Author: Smitha

Tashi Gatsel Ling’s Fundraiser for Venerable Tenzin Dasel’s Yurt

GOFUND ME

Thank you for taking a moment to read this GoFundMe request.
This donation is to ensure a Buddhist nun has adequate shelter to support her meditation, spiritual practice, and teaching in mid-coast, Maine, United States.
Meditation and Buddhism are blossoming in the West, benefiting more and more people. But fully trained and ordained Buddhist nuns in the United States are very rare. As we build the practice of meditation in the U.S., we hope also to nourish this tradition of supporting its highly trained nuns and monks.
Buddhist monastics take a vow to refrain from accepting money for their worldly activities, focusing their immense diligence on spiritual practice and working to guide others on the path. Traditionally, Buddhist monastic life is made possible by donations of food, clothing, shelter, and support. Therefore, asking for assistance is a fundamental part of Buddhist monastic life. In this tradition, Tenzin Dasel, ordained by His Holiness the Dalai Llama in 2017, humbly requests assistance with housing and shelter.


As a monastic, Tenzin Dasel properly has no “home.” She spends six months each year in India living in nunneries and six months in the United States, responding to requests for teachings. She has recently been invited to install a yurt (robust tent) on land in Maine as a shelter and a base from which to practice and teach.


All donations will be used for the purchase and installation of a yurt, wood stove, and water collection system, enabling Tenzin Dasel to shelter and practice the dharma through all seasons.


Once Tenzin Dasel is firmly planted as a seed for the dharma through this funding request, the longterm vision for the land and yurt is for it to become a site for hosting other female Buddhist monastics from Tibet, India, Nepal, and the Himalayan region in order to facilitate intercultural exchange through mutual practice and education.


Please support Tenzin Dasel’s humble request so she may continue to practice and teach the dharma, facilitate Himalayan monastic instructors, and foster the work of Buddhist nuns in the United States.


—————————————— Tsunma Tenzin Dasel ——————————————
Venerable Tenzin Dasel is a 1988 graduate with a BA from Bates College and holds a Master of Theology, Summa Cum Laude, from Bangor Theological Seminary.
She has been studying and practicing Buddha Dharma since 2002 and in 2017 ordained as a Buddhist nun with His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama.
She actively supports several nunneries in India, and served as assistant to Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo and her nunnery, Dongyu Gatsal Ling in Himachal Pradesh. VTD teaches internationally and is on the Board of Directors of the Alliance of Non Himalayan Nuns (ANHN), a small but dedicated community of women ordained in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, practicing with strong commitment and enthusiasm to bring about the greatest benefits of Dharma for the happiness of all.
FMI please visit Tenzin Dasel Biography


—————————————- Tashi Gatsel Ling Center —————————————-
Mission Statement 2023
Tashi Gatsel Ling contributes to whole-community engagement by providing contemporary practical applications of Buddhist wisdom and compassion in a welcoming environment. It is a vehicle to explore and engage in reliable practice: meditation, study, teachings, engaged Buddhism and retreats led by Buddhist monastic teachers. We aspire to cultivate the profound benefit of a full sangha as established by the Buddha: ordained monastics and lay practitioners supporting each other in Dharma. Our vision is to establish an Eco-Dharma Buddhist Center in mid-coast Maine for visiting Tibetan Buddhist monastics, and particularly female nuns supporting both lay and ordained through intercultural learning and practice.
Tashi Gatsel Ling is a registered 501 (c)3 non-profit organization and donations are tax deductible.


For more information: Tashi Gatsel Ling Website————————————————– Yurt ———————————————–
The Yurt is a size 24’ and will include essentials needed in four season Maine weather, including Insulation, a dome opener, snow wind kit, stove flashing, standard hardware and perimeter blocking as well as a cable tie down, and bug screen. The estimate for crating (excluding shipping) is $22,090
This does not include the costs to build a platform and floor. Nor does it include costs for a wood stove, composting toilet and sink. We estimate these final costs will bring the budget to at least $25,000.

