November 28, 2009

Dear Friends,

Greetings from San Francisco, and I hope you are well. With Khenpo Rinpoche now residing full-time in Asia, these past few months have been a time of transition. But even in these changing times, Marpa Foundation has the unchanging commitment to support Khenpo Rinpoche, his Dharma activity, and legacy in both East and West.

I write to you now to ask for your continuing help with this. If Marpa Foundation is to succeed in ensuring that Rinpoche’s Dharma activity and legacy flourish, your generous contributions are essential.

How is Khenpo Rinpoche?

I am happy to be able to tell you that Rinpoche is doing fine. He is still residing at Tek Chok Ling nunnery in Nepal, though he may leave soon for Drubdey Gompa nunnery in Bhutan. There does not appear to be much change in Rinpoche’s health since I last wrote to you, which is good. He is eating and sleeping well, and regularly gives short audiences to the students who come to see him. When a group of his Taiwanese students visited him in October, he met with them twice in the nunnery’s main shrine hall and composed verses for them to sing, including:

Realizing mind’s true nature is the view,
Resting in this true nature is meditation,
Letting thoughts of hope and fear dissolve is the fruition,
So know the true nature of your mind well.

Phenomena are appearance-emptiness, like rainbows,
When you are not attached to them, they are self-liberated.

Whatever of samsara’s happiness or suffering may arise,
When you are not attached to it, samsara is self-liberated.

Of all things to seek, self-liberated openness is supreme,
So within self-liberated openness, let go and relax,
Find your rest in self-liberated openness.

As I wrote to you in August, it is possible to visit Rinpoche for short audiences and request his blessings, either in person or via email. Rinpoche’s attendant, Tsepak Dorje, relates: “Whatever Rinpoche does each day is totally up to him, and so there is no way to predict things or arrange things in advance.” If you wish to write to or visit Rinpoche, please read the August 2009 letter for details on how to do this.

I regret to have to inform you of the passing of Karma Dargye, Khenpo Rinpoche’s longtime attendant, in September. Karma Dargye was an excellent example of how to be a lay Dharma practitioner. He was a hard worker, kind, had a great sense of humor, and a sly grin. Above all, he was diligent in his Dharma practice and totally devoted to serving Khenpo Rinpoche. Even on his final day, he recited his morning prayers, and died peacefully in bed in his home. The nuns in Bhutan and Nepal performed the traditional forty-nine days of prayers for him.

I had the opportunity to spend some time with Karma Dargye in July, and he spoke to me a lot about his life experiences with Khenpo Rinpoche, which I recorded. He said that the most important instructions that he received from Khenpo Rinpoche were The Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva.

Marpa Foundation’s Activities

Your generous assistance is what enables Marpa Foundation to provide support for Khenpo Rinpoche and ensure that his Dharma activities and intentions flourish for the benefit of sentient beings. Here is an update about Marpa Foundation’s activities and how we need your support this year:

1. Rinpoche's Stay in Nepal—$40,000. The expenses of Khenpo Rinpoche’s stay in Nepal comprising food, medical, basic expenses of Rinpoche’s attendants, and transportation are borne by Marpa Foundation. Marpa Foundation will continue to support Rinpoche in Nepal or wherever he decides to go, in whatever way he requires, for as long as he requires.

2. Translation of Rinpoche’s Teachings and Important Tibetan Texts—$75,000. Marpa Foundation continues to support and facilitate a variety of translations and publications. We are delighted to announce Shambhala Publications’ February 2010 publication date of Khenpo Rinpoche’s new book, Stars of Wisdom, translated by Rose Taylor and me:

In 2010 Elizabeth Callahan will complete her translation of all the important sections of the Hevajra Tantra (the main tantra studied in the Kagyü lineage) along with the commentary by Jamgön Kongtrül Lodrö Thaye.

In 2009, Rose and I completed writing and editing “Buddhist Yoga: Joining with Naturalness,” a chapter for a book on yoga and Buddhism entitled Freeing the Body, Freeing the Mind, which is scheduled to be available from Shambhala Publications in the summer of 2010. This chapter presents the view and essential points of lüjong (Buddhist physical exercise) that Khenpo Rinpoche has taught. I have also begun working on a new translation of Maitreya’s Treatise on Buddha Nature, with Jamgön Kongtrül’s commentary and Khenpo Rinpoche’s explanations.

