Links to Our Dharma Friends

Jewel Heart is a spiritual, cultural, and humanitarian organization that translates the ancient wisdom of Tibetan Buddhism into contemporary life.

Each Jewel Heart Center offers access to a variety of courses and retreats. As program selections and schedules vary from chapter to chapter, please consult the individual chapter schedules.

Jewel Heart offers talks with Gelek Rimpoche, as well as meditation classes, group practice sessions, Lam Rim teachings, and discussion groups. Many people listen to Rimpoche's Ann Arbor 'Tuesday and Thursday Night Teachings' on live on the internet, and meet regularly to view and discuss them.

Jangchub Gepel Ling (in English means "Land of Increasing Virtue and Enlightenment"), is His Eminence Ven.Kyabje Lati Rinpoche's newest Center in Felton, CA. It is an independent Buddhist Center which follows the pure and authentic tradition of H.H. the Dalai Lama and his two tutors. The Center acts on the advice and inspiration of H.H. the Dalai Lama and H.E Kyabje Lati Rinpoche.

Gaden Shartse Monastery is a group of eleven monasteries commonly known as Khangtsen, some of which are among the largest monasteries in the world. The Sutra and Tantra teachings are both taught, learned, and practiced in a combined program at Gaden Shartse and Gaden Jangtse. This contrasts with many other Gelug monasteries, where the studies of the Sutra and Tantra are kept separate. This is one of the main specialties of Gaden Monastery, thus the monks who come out as a graduate from Gaden have gained mastery in both the Sutra and Tantra practices.

Land of Medicine Buddha has been dedicated by Lama Zopa Rinpoche (their Spiritual Director) as a place of healing, where the blessings of the Medicine Buddha may be experienced, especially by awakening and nurturing our good heart.

It is a center devoted to healing and developing loving-kindness. Situated in 85 acres in Soquel, a few miles south of Santa Cruz, and adjoining 10,000 acres of state forest, its physical location provides the space for guests to relax and recover from the strains of life.

Visit their site to discover how you are welcome to visit Land of Medicine Buddha at any time to participate in workshops, courses and retreats, or just to get away from things.

A great site that hosts an international Buddhist events calendar, a global Dharma Centre database, and a Sangha directory.

Snow Lion Publications publishes books on Tibetan Buddhism and culture. Visit their site to sign up for their free Snow Lion Newsletter and Catalog, or to take advantage of their extensive on-line services. On their site you'll find listings of their publications, Dharma articles, Buddhist Astrology, an events calendar, and much more.

This is adventure travel at its best. The Cultural Restoration Tourism Project (CRTP) is using volunteer-tourist workers to help restore the main temple of a Buddhist monastery situated 300 kilometers east of the Mongolian capital city of Ulaan Bataar. Baldan Baraivan, "The Yellow Temple", was constructed in the 1700's and is one of the few remaining monasteries of its kind, but it stands in ruins today.

The monastery's history is typical of many monasteries in Mongolia. With the founding of the Mongolian People's Republic in 1924, C. Tschobalsan took control of the country. In the 1930's religious persecution became common and thousands of monks and nuns were sent to work camps in Siberia and almost all monasteries were destroyed.

As a volunteer, you get to work alongside members of the local community and will live in 'gers,' the traditional housing of the nomadic Mongolians. Authentic meals will be prepared by a Mongolian cook. Participants are also allowed to practice with the monks in training at the facility during many of their ceremonies.

The reconstruction started in the summer of 1999 and will continue through the projects completion in the year 2005. Tours are available to the general public each summer through the project's completion. To learn how you can get involved and participate in this wonderful opportunity, please visit the CRTP's Web site!

The FPMT is an organization devoted to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and its values worldwide through teaching, meditation, and community service. They provide integrated education through which people's minds and hearts can be transformed into their highest potential for the benefit of others, inspired by an attitude of universal responsibility. Their organization is based on the Buddhist tradition of Lama Tsong Khapa of Tibet as taught by their founder Lama Thubten Yeshe and spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

Some of their projects include:

• Monasteries and nunneries in 6 countries
• Liberation Prison Project
• Leprosy, Polio, and Health and Nutrition Clinics
• Meditation Centers in 26 Countries
• Hospices
• and, Building a 500ft (152m)statue of Maitreya, the future Buddha, by the Maitreya Project in Bohdgaya, India.

