The Amitayus Statue at KMC Texas

Gabby filled the Amitayus statue for the shrine at KMC Texas in January.

She painted and gilded the statue in February. The result of her hard work is breathtakingly beautiful.

The KMC Texas Shrine



The large statues were placed into the shrine cabinet at Kadampa Meditation Center Texas in December. The shrine is close to being completed. I feel so fortunate to live at KMC Texas and to have the opportunity to help the Center flourish.

Reincarnation – Children who remember previous lives

Buddhist in the West often come up against a lot of resistance when we bring up the existence of past and future lives. It’s often difficult to convince Westerners that reincarnation exists. People often ask “Why don’t people remember their previous lives?” The fact is that a lot of children do remember their previous lives, but in the West talk about previous lives is usually disregarded.

There are a couple of good videos on youtube about children who remember their previous lives. One of them is a short documentary about an American boy who remembers being a World War II fighter pilot. At a very young age, he could recall the type of plane he flew, the aircraft carrier he was based on, where he was shot down, his name and the names of some of his friends. He recalled his  previous life with such accuracy that his father was able to verify that it was true even though he didn’t believe in reincarnation.

My question for Westerners who don’t believe in reincarnation is how do you explain stories like this?

Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Walking Around Manjushri KMC

This is a great video of Geshe Kelsang Gyatso walking around Manjushri Centre. He visits with some of the volunteers and takes a tour of the Temple and The Kadampa Art Studio. It must be extraordinary to meet Geshe Kelsang in person. I hope he’ll visit KMC Texas one day.

Perfection of Wisdom Meditation Retreat

This weekend I had the opportunity to enjoy another wonderful meditation retreat with the KMC Texas Sangha. It was really inspiring and profound.

Kelsang Jampa gave commentary to The Yoga of the Great Mother Prajnaparamita sadhana. His commentary was based on the teachings Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso gave in Paris in 2008. The teachings and meditations were very clear. Jampa has an amazing ability of making really profound topics easy to understand.

In between sessions, there was plenty of time for tea, delicious food, socializing and contemplation. It was really nice to spend the weekend in the company of spiritual friends enjoying some peace of mind together.

Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Quotes

Below of some of my favorite quotes from my Spiritual Guide, Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. Most of these quotes come from the books How to Solve Our Human Problems and Transform Your Life:

“Without inner peace, outer peace is impossible.”

“We all wish for world peace, but world peace will never be achieved unless we first establish peace within our own minds.”

“Faith is like pure eyes that enable us to see a pure and perfect world beyond the suffering world of samsara.”

“One of the most common ways of not acknowledging our faults is to blame others.”

“When we learn to accept difficult circumstances patiently, the real problem disappears.”

“Pain ceases to exist when we discover its real nature.”

“In reality, our mind is the creator of all the things we experience.”

“Politics will never solve the world’s problems.”

“Love is the great protector.”

“The solution to all the problems of daily life is to cherish others.”

“All the happiness there is in the world arises from wishing others to be happy.”

“The moment we let go of our obsessive concern for our own welfare, our mind naturally relaxes and becomes lighter.”

“Don’t worry, just try.”

Feel free to post some of your favorite Geshe Kelsang Gyatso quotes in the comments section below.

The Mandala of Buddha Heruka

This is a short video of the Heruka empowering shrine at the 2009 NKT Summer Festival and the model of Heruka’s mandala in the temple at Manjushri Kadampa Meditation Centre.

Dorje Shugden Five Lineages Statues

These statues were made at Manjushri Kadampa Meditation Centre in England by Kadampa artists under the direction of Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. They were unveiled on the empowering shrine before Geshe Kelsang granted the empowerment of Dorje Shugden at the New Kadampa Tradition Summer Festival in 2009. More than 5,000 people attended the festival. Visit the Kadampa Festival Diaries website for info, photos and videos about the Summer Festival.

Buddhist Art Project

Two new videos have been posted on the KMC Texas website about the statue project. These are both sequels to the previous videos about the art work on the Buddha Shakyamuni and Green Tara Statues. It appears like both statues are nearing completion. The shrine is projected to be complete by October. It will be so wonderful when the shrine is complete! It will be as close as we can get to visiting a pure land in this impure world. As Geshe Kelsang says “Everyone welcome”. Everyone is invited to visit the pure land arising at KMC Texas.

Green Tara Empowerment

Another wonderful event organized by KMC Texas was the Green Tara Empowerment which was granted by Kelsang Jampa in Lubbock, Texas at the end of June. Around 55 people came to receive the blessings of Green Tara who is the female Buddha of swift compassion. She is the embodiment of the wind element of all Buddhas so she can help us very quickly when we make prayers to her. Many people came all the way from Dallas/Fort Worth (6 hour drive) and other distant Texas cities.

Long ago, Green Tara appeared to Atisha  (the teacher who brought Kadampa Buddhism to Tibet  982-1054 AD) and promised that she would always care for his followers. Kadampa Buddhists definately have a special connection with mother Tara. That connection became obvious to the attendents of this event through the clear teachings and powerful blessings.