GOFUND ME

Tashi Gatsel Ling Donates 120 Trees to Maine Youth Leadership

Sunday, June 5th, 2022 – Tashi Gatsel Ling Board Member, Tom Cannon was asked to speak to the Maine Youth Leadership Project and distribute 120 evergreen saplings on behalf of TGL with the support of Dakini Rising. This enabled the approximately 60 Maine high school sophomore students to learn about the importance of helping our environment breathe with the help of trees and how to plant and care for the trees after they took the saplings home. 

Following the presentation, students were asked to go outside the building and select a tree or two to bring home with them. They were encouraged to share their story with us when they were able to put the tree into the ground and each student was provided with suggestions on how to involve the community in their tree planting event.

Students were very enthusiastic and excited to be involved in this project, and it was such a pleasure to watch these future leaders walk away with one or two trees of their own to plant and nourish. Overall it was a great success and we are hoping we can replicate this in future years.

3 Day Meditation Retreat for 10 Bates College Students from their Dharma Society Meditation Club

Written by Isabel O’Connell, the Bates Student October 2022

When I went to commons right before closing on Friday night with Abbey Ende ‘23, Barry Kilmister ‘24 and Whitney Miller ‘26, Abbey turned to us and asked, “How are you guys going to explain what we just experienced?” I didn’t have an answer at the time, but I’m going to try now.

I spent three days in the woods with the Buddhist nun Tenzin Dasel ‘88. I’d mentioned this plan the week before I left campus to friends, who frowned in concern about the parallels between this concept and many horror movie premises. I drove my own car to Shortridge for the dual reasons of helping Barry bring our food and being able to leave if it was terrible. But it was not terrible. Honestly, this trip may have changed my life.

I had never meditated in my life. I’d always been the sort of person who did things very quickly or not at all, and who had a medically concerning high resting heart rate. But when I was having dinner with Maggie McCulloch ‘23, Joel Hallkaj ‘24 and Barry, I mentioned that I didn’t know what to do for break, and Maggie said, “just come on the meditation retreat with us.” I decided at the very least it would make for an interesting story.

I had no idea what I was in for. While I drove Bora Legunda ‘25, she read the itinerary out to me. My initial concern was over the 6:15 a.m. wake up to go to the beach to watch the sunrise. I’ve never been a morning person, but as it turns out, a nun standing in your doorway in the early morning really will get you out of bed.

We weren’t allowed to have our phones, so we spent our free time reading and talking and cooking. I woke up the last morning to laughter and I came downstairs to everyone sitting around in the living room. We all got so close so immediately, which weirdly reminded me of the Netflix reality TV show Too Hot To Handle, in which the cast gets so close so quickly. I remember thinking that seemed scripted but now I understand how quickly people can be pushed together in an isolated environment like that.

When Tenzin told us we were supposed to have a silent day, where we communicate only with our eyes and hand gestures, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had come on this trip to hang out with my friends, so I wasn’t super thrilled about not being able to talk for a third of it. But I weirdly loved it.

Anyone will tell you, I talk a lot. I spent my whole childhood monologuing; my little brother was rumored to not have spoken a word for the first few years of his life because he just couldn’t get a word in. But I found I was able to communicate just as much, if not more, without words. We held hands and smiled and were able to somehow have full conversations with our eyes. It felt as though we were living in a peaceful silent film.

Barry and I found pieces of wood shaped like rocks and skipped them in the ocean. Joel and Maggie and I watched the stars and I had never seen a sky that open. I wrote twelve pages in my journal in the sand. I thought about how much we speak just to fill the silence. Things would come up throughout the day that I felt like I needed to communicate, until I sat and thought and realized that so many of the things we say aren’t as pressing as we think they are. I kept thinking about how much love can be communicated with physical touch and facial expressions, and how the concepts that can only be communicated with words tend to only complicate things.

