By: jASON kNIOLA
I am excited to share this event with you all. My wife and I have been hosting Tibetan Monks on their Sacred Arts Tours since 2005. They share their rich art and culture with communities as they tour the world. Donations received on their tours help support their monastery in exile in India. This particular workshop will focus on the simple but powerful practice of mindfulness. The practice of mindfulness cultivates present moment awareness helping bring calm and peace of mind. I will be sharing my personal and clinical experiences with these ancient, powerful tools. The monks will share their teachings and chant some of their beautiful prayers. This is such a unique opportunity to learn, grow, and build community. I hope you can join us! Below is a brief description of the Drepung Gomang Monastery.
A LITTLE ABOUT DREPUNG GOMANG MONASTERY:
The Sacred Arts Tour Monks of Drepung Gomang Monastery are refugee monks and members of Drepung Gomang Monastery, a Tibetan monastery in Karnataka State, South India.
Drepung Monastery was founded in 1416 near Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. Gomang College is the oldest of the four colleges of Drepung. In 1959, before the invasion of Communist China, Drepung Monastery had more than 10,000 monks with over 5000 belonging to Drepung Gomang.
Drepung Gomang Monastic University has produced many eminent Buddhist scholars and for many years has been a very important Tibetan Buddhist learning center. While each of the colleges of Drepung has its specialty, the focus of Gomang is philosophy, both logic and debate.
In 1959, after the violent occupation of Tibet by the Chinese Communist Government, Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, was forced to flee his country. He was immediately followed by 80,000 refugees. Refugees continue to stream from Tibet, often at great peril to their lives.
It is estimated that, since 1949 more than 1.2 million Tibetans have died at the hands of the Chinese Communists, who continue to destroy the fragile “Third Pole” environment as well as the people and culture of Tibet. In many areas inside what was a free Tibetan country, Chine sesettlers now outnumber the ethnic Tibetan population.
In the 1950s and 1960s, guided by the motto that “Religion is Poison”, the Chinese Communist Government destroyed more than 6,000 of Tibet’s monasteries, including Drepung. During the sixty plus years of their occupation thousands of Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns have been imprisoned, tortured, and executed, and the brutal occupation continues today.
About 100 Drepung Gomang monks managed to escape with His Holiness in 1959. They livedfirst in Boxa, North India. In 1969, 62 of the surviving monks were given 42 acres of land in Mundgod, South India where they began rebuilding Drepung Gomang Monastery. Today approximately 2000 monks live there.
Sign up for a mindfulness immersive workshop on December 9th, 2023 led by Jason Kniola and Tibetan Monks: Click Here to Register