March 11th 2009, the "Day of Miracles" in the Tibetan calendar. We started the day by heading down to the main temple in McLeod Ganj to attend the one-day teaching by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, accompanied by 50 students from the "Introduction to Buddhism" course that had finished the previous day. After spending a few hours with His Holiness, we arrived back at Tushita to find Lama Zopa Rinpoche drinking tea in the garden, Day of Miracles indeed! It was the start of an amazing month of teachings and adventures. 

Rinpoche arranged for a number of extraordinary events to happen during his time at Tushita; 1,000 candle offerings, initiations, refuge ceremonies for new students. One evening he even arrived with a briefcase full of relics!! (wider picture below) A few days after his arrival, he performed an Incense Puja on the roof of his house, dedicated to Tushita and her future stability. We were honoured (and a little star-struck!) that Rinpoche invited 2 very special guests, Dagri Rinpoche and Khadro-la, to join the puja (pictured upper right). You can see more pictures from these events here.

Khadro-la and Dagri Rinpoche became regular visitors during Lama Zopa's time at Tushita, and one night we all squeezed into our Fire Puja house for a beautiful and powerful ceremony, with Khadro-la as the Fire Queen! More photos can be seen here. 

And as if all this wasn't enough, Rinpoche ended this stay in India by leading a pilgrimage to Tso Pema (aka Rewalsar), a small town 5 hours drive from McLeod Ganj which has a strong association with Padmasambava (Guru Rinpoche), for Guru Rinpoche's festival day. Even better, Rinpoche insisted that we Tushita staff close up shop for the weekend and go with him! (pictured below, centre). It was an extraordinary trip, Pujas with LZR, Dagri Rinpoche and Khadro-la by the Holy Lake and in the Padmasambava caves high above the town, glorious scenery and so many blessings.
Photos of this trip are here.

        Venerable Kunphen's Ordination

Once upon a time there was an East German receptionist called Sabine.

She proved to be a workaholic and therefore was the perfect candidate for the role of Spiritual Programme Coordinator at Tushita. And so it was. After several years of organizing Tushita’s hectic calendar, Sabine left for the 2007/8 winter break and returned to Tushita transformed. 

The newly named Venerable Tenzin Kunphen took Rabjung vows with Kyabje Lama Zopa in Bodhgaya, and then Getsul vows with His Holiness the Dalai Lama here in McLeod Ganj, and was the cause of much celebration and merit-by-proxy among her delighted colleagues. 

Happily ever after for many lifetimes. 

Our beloved dog Choggu died in October 2008. The last in the lineage of Lama Yeshe’s famous Tushita dogs, Choggu was a grand old lady of 16 when she died, surrounded by love, prayers and practices.

Following Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s instructions, her body was cremated in front of Lama Yeshe’s stupa in a ceremony presided over by Tushita’s Geshe Tsering (half-brother of Lama Yeshe) and attended by Tushita staff, sangha, students, friends and Kalu and Nying-je, our two remaining dogs. Although we miss her terribly, we fully expect a Perfect Human Rebirth for Choggu and hope to receive Dharma teachings from