Marpa Foundation remains committed to Khenpo Rinpoche’s activity of having Dharma texts translated into non-English languages. In the past year, Anne Burchardi completed the Danish translation of Rinpoche’s text on valid cognition, Mind and Awareness; and Helena Bolduc completed the Portuguese translations of The Progressive Stages of Meditation on Emptiness and The Sun of Wisdom. Birgit Scott’s Danish translation of Maitreya’s Distinguishing Phenomena and Pure Being with commentary by Ju Mipham was published with Marpa Foundation’s support. Ongoing projects include: Ani Miao Rong’s translation of The Treatise on Buddha Nature and the Zabsang Shedrup Translation Committee’s translation of The Sun of Wisdom into Chinese; Tomasz Szczygielski’s translation of Mind and Awareness into Polish; and Constantine Preber’s translation of The Progressive Stages into Russian.

3. Digitization of Khenpo Rinpoche’s Teachings—$20,000.

Andy Karr is directing our continuing work on the collection and digitization of Khenpo Rinpoche’s precious teachings. This year, some very important recordings were digitized, and we are currently developing a plan for their distribution. These included video recordings of teachings on the stages of the view and the extensive Mahamudra teachings Khenpo Rinpoche gave at RMDC in 1991, which we plan to make available for purchase by qualified students soon.

Work continues on assembling regional collections of Rinpoche’s recordings and making high-resolution digital files from tapes gathered from Rinpoche’s older students. We have collected all the video tapes of Rinpoche’s Dechen Chöling programs for future digitization. And we are continuing to work with Marcia Glover, Franklin Kiermeyer, and Matt Zumwalt to develop an on-line repository for the digitized audio files.

4. Support for Nuns and Lay Practitioners in Bhutan and Nepal—$125,000.

There are now one-hundred and five nuns at Khenpo Rinpoche’s Drubdey Gompa nunnery in Bhutan and forty-eight at his Tek Chok Ling nunnery in Nepal. Marpa Foundation is continuing to implement new programs for their health, nutrition, and education. A nurse practitioner from the USA will visit Tek Chok Ling in January to give the nuns health examinations and instruction in nutrition and preventative health care. Khenpo Karma Drodul and Lama Tsewang Tashi, two brothers who are also Khenpo Rinpoche’s nephews, are giving the nuns regular Dharma classes in Bhutan and Nepal. The young nuns at Tek Chok Ling are also receiving regular instruction in Tibetan and English from an excellent lay Tibetan teacher, Ms. Sonam Zangmo. The nunneries are also following His Holiness Karmapa’s instructions on protecting the environment by substituting gas for firewood, recycling waste, using solar energy for a significant portion of their electricity needs, planting trees, and other measures.

Marpa Foundation also continues to provide support to the impoverished practitioners in Nepal and Bhutan who are Khenpo Rinpoche’s students. These people, whom Rinpoche regularly supported in the past, include several elderly and disabled persons, as well as several lamas, monks, and nuns who do not live at monasteries or nunneries. They are all very devoted to Dharma practice.

5. Complete Construction and Temple Furnishing, Tek Chok Ling Nunnery, Nepal—$95,000.

A dramatic increase in the costs of raw materials over the past year caused the cost of the nunnery construction to rise, and Marpa Foundation still needs to finance the final phase of building. In addition, it is Khenpo Rinpoche’s wish that the nunnery’s shrine halls be blessed by the presence of many statues that have yet to be financed. These include one large statue of Guru Rinpoche for the ground floor shrine hall, and forty-six small statues of the Buddha Shakyamuni (pictured below) for the uppermost shrine hall.

How to Help

Marpa Foundation needs your help to provide for Khenpo Rinpoche’s direct support, and to ensure that Rinpoche’s Dharma activity and legacy flourish. You can make a contribution in any of the following ways:

1. Check or Money Order: please make payable to Marpa Foundation and send to:

Marpa Foundation
P.O. Box 7775 #34045
San Francisco, CA 94120
U.S.A.

Please note that the above address is for all Marpa Foundation correspondence as well.

Canadians who would like a tax deduction should email Andy Karr at webmaster at ktgrinpoche.org for details on how to make their donation.

Europeans may make checks payable to Marpa-Verein and send to:

Jobst Koss
Fliederweg 15
82319 Starnberg
Germany

2. On-line via Credit Card (click here)

3. Wire transfer: If you have made a donation via wire transfer in 2009, then please use those same instructions. If you need wire transfer instructions anew, please email me at ktgr at attglobal.net.

All donations are tax-deductible to the extent provided by law. The Marpa Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) religious corporation (U.S.A. federal tax I.D. # 77-037-8622).

4. Bequests in Wills: Several of you have asked about this, and it is indeed possible to name Marpa Foundation as a beneficiary in a will. Usually the names and addresses of the Foundation’s officers and directors are required. If you would like that information, please let me know.

I wish you all the best for the holidays and New Year—may you and your loved ones be safe, happy, and well. Thank you so much for your support. Please stay in touch.

Sarva Mangalam,

Ari Goldfield