Don’t get me wrong, I will not be becoming a Buddhist nun. Tenzin, too, said she never thought she’d end up as a nun when she was at Bates (she literally played lacrosse with my mom at Bates!). But I have been meditating every day since I’ve been back on campus, and I feel like I don’t need to handle everything all at once in the same way I used to. Not everything is as pressing as we think it is, and I’ve been trying to take more time for myself. I visited my neighbor/friend Amelia Killackey ‘25 last night and she observed, “Your voice even sounds calmer.”

Everyone should come out to meditation club. Meditating works. I hate that my dad who’s been telling me to meditate for years was right about that.

TGL Shrine Room Seeks New Home in May 2022

TGL Shrine Room

CALLING ALL FRIENDS of HHDL, Khensur Rinpoche and Tashi Gatsel Ling:

What is today called Tashi Gatsel Ling Buddhist Center has maintained a presence in Maine since the mid-90’s when the Buddhist monk called Lobsang Tsetan began teaching in Joli Green’s art studio in Freeport.  The shrine room and meditation space has moved several times since then to accommodate changing circumstances: to Pownal, back to Freeport, and now is presently housed in Gray.  

We are again facing a relocation challenge to locate a new space in Maine to temporarily host the shrine (consecrated by Khensur Rinpoche). It needn’t be a large space, but does need to be secure, dry, pure, and easy to maintain. TGL BC is hoping to find a situation offered freely as dana (or generous giving).  It would also be beneficial if there is a small space for an ordained Tibetan Buddhist nun to stay on occasion as well.  Please contact tglmaine@gmail.com.

TGLBC is now on Instagram!

In an effort to reach a larger audience and create our presence across the various social media platforms, the TGL team is happy to announce that we are now on Instagram @tashigatselling. Our attempt is to create engaging content in support of our center and the Dharma.

Please follow us if you are on Instagram. Also please share with your friends who are interested.

New Year 2022 with Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo

The TGL community welcomed the New year 2022 with a great conversation with Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo. Jetsunma very kindly addressed questions pertaining to mind training meditation practices of Lojong and Tonglen.

You can listen in here: New Year with Jetsunma

Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo is a bhikṣuṇī and leading master in the Drukpa Lineage of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. She is an author, teacher, and founder of the Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery in Himachal Pradesh, India. 

Help TGLBC Bring Geshe Mas to Maine

donate now

Tashi Gatsel Ling Buddhist Center of Maine is delighted to be the first Dharma center in the United States to invite two Geshe Mas in January 2022 for a month long visiting teachers role. The Geshe degree was traditionally only awarded to males, but under the guidance of His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama, the first class of Tibetan and Himalayan females graduated with this degree after 20 years of study. Comparable to a PhD in the west, they hold Doctor of Buddhist Philosophy as well as high tantric studies. Please read more about this at Lions Roar  and see more photos here. 

Please join us in making this “Female First” a memorable event and amazing start to 2022. We are raising $5,000 to cover the airfare and their expenses while here and greatly appreciate your support. Your generous act of Dana will help authentic Vajrayana Buddhism continue to take seed in the west through ordained female sangha teachers guiding the way. Thank you for your kindness and support.

Environmental Cleanup Drive

TGLBC had a wonderful community clean up, the entire length of Town Farm Rd, in Gray and through North Yarmouth. We rejoice in sharing these heartfelt efforts in our daily commitment to living in harmony and simply upon the earth. And in sharing the responsibility to take very good care of ourselves and all mother beings.

We covered both sides of the road and are happy to likewise draw attention and support to the COP26 Climate Change Conference happening now in Glasgow, Scotland. Everyone has a role to play. As Buddhist practitioners, we likewise care for the Earth Goddess. The Earth Goddess is present in the appearance of the Buddha in Earth touching mudra, His right hand over the right knee, middle finger touching the earth. When faced with the threat from Mara, the character who represents the fear of doubt, unworthiness and insignificance, Siddhartha called upon the earth goddess to bear witness to His attainment of enlightenment. Therefore, we who follow Buddha’s teachings of Dharma should likewise pay special attention to supporting the earth goddess and all mother beings.