Dear Dharma Brothers and Sisters,

I heard that Richard and Elaine had a wonderful marriage ceremony up there at the wang site and 200 people showed up. That's great. I am so happy. We have this kind of energy to all show up for a party even without needing an invitation. I also heard everyone was of one mind, one energy, one way. Richard and Elaine deserve it. Right now, the dharma opportunities we have at Tashi Choling are due to Richard's kindness. He sold his house, he got the land. He brought water, electricity, road, everything. Now we are bringing lamas. We can learn and receive initiations. There are teachings. We have a temple and statues. Everything is from his kindness. Sometimes he is kind of crazy though, ha ha ha! That's our nature isn't it? It's wonderful we have all this interest in a party. We don't even need an invitation, but when it comes to Dharma we seem to be slightly more busy. This is our quality. These days in India and Tibet, this is the main style too.

I heard from Tony and Nick O'Connor that you are having a Sangha meeting on Sunday. That's wonderful! Everyone listen to each other. No one is the boss, no one is high and no one is low. To have oneness and equality is good. But be careful, we have a habit-- too much debating our own views. Everyone has the opinion that, "My view is best.". Then we forget the whole structure. Maybe this is a problem. We think we need to cover everyone up with our view. Everyone does it. In Tibet and India, the Dharma groups do not have this problem so much. I spent 10 years in Buxa in Southern India with 2500 monks of Nyingma, Sakya, Gelug and Kagyu orders, all of us together. We didn't have money, we were refugees. Everyone was of one mind listening to the khenpos, gekus and leaders. We worked together day and night with no pay. Our personal needs were met in that we had food and shelter, so then we worked for the Sangha without holding sectarian views. For example, the monks would make bread every day for our tea break and we would have to pay 10 cents for each piece of bread and we would share our bread with anyone sitting next to us. Then the monks would take that money up and buy the next week's flour. The cooks were happy to work and to save merit. Nobody had opinions going on. They would just do what the leader said and help out.

Within the Gelugpas, there were six big groups, Ganden, Shartse, etc., and the Sakyas, Kagyus and Nyingmas had one group each. Each group would send one worker to our meetings. Each group had a khenpo and a geku representative. Together 40 people would come, some having the same jobs, some having different jobs. There were different skills that different people could offer and some better than others. Some were good at speaking Hindi, some were good at shopping or carrying heavy things, and some were good at relating with the local officials. When our meetings were held, they would all come and report what they had completed of their jobs. Each person would report on whether their job was finished or not or what was still left to do. Then they would ask, "Now what other job do you have for me?" No one sat around giving their opinions and views. Everybody was together meeting happily and deciding what needed to be done. Therefore they were able to establish giant temples in India. Actually it's shocking how much has been established in a short time. Each of the four schools has there own temple and own place. Even though they have their own places now, they don't debate with each other or their own groups. This way of working together was possible in that giant group -- I saw myself.

On the other hand, we do have debates going on in Tibetan politics. It seems like this is due to lack of respect for H.H. the Dalai Lama. Therefore, the Tibetan government in exile is not very successful, basically because of so many opinions and influences. H.H. the Dalai Lama has great kindness and he has personal success. Opinions are not needed if one is following Shakyamuni Buddha. The Buddha said to conquer your own mind, don't disturb the minds of others. This is the doctrine of Buddha's teaching. Therefore, the great leaders in Dharma follow his teaching, and most success comes that way. For example, in their monasteries they can produce scholars and practitioners and have no problems in upholding the Dharma.

So, you guys are having a meeting, too. Don't hold on to your own view too much. You can offer wisdom and skill but don't force your own views. That's a problem and that's not Buddha's teaching. This is not intelligence or wisdom. If you think it must be your idea that wins, then there is no reason to have a meeting. You are not going to get anything done. We can establish nothing like that. It's a waste of time, a waste of energy, and you will all feel uncomfortable. The Sangha's job is never done. Whatever future job you take on, whether it be Secretary, Treasurer or Director, or any other volunteer position, finish your own job commitment and then meet together and discuss what's next. It's no good to sit around and talk about ideas and opinions. Nothing gets done. It just makes an uncomfortable feeling and then our meeting ends up rotten and spoiled. Everyone of course is concerned with what's best for the center, but just do your job!

