Peaceful Prayer | Ani Kunsang, a Buddhist nun from Nepal, at the Edmonton Mediation Centre.
DETAILS
Damcho Rinpoche
Event details: Aug. 29 (7 p.m.) Korean Buddist Temple (10155 89th St.) $10 donation suggested.
Buddhist lama Damcho Rinpoche is bringing two messages this week on his first trip to Edmonton.
The first, for the devout Edmonton practitioners of traditional Tibetan Buddhism in the ornate basement temple of the Karma Tashi Ling Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Society, will concentrate on highly involved visualization techniques in meditation.
His second message, to be delivered at in a public talk Friday, is aimed at those who want a break from the confusing bustle of modern life. He believes the pressures of work and consumerism are making us sick.
“In Western society,” he says in a translated phone interview from the San Francisco area, “there is a lot of physical development and material development, and because of this, people have a lot of mental difficulties. So learning how to rest your mind is very important.”
His talk will focus on simple techniques, such as posture and prayer, that anyone can use to slow a racing mind and clear it of the daily clutter that prevents focus on the things that really matter.
“We have problems and we feel we have no one to help us,” he says, “The main thing we need to do is have a good mind and a kind heart.”
In a message universally accepted by major religions, he says people with kind hearts help others. And what goes around, comes around.
“If we don’t have a kind heart and are always wandering around scowling at people and not being nice, then no one is going to like us and no one is going to trust us,” he says. “But if we have a kind heart and are nice to people, then people will treat us well and bring us happiness.”
Ani Kunsang, a Buddhist nun from Nepal who arrived in Edmonton three years ago to operate the meditation centre, says Damcho was appointed as a traveling teacher by spiritual leader Thrangu Rinpoche. Damcho is on a tour of North America. Thrangu has established centres throughout Asia, North America, and Europe to preserve the religion which has been under attack in Tibet by China’s Communist government.
The Edmonton meditation centre, established in 1985, has about 10 to 15 members, Kunsang says. “We do here, basic mediations for tranquility,” Kunsang, also called Ani La, says. “Meditation is not only good for the mind, but for the body too.”
Damcho was born 35 years ago as the oldest of five children in a small village in northern Nepal, not far from the Tibetan border. From a young age, he lived with his grandmother, who insisted he become a monk despite his father’s need for help on the farm.
“In Nepal we consider what our parents say to be extremely important,” he says. “So when my grandmother kept saying over and over again that I must be a monk, my father eventually had to listen to what his mother was saying.”
He entered a monastery on the outskirts of Katmandhu as a young teenager and lives there still, when he isn’t teaching Buddhists around the world.
“We are all working for peace in the world, but it is also important that we work to bring some peace for ourselves,” he says. “You don’t really have to be a Buddhist. You just have to avoid harming and try to help other beings as much as possible.”
jholubitsky@see.greatwest.ca
