.com)

Children looking and laughing and asking for money "Baksheesh!" "Why?" I ask. They laugh again. Nepalis are very cool, friendly, and take things in stride.

 
It was Day 166 of my World Tour 2013-2014. I was in Kathmandu, Nepal, in the Bhaktapur neighborhood, one of the main tourist centers around the ancient city.

It is worth a visit. Since navigating south through the Tibetan border crossing, I have been amazed by the beauty of Nepali girls. So every opportunity I got became a good time to take a picture.

• Lonely Planet guides: Against the high wall of the Himalaya, Nepal is a land of snow peaks and Sherpas, yaks and yetis, monasteries and mantras.

The Kumari Devi, living goddess, with redhead

The incredible thing -- and it may just be the result of being a man on a long journey -- is that an unattractive Nepali girl is extremely uncommon in the city. And it is non-existent in the villages.

Alas, after giving birth to their first child, most of them let themselves go and gain weight, as I remember happening in Cape Verde and Tahiti.

Durbar Square, Katmandu (Amazing Nepal)

Day 160 of the adventure, I crossed the Nepalese border via the Friendship Bridge. It crosses a major Himalayan river coming from Tibet, a gateway to the Himalayan range. The river of melting ice marks the border between the two countries.
 
Since I made an oath to travel progressively, I decided not to follow such a scenic journey by entering spectacular Kathmandu right away. I stopped over in the small village of Dhulikhel, from which I could easily explore traditional old town neighborhoods with traditional Newari architecture and meet local families.

Alex, let's walk to the Buddhist temple!

My new friend and her sister, standing in the background, and I visited a Buddhist temple, which meant a walk of considerable distance through the countryside. At the first sign of a little monsoon rain, they donned their veils. More

 

Tibetan Vajrayana novices undergoing monastic training (AlexSaurel/flicker.com)

Toward American Buddhism (Robert Thurman)

Wisdom Quarterly; Prof. Robert Thurman (bobthurman.com/tibethouse.us)

(SoundsTrue) Prof. Robert Thurmans is one of TIME's 25 Most Influential Americans

Cleaning the Himalayas: Green Odyssey (film)

Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly; PadYatraFilm.com; Valerie (FilmIsNow); KPFK.org

A chronicle of a spiritual journey and eco-compassion trek across the Himalayas to a glacial region devastated by global warming. U.N. honoree Gyalwang Drukpa leads the journey to trigger a green revolution. Opens Nov. 11/15, Laemmle's Music Hall 3 in Beverly Hills.

"Pad Yatra: A Green Odyssey" (trailer) directed by Wendy J.N. Lee, produced by Michelle Yeoh, narrated by Daryl Hannah. Premeires at the Awareness Fest 2013, Los Angeles
 
Pad Yatra: A Green Odyssey takes an environmentally-friendly adventure with 700 people trekking across the Himalayas with a call to save the planet's "third pole," a glacial region devastated by the climate chaos associated with global warming. Battling the most treacherous terrain on the planet, these trekkers spread their message of ecological compassion through a human's most basic means -- by walking on foot, cleaning from village to village, showing by example. Surviving harrowing injuries, illness, and starvation, they emerge with nearly half a ton of plastic litter strapped to their backs, triggering a historic "green revolution" across the rooftop of the world in Buddhist India's Himalayas.

• Clean up of dead bodies and rubbish on Mt. Everest