H.E. Ayang Rinpoche teaching in Houston

H.E. Ayang Rinpoche (homepage here), a Tibetan master of the practice of Phowa who teaches world-wide, is scheduled to deliver a program in Houston during the period December 17 through 21, 2012.

Photo screengrabbed from this site.

The program is titled "Ten Levels Buddha Amitabha Meditation Teachings" and will reportedly be presented in both English and Vietnamese. 

Screengrab of the program as it was published at this site. 

The Dharma Institute website indicates that the Viet Civic Center (Nha Viet) will be the venue for this event. 

The Viet Civic Center is located at 11360 Bellaire Blvd. Houston TX  77072, between BW-8 west and South Kirkwood. 

According to Ayang Rinpoche's website, further information about this program can be obtained by contacting anjopham@sbcglobal.net. 

Tibetan Lama coming to Houston

Tibetan Lama Garchen Rinpoche (affiliated institute) is scheduled to present teachings at three Houston-area Temples during the period December 4 through 9, 2012. 

Click to enlarge.  Please excuse the low resolution.  Downsampling was necessary in order to post this flyer as an image. 

Here is a clearer screengrab of just the schedule portion of the announcement. 

This program is being sponsored by the Viet Nalanda Foundation, which is an institution that facilitates cooperation between Vietnamese Vajrayana and Tibetan practitioners, but with a non-sectarian focus. 

A prominent teacher, Garchen Rinpoche was the subject of a recent documentary film titled "For the Benefit of All Beings".   Here is a trailer for that film.

Dharma dahlia?

The lotus is the flower most closely associated with Buddhism, but I couldn't help but notice the symbolic consistencies captured within this Dahlia, a cultivar named 'Marie Schnugg'.


Photographed in the Halifax Public Gardens.

I saw this quite by accident, and my involuntary response was,
"Oh my gosh, Tibet has been captured in a flower." 

The colors are those of monks' robes.

Screengrab coutesy of the Buddha Dharma Education Association and Buddhanet.

The same colors and pattern are echoed in meditation cushions: round yellow center and bright red perimeter.

Screengrabbed from the Samadhi Cushions homepage.

Dahlia 'Marie Schnugg' has exactly eight petals, resembling the spokes of a Dharma wheel, which represent the Noble Eightfold Path.

The Wikipedia motif as it marks all pages in the Buddhism series.

And last but not least, the highly unusual individual rolled petals of this cultivar remind me of prayer flags curling and cupping in the wind.

Screengrab courtesy of The Peace Flag Project.

I can find no evidence on the internet that this flower was developed for, or was ever intended to be associated with, any facet or lineage of Buddhism.  It appears to be coincidental that it echoes so closely all of the characteristics that I've enumerated above.  Tradition notwithstanding, if I had to vote for a flower to stand beside the lotus in representing the next phase of Buddhism's worldwide evolution, this would definitely be the one. 

FILM: "My Reincarnation"

Quick note here about screening times for this upcoming film to be shown by the Houston PBS station... I had to drill through many web pages before I found these local times, and so I thought I'd reproduce them here simply because it was so difficult for me to find this info:

Screengrabbed from:
http://www.pbs.org/pov/tvschedule/local-schedule.php?station=KUHT

There's a bit more information about the film at this site.  If you fish around the PBS website, I think you can also find links that will allow you to watch it on your hand-held device in advance of the TV screenings. 

I found out about the film via a Shambhala Sun blog post of this morning.  I'll leave you with its trailer: