TaraNet
July 1, 2009

Tara Mandala Receives Best of Pagosa Springs Award!

We are pleased to announce that Tara Mandala has been selected for the 2009 Best of Pagosa Springs Award in the Community Churches category by the US Commerce Association.

This award is a recognition of our contribution to the Pagosa Springs community. We are particularly pleased with the award because this last year we have made greater efforts at local community outreach and are happy to be considered to be an asset to the community.

Tara Mandala Receives $300,000 Gift Toward Temple Completion

Where there is great love there are always miracles.
                                     - Willa Cather

On Friday May 15, 2009 we received the fantastic news that Tara Mandala will be receiving a $300,000 gift towards completing the temple. The gift came from early benefactors Lynn Hays and Nancy Nordoff, who gave the original $500,000 seed grant for the temple and have been continual stalwart supporters from the beginning of Tara Mandala. It is a very auspicious moment to receive this grant and although it doesn't provide all the funds we need to completely finish the temple, it will allow us to complete the exterior and bring the interior to a usable condition. Also it will allow us to pay off our remaining construction bills. We will still need to continue fundraising for the library, landscaping, murals, statues and ritual articles. We are also seeking funding for an endowed chair for a resident translator. We would like to thank all of you for your support of the temple and especially all of our Sustaining Sangha Members who support the operating budget during construction. Enrollment in summer retreats is going very well and our membership has been gradually increasing. We are so grateful for your ongoing support. Tara Mandala is flourishing, thank you!

Lama Tsultrim now on YouTube

Tara Mandala is excited to join the YouTube revolution with six current videos, and many more to come, of Lama Tsultrim speaking on various subjects. Click on the below video, or to view and subscribe to Lama Tsultrim's channel, click here. Don't forget to check our media page for new audio and video.

Lama Tsultrim's Daughter, Sherab Crystal, marries Eric Adolphi

Lama Tsultrim (center) with daughters Sherab (above) and Aloka (right), mother Ruth (left), and granddaughter, Luna Violet

Lama Tsultrim's daughter, Sherab Crystal, was wed to Eric Adolphi in Santa Fe, New Mexico, June 20, 2009 at the home of dear friends Andrew Ungerleider and Gay Dillingham. The wedding was blessed by a deluge of rain in the middle of the ceremony and was moved inside. Later the sun came out and everyone enjoyed a barbeque by the pool. Eric and Sherab will be living in Telluride, Colorado, where Eric manages the hospital and Sherab works as a landscape designer and architect. They both enjoy wilderness climbing, skiing, mountain biking and river rafting. Eric has also been a helpful IT analyst for Tara Mandala and Sherab contributed to the architectural design throughout the building of the temple.

Their honeymoon will be a trip to the Himalayas in the fall. The wedding was also attended by Lama Tsultrim's mother at age 93, her other daughter Aloka, son-in-law Trevor Sands, and their baby Luna Violet. Costanzo couldn't attend because he is in strict retreat at Tara Mandala. On Monday, June 22, a reception was given for them at Lama Tsultrim and David's home with dancing and much joy. It was a beautiful luminous evening with the peonies, poppies, irises and columbines in full bloom.

Retreat Cabin Available: July 12 - August 12 now open

Ratna Cabin is now available for solitary retreat from July 12 - August 12, 2009. This is a beautiful large cabin with an adobe floor, many windows overlooking the hidden valley, and views of Ekajati Peak and Chimney Rock. Suitable for a couple or solo. To learn more about our retreat cabins, download our cabin handbook. To register for a retreat, download our cabin reservation form or email info@taramandala.org for more information.

JOB OPPORTUNITIES AT TARA MANDALA

Join the Tara Mandala staff team. These jobs offer an opportunity to enter the core Tara Mandala community at a historical time while Machig's lineage and the Dzinpa Rangdrol terma cycle is being established. Working at Tara Mandala, you will have close access to all the teachings and teachers, enjoy the opportunity to live on this magical land and to practice and work within the community. Those who apply should have a heart connection to Tara Mandala's lineage and practices, and a desire to live within the Sangha.

Assistant Bookstore Manager
This is a unique part-time opportunity to be involved with the Tara Mandala Dakini Bookstore.
We are looking for a motivated and inspired individual with experience in business/retail, basic financial tracking, good computer and customer skills.  Knowledge of Buddhist literature and ritual items are needed.

Retreat & Program Manager
This is a full time position handling many aspects of retreat planning and management.
We are looking for a detail orientated, efficient individual with good people skills.  Experience in management, event planning, and communications are strongly preferred.

Detailed JOB DESCRIPTONS are available online

Kapala Training Level Three Requirements

In order to attend Kapala Training Level III participants must have completed:

Kapala Training Levels I and II, The Three Yana Month-Long Retreat, Chöd retreat and 108 five-step Feeding Your Demons processes. In order to prepare participants should especially practice Chöd and also the other practices given in Levels I and II, review their demon work, and bring it to the retreat.

Land and a House near Tara Mandala for Sale

There are several beautiful 35-80 acre pieces of land available near Tara Mandala. Prices for land range from $175 ,000 to $354,000 depending on size and location.  House with adjoining retreat cabin at vast views with sloping meadows and Ponderosa pines also available for $650,000. Qualified buyers please contact David at david@taramandala.org or call 970-749-4172 for more information.

Blessings: The Tsoknyi Nangchen Nuns of Tibet

Tara Mandala is pleased to share this film featuring Tsoknyi Rinpoche III with Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo and Lama Tsultrim Allione. View the trailer.

This long-awaited feature-length film is the story of an extraordinary journey-a unique meeting of east and west, an homage to the heartfelt dedication of the Tsoknyi Nangchen Nuns of Tibet and an inspiration to human beings everywhere seeking a spiritual path through the challenges of 21st-century life.

In the summer of 2005, renowned Tibetan Buddhist teacher Tsoknyi Rinpoche III led a small group of western women students to Nangchen, a remote nomadic region of eastern Tibet. They journeyed to meet the Tsoknyi Nangchen Nuns-3000 women who practice the ancient yogic traditions initiated in the 1800s by the first Tsoknyi Rinpoche, who envisioned a time when these women would become some of the most accomplished spiritual practitioners in the world.

"BLESSINGS takes us to a world of women dedicated to wisdom and compassion, to a place most of us will never journey to, through the hearts of the people who do. It is a luminous, inspiring, and very human account that will blow open your view of what is important in life."
-Sharon Salzberg, author of Loving Kindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness

Click Here to view a trailer of  the BLESSINGS video

Featuring ~ Tsoknyi Rinpoche III with Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo & Tsultrim Allione
Narrated by Richard Gere
Directed by Victress Hitchcock
Music from Chö by Ani Choying Drolma & Steve Tibbetts with selections by other artists
Running time: 104 minutes; Color; in English; ©2009 Pundarika Foundation
To order, visit www.chariotvideos.com/documentary  Cost ~ only $39.95, with 50% of the net proceeds donated directly to the Tsoknyi Nangchen Nuns