Archive for 2016

The Getty Museum, at 1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles, currently has an outstanding exhibition of artifacts and reproductions of ancient Buddhist art taken from a collection of caves on the western edge of the Gobi Desert, near the oasis town of Dunhuang, China. Known as the Mogao (peerless) Grottoes, these temple caves were built along the Silk Road from the fourth to the fourteenth centuries and house the largest single collection of Buddhist art existing in the world today. ...

Students from China, Canada, and various parts of the USA attended a retreat and seminar on how to listen to dharma discourses at the temple over the fourth of July weekend. Suonan Ciren Rinpoche gave a simultaneous translation of several discourses by H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III that were recorded in 2000 warning us that it will be fruitless if we do not abide by the seven-dharma approach to listening to discourses presented in these discourses. Zhaxi Zhuoma Rinpoche also read from a ...

Several busloads of pilgrims arrived to see the Holy Vajra Poles. One nun heard the poles sing and recorded the sounds. The poles responded to the many chants and prayers and the delight of those who saw them. Some came later after there was shade and were able to sit and meditate with the poles, while others did their meditation inside in the air conditioned temple.

The 120 plus visitors from China interrupted their group photo shown above when one of the vajra poles started to shake. They had spent 30 minutes chanting and paying homage to the holy poles in the very hot sun, but to no avail. It was only when they stopped to take a group photo that the pole started to shake. the temperature was well over 100 for most of the day. The monastics with the group came inside for their ...

Many disciples of H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III come to California to pay their respects to their teacher during the month of June and celebrate His Holiness’s birthday. They also make pilgrimages to the Holy Vajrasana Temple, the site of the Holy Vajra Poles and the Fourth Vajra Throne in Sanger, California. The pilgrims above are from mainland China. Even though the temperature rose to well over 100 degrees, the pilgrims chanted and paid their respects to the Holy Vajra ...

Almost every month English translations of various dharma discourses given by H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III are heard at the Holy Vajrasana Temple in Sanger, California, and again at the Amitabha Temple of Compassion and Wisdom in Rosemead, California. Suonan Ciren Rinpoche is shown above getting ready to do an on-the-spot simultaneous translation at the Rosemead temple for non-Chinese speaking disciples from Vietnam, Germany, Canada, and the United States. Click for more information and the current schedule.

A group of pilgrims arrived at the temple spending the day in meditation, listening to a recorded dharma discourse by H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III, and paying homage to the Holy Vajra Poles. As they were about to leave, two of the Poles began to shake quite violently. Several pictures taken near the poles included the long rainbow shown above. A long rainbow like this appears on many photos taken around the temple. Several of this group returned to attend ...

Another visit to Reba and Uma’s home in Sonora finds the two remaining peachicks almost grown and doing very well. Uma served as surrogate mother to two of the abandoned peachicks and they seem to regard her as their real mother, following her everywhere and waiting outside the screen door to come indoors. Since they are not housebroken, they are not welcomed, but manage to sneak in sometimes anyhow. Lady Bird has started strutting a full display of her feathers, even though ...

It is a much greener spring than we’ve seen for several years. The pond is full again, the water birds are nesting in the marsh and the roses are glorious. It is still cool and sunny. The Holy Vajra Poles have been quaking for visitors, but were very still the days we had the most violent winds. Mistletoe is no longer threatening the shade trees and the wild flowers blaze on the mountains where the wild fires roared last year.

Zhaxi Zhuoma was surprised to look out her office window and see a pair of Mallards staring back at her as they swam past in what had been the temple driveway to the back of the property. We had water again! Some of you may remember the flooding problems we had several years ago when we had lots of rain. The surrounding fields are kept green and produce hay by means of an archaic irrigation system whereby they are usually flooded twice a month ...