Taking Buddhism 101 in New York[Wednesday, 26 August 2009, 6:21 p.m.]

Children listen to Geshe Thupten Jinpa/Photo: OoT, New York

New York:
Around 60 University and High school students as well as recent
graduates participated in an Intensive Four-Day Workshop on Buddhism
titled “Buddhism 101: Essence of Philosophy and Practice” in Brooklyn,
New York. The Workshop, which started on Thursday, 20 August and ended
Sunday, 23 August, was organized by the Office of Tibet, New York. The
Workshop venue was the beautiful and spacious Tibet Center, Rato
Kyongla Rinpoche’s center in Brooklyn, at the edge of the East River.
The participants were mostly Tibetan youth, with about twenty students
from the Walung, Sherpa, Tamang and Kalmyk communities.Mr.
Lobsang Nyandak, Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to the
Americas, opened the Workshop with a short speech welcoming the
students. He spoke of His Holiness’s visit to New York in May as the
genesis of this workshop. When His Holiness met with the leaders of the
local Himalayan Buddhist communities, he suggested an introductory
workshop to Buddhism for youth. Then Professor Robert Thurman gave the
first lecture, on the Story of the Buddha and the Jataka Tales,
followed by another lecture on Buddhism in the Modern world.Jigme
Gorap, an Accounting Associate with Harry and Abrams, a publishing firm
in Manhattan, said of the workshop, “This was an opportunity way too
good to miss. I took a couple of days off from work and immediately
registered for it. I hope this is the start of many more to come.”The
other speakers were Lama Kelsang Gyaltsen, from Tsechen Kunkyab Ling,
who discussed the Four Noble Truths in great depth, and Venerable
Thutop, from Namgyal Monastery in Ithaca, who took the students through
the Six Perfections on the Path to Enlightenment. Lama Pema Wangdak,
from Palden Sakya Center who was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of
Honor, taught the Law of Causality and a special session on Meditation.Each
session included a lecture followed by a Question & Answer period.
The weekend sessions, which include topics on Buddhism and Science:
Faith & Reason, the History of Buddhism and the Application of
Buddhist Teachings to Everyday Life were all taught by Geshe Thupten
Jinpa, Principal Translator to His Holiness and Director of the
Institute of Tibetan Classics in Montreal.–Report filed by Office of Tibet, New York