October 7, 2006

Dear Friends,

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying this beautiful time of year. Thought I'd write a letter before heading into retreat (until November 7) up dating you on various things.

Wedding

Aloka's wedding was beautiful and magical, really a joyful love fest. It was on the afternoon of August 12, the light was beautiful, rolling clouds between thunderstorms. Aloka and Trevor were so present in their commitment to each other. As a mother it marked a new era, and a joy to see her so happy. Of course I cried several times - when she first put on her wedding dress and when she came around the corner into the meadow in the horse drawn carriage with the sun lighting up her billowing white veil. It was really a moving event, and a lot of fun. Dancing went on until 2 am and 100 guests, family and friends celebrated together. The wedding brought a lot of new visitors to Tara Mandala, many of whom expressed interest in the teachings and activities happening here.

New Retreat Cabin

We finished the new retreat cabin; it's gorgeous, named Karuna, active compassion. It's 20'x14', has French doors viewing Ekajati Peak, a kitchen area, shrine, shelves, wood stove for heat, and a gas stove for cooking. Contact info@taramandala.org for reservations. We cleared and made rough roads for 6 more cabins on that hillside, named Samten Phuntsog Ling (Meditation Place Where All Necessities Are Present) by Adzom Rinpoche last year. It was wonderful to find these sites, each one is magical and 'a place' in its own right. We hope to keep building cabins every year as the larger projects continue.

Temple and Capital Campaign

We have been doing a lot of site prep work at the temple site. It's going to be so beautiful there. It will be 72' high (three stories). October 17 there's a public hearing for a height variance. We are shifting to a local architect for this phase and interviewing contractors so we'll be set to start building in the spring.

We raised $50,000 from the Tara tangkha this summer; thank you to those who sponsored these 50 Taras. Anyone wishing to sponsor a Tara for $1000 please contact Deb at deborah@taramandala.org. There are still 950 available.

We still need to raise $1.4 million, but have already raised $2.6 million for the temple and residence buildings. Please consider pulling out all the stops and giving what you can; this is the moment we really need it. Thanks to so many of you who have done so much already.

Teachings /Writings

I sent my manuscript off to Little Brown, my publisher, yesterday. Its working title is: Feeding Your Demons: Transforming the Enemy into an Ally. It will be out in late 2007 if all goes well.

We have almost finished a commentary on the Green Tara practice, based on transcriptions from several retreats. Daphna worked very hard on this project this summer.

I also did tele-teachings through Tricycle for the first time in September. Quite strange: I sit at my desk looking out the window and talk into the phone, teaching for an hour. A hundred people all over the world are listening on a conference call. I can't hear them but they can hear me, then they can email questions to the Tricycle moderator. I taught on Feeding Your Demons, and Tricycle was very happy. They had more people sign up than ever before. It is great that disabled people and those who can't travel can receive teachings this way, but I have to say, I prefer embodied students I can see. You can still get the teachings in MP3's from the Tricycle website.

Board Meeting

We had a very inspiring and fruitful Board meeting two weeks ago, discussing both immediate issues as well as long-term visions for Tara Mandala’s growth. Three new Board members joined: Ellen Booth Church, who has been part of our Sangha for 20 years and has started several practice groups in Key West and Ithaca; Barbara Mullally (Mully), a past Board member who recently retired as founding director of her pre-school and brings a lot of hands-on non-profit experience; and my son Coz who has a long-term commitment to Tara Mandala and brings the perspective of the next generation. We said farewell to a few members who have completed their term: Peter Weinstein, Diane Hyde and Belinda Griswold. They expressed their interest in continuing as advisors to the Board and possibly rejoining at a future time.

What’s Happening Here Now

Most of the staff are going into retreat or going away this month too. Pieter and Charlotte are heading to Europe for a vacation, and Vanessa's going to Peru. We will all be back for Kilung Rinpoche's retreat in November, which will be amazing. My old friend Gerardo Abboud, whom I first met in Manali, India in 1972, will be translating. He's usually busy translating for Tsoknyi Rinpoche but has made time to translate The Way of Abiding by Longchenpa for Kilung Rinpoche. He translated the Chöying Dzöd for him here a few years ago and they made a nice connection.

Claudia Webinger finished her year retreat but will stay in retreat another six months as a resident retreatant working part-time on editing a Prajna Paramita commentary based on my recent teachings. She is very happy and has done an amazing amount of practice. She's become a real expert on the 21 Taras. Ian Jenkins is back in retreat. My son Coz is going back in retreat for a month too.

We did another open house last weekend and from that many people came to the day long on basic meditation that Charlotte and Pieter taught today. This summer 70 people came to the open house, and we continue to do more outreach locally. By the way, Mateo is walking and chatting up a storm. His vocabulary is increasing expediently. He's so happy, it’s an inspiration to be with him.

2007 Schedule

We have finished the 2007 schedule and will attach it; please continue to visit the website for any changes or updates. Remember Adzom Rinpoche will be here December 25-January 2. In the spring I'll do a fundraiser in the Bay Area March 8, then teach Kapala Training Level I in California March 9-15. March 16 I’ll give a public talk in Seattle, followed by a Chöd retreat on Whidbey Island near Seattle March 17-19. We’ll have a Fundraiser March 20 on Whidbey Island and another one on March 21 in Seattle. Then I teach Kapala I at Kripalu in western Massachusetts April 8-13 and teach in New York City sponsored by Tricycle April 14-15. After that I head to Europe; the European dates are on the attached schedule as well.

I turned 59 on October 3, which reminded me I'll turn 60 next year. I had a great day with Sherab, Coz and Dave and a community Tsog at Tai and Robert’s beautiful new home at night. A Machig Lapdrön pilgrimage in Tibet and a celebration in Katmandu is planned for October 2007. It will be 40 years since I first went to Nepal. We'll let you know more about that soon.

Sending much love and deep autumn richness,
Tsultrim