Offered By H.H. Jigdal Dagchen Sakya
Sunday, January 8th, 2012 at 10:00 am
Location: The Nalanda Institute
1620 4th Ave E, Olympia, WA 98506
Contact for more info: info@nalandaolywa.org
Website: www.nalandaolywa.org
His Holiness Jigdal Dagchen Sakya will officiate at the grand opening of the new location of the Nalanda Institute in Olympia, WA. The grand opening celebration will start at 10:00 am followed by a Chenrezi Initiation. This auspicious date marks the memorial anniversary of Sakya Pandita, the most renown of the five founding fathers.
Through the meditation on Chenrezi (Avalokiteshvara), one develops loving kindness, compassion, and bodhicitta. Buddha taught that “love” is the wish for all beings to experience happiness, that “compassion” is the aspiration that they be free from all suffering, and that “bodhicitta” is the mind dedicated to attaining enlightenment for the benefit for all beings.
His Holiness Jigdal Dagchen Sakya, head lama of Sakya Monastery, was born in Tibet in 1929. He continues the great Sakya lineage which began with Khon Konchok Gyalpo (1034—1102). He received teachings of the unbroken Sakya lineage, the Sakya Vajrakilaya, the Hevajra and the complete Lamdre Tsogshe, from his father, H.H. Trichen Ngawang Thutop Wangchuk, the last Sakya throne holder in Tibet. He also studied with many other great Buddhist teachers, including Dzongsar Khyentse Chökyi and Dingo Khyentse Robsal Dawa.
In 1960, H.H. J.D. Sakya was invited to work on a Univ. of WA research project on Tibetan civilization which was sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation. At the request of students, he co-founded with H.E. Dezhung Rinpoche Sakya Tegchen Choling, a center for the study of Tibetan Buddhism and culture. In 1984, the center became the Sakya Monastery of Tibetan Buddhism.
The Nalanda Institute is a non-profit, non-sectarian organization committed to the inner development and actualization of the powerful human qualities of wisdom and skillful means through Buddhist academic studies and meditative practices.