Part of my "hood"

As Garbanzo once did about the neighborhood that he lives in, I am doing one on mine.

Just up the road on n 83rd and about 3 blocks away from my house is the Sakya Monastery of Tibetan Buddhism. Sakya Monastery provides access to the Buddha’s teachings and guidance in a community of practitioners. Sakya Monastery is a place to learn from highly qualified and spiritual Tibetan Lamas in a beautiful traditional setting.

Sakya Monastery offers a variety of activities for its members and friends. Foremost are the public meditations: Chenrezi meditations for developing loving-kindness and compassion are held on Sunday morning at 10:00 am and Thursday evenings at 8:00 pm during daylight savings time (spring/summer) and 7:30 pm during standard time (fall/winter). This is the main communal practice of Sakya Monastery. Calm Abiding meditations, which are useful for the development of concentration and mental stability, are held on Friday nights at 7:00 pm. Numerous other ceremonies and meditations are held at the Monastery:

• Buddhist holy days – such as the birth of the Buddha and memorials to special lamas.

• Refuge ceremonies are regularly scheduled for people who wish to formally join the

community of Buddhist practitioners and become a Buddhist.

• Initiation ceremonies are bestowed by Dagchen Rinpoche and other lamas upon request.

These initiations are required as a basis for special meditation practices involving meditational deities such as Chenrezi (the embodiment of compassion) or Green Tara (the grantor of protection).

• Monthly meditations are also held that have specific requirements for attending, such as being a Buddhist, or having received a specific empowerment or level of empowerment.

Additionally, the Monastery offers a variety of other programs and resources:

• The Children’s Dharma School for children ages 5 and up is available on Sundays during

Chenrezi practice.

• The Sakya Monastery library, available to members and visiting scholars, houses 2,500 books

on Buddhism, Tibet, and comparative religion, as well as audiotapes of teachings in Tibetan by noted lamas. The library has a connection with the Tibetan Works & Archives in Dharamsala, India (home of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile).

• The Virupa Educational Institute administers and organizes numerous classes, talks, book groups, discussions, and video showings held at the Monastery. These programs are open to the public and are widely attended.

His Holiness Jigdal Dagchen Sakya was born in 1929 in Sakya, Tibet. He was educated to be the head of the Sakya School of Tibetan Buddhism as well as the successor to the throne of Sakya, the third most important political position in Tibet in earlier times. The Communist Chinese occupation of Tibet, and the peril that ensued, precipitated his departure from the world his family had known for generations, and led him to a new role as a leader in the transmission of Tibetan Buddhism in the West.

If you would like you know more informations about this buddhism temple click here to the website.

I find this to be awesome. I love the building itself. In a beautiful Cannery yellow, prayer wheels out front, the Tibetan Flag out front. Now i have not set foot inside, but have need pictures on the website. I feel that one must experience first hand base. I am not much for religion's and such. But i am really open to going to one of the sessions they have there or even just for mediation to see how i feel. One way or another i feelt it would be enlightening!