Tony told me he wants a teacher who is there continuously. He's right, that is a good idea, but don't we have something like that? We have Khenpo here teaching. Do you guys need a personal invitation or something? I heard there is not much attendance. People say we need a teacher. Well Khenpo is teaching and we are paying. These days a translator is more expensive and complicated than a teacher. We also have a translator here now. If we need another teacher, Lopon Rechungpa is coming soon. Maybe he will need help with his English. Nick O'Connor can help him some days. Shashi and Julie can help, and so can others. If you have questions about Tibetan or English terms or anything else during the classes, make notes and then you can call. For a long time there was nobody to call. We had to learn ourselves and take time. Save up your questions and one day you can call Sangye Khandro. You can also ask Alan Wallace, "Pigeon" (Steve Goodman), or Chagdud Tulku's translator, Chokyi Nyima. It used to be that we didn't have a place to call. We also have Bruce teaching. That's also wonderful. Older students help new students. New students don't expect big things instantly and don't ignore small things. Students need to learn the basics. Here we have Khenpo, Lopon, Sonam Tsering, and Bruce. Whether your qualities of knowledge are small or big, you need to learn. You need to learn simple things like eating and drinking, how to dress, how to walk, how to sit and stand. You need to know how to relate to others with respect and kindness, especially during teachings. You need to know how to respect your daddy and mommy, how to be kind to younger and sickly ones. You need to know how to give kindness, not only money. These are things you need to learn: how to clean the temple, making offerings, how to take care of the teacher, your daddy and mommy, and the young ones. How are we going to learn positive things and how to give up negative things? We don't want to make a mistake between a head and a tail. It's important not to make a mistake like that. H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche gave us this advice. Don't ignore this. I am teaching this but I am not very knowledgeable myself. You can ignore me but you can't ignore the Buddha, H.H. Penor Rinpoche, Yangthang Rinpoche, and your other lamas and teachers.

Leaders, don't be proud, don't control, don't be like a Tibetan or British king, but do not try too much democracy using everyone's ideas either. Don't be racist or elitist or political. Hopefully, we don't have these issues here. We are one family of brothers and sisters. If there is too much of a democracy then everybody's got too much freedom and that's still a problem for us. We don't know how to handle that. It used to be that this wasn't a problem. First we had the land and then built the Vajrasattva statue with no problem as one body, speech and mind. Penor Rinpoche came and gave the Nam Cho initiations on the land, and again the Sangha was one like one body, speech and mind, one group. Building the temple was almost the same thing. There were a little bit of problems but nothing much. Then the second time Penor Rinpoche came, it was same thing, we had unity. These days we have too many ideas, scholars with their views. Sometimes too good is no good. We should think about what we are saying. What are we really offering to the group? Maybe at that moment our idea looks good, but think about how it may work in the future. Actually now things are getting good at Tashi Choling. That is the kindness of Nick O'Connor, Lisbeth, and Piggy, these guys. It looks like a lot of opinions here at the Alameda center. At least I heard so, I don't know.

Good luck, everybody try hard. Don't use your own baby trip stuff. In the future, it doesn't benefit others. It might benefit you, but not others. Be compassionate and respectful.

Tashi delek! See you soon.

Maybe my words are too harsh, but that's my style. I am funky, I don't know anything.

Gyatrul Rinpoche

Tony Reitz -Tashi Choling director (7/30/02)

Dear Sangha Brothers and Sisters,

I have just come from the Sangha meeting this Sunday afternoon. Everyone on the Board and the Staff were there. Rinpoche sent a three page letter, which was read, and he brought up many of the points of concern which were discussed at length in the meeting. Several people brought up concerns that many of you have expressed to me in the questionnaires, and we talked about difficulties and feelings between Sangha members and how to improve them. We talked about the need for better communication between the Board and the rest of the Sangha members. We talked about our personal participation in the Dharma and about our participation and commitment to supporting each other in order to make Dharma happen at Tashi Choling. We talked about having more fun together and about how to be kinder and more helpful. Everyone was heard from and many perspectives listened to. We were close to tears. We laughed out loud. We ate chocolate cake and watermelon. There were 16 of us present. We truly missed the rest of you.

Tony