LamRim.com is an MP3 radio station and download archive for Tibetan Buddhist teachings. Most of the content is in English. You can hear online or download recorded teachings from His Holiness, XIV Dalai Lama, Ven. Choden Rinpoche, Ven. Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche, Geshe Lhundrup Sopa, Lama Thubten Yeshe, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Geshe Lhundrup Rigsel, Geshe Michael Roach, Ngawang Chotak, Tubten Pende, others... Here you can find a great treasure of thought, knowlege, and inspiration.

The Asian Classics Institute is dedicated to the serious study and personal practice of the original teachings of the Buddha. The Institute was established by Geshe Michael Roach under the spiritual direction of Khen Rinpoche Geshe Lobsang Tharchin, a distinguished scholar and master of Buddhism from Tibet.

The purpose of the Institute is to provide a thorough, accurate Tibetan Buddhist education to anyone interested. As a result of completing full studies with Khen Rinpoche and at Sera Monastery in India, Geshe Michael Roach developed and taught a seven-year Formal Study Program in New York. That program condensed the essence of the Six Great Books of Buddhism into a series of 15 Formal Study Courses. Those Courses parallel the same basic core of information that a Geshe (Doctor of Theology) learns at a Tibetan Buddhist monastery.

At their site, you can find information on the classes they offer in New York City and in various other cities around the world. You can also find and download readings, notes, and audio recordings from their classes on their site.

The Asian Classics Input Project -- "A Thousand Books of Wisdom", is the fourth major release of data by the Asian Classics Input Project. ACIP staff around the world have spent thousands of hours over the past ten years preparing a library of wonderful books which can be found on their new CD-ROM or downloaded from their Web site.

The Asian Classics Input Project's mission is to save the disappearing books containing the great ideas of the Eastern half of humanity and then make these books and ideas accessible to the world at large. Books they find are cataloged, copied, and then input onto computer media by people who come from the same countries where the books were written. The Project helps not only to preserve these rich cultural traditions, but provides many people with an opportunity to learn new skills for supporting themselves, while helping to save the great books of their heritage.

The ACIP then makes these books freely available to the world, especially to those in the West who have not yet been exposed to them. Over the past ten years ACIP has released tens of thousands of pages of great books, on tens of thousands of computer disks and through the World Wide Web, completely free or for only the cost of materials and postage, to thousands of users in more than 50 countries.

The Mongolia Society was founded in late 1961 as a private, non-profit, non-political organization interested in promoting and furthering the study of Mongolia, its history, language, and culture. The aims of the Society are exclusively scholarly, educational, and charitable.

They publish several Mongolian Studies: the Journal of the Mongolia Society, the Mongolia Survey, and two series entitled "Special Papers" (devoted to the republication of rare works in Mongolian or related languages) and "Occasional Papers" (scholarly studies). The Society has also printed and reprinted important dictionaries. One of the major obstacles encountered by Western students of Mongolia has been the difficulty in obtaining Mongolian publications on a regular basis. Since 1975, therefore, The Mongolia Society has been active in the importation and North American distribution of scholarly books and periodicals, as well as prints, slide transparencies, and recordings, from Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Buriatia.

The Web site for the Asian Art's Mongolian Art Exhibit. It includes a wonderful essay: "Introduction to the Art of Mongolia", by Terese Tse Bartholomew, Curator, Asian Art Museum.

MANDALA Magazine is published quarterly by the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition.

MANDALA Magazine offers peices on how people are relating the Mahayana tradition of Buddhism to the modern world.

The home page for one of the leading Buddhist journals. Tricycle is widely available at bookstores and newstands. Their site includes interviews and even a Buddhist personals section.

Unity Center of Bloomington is a center for spiritual growth whose mission is to serve as a vehicle for spiritual education in practical Christianity; to provide a gathering point and loving community for individuals on a journey in Truth. The Unity Center is also kind in that they provide Ganden Dheling Buddhist Temple with a wonderful space to meet and practice till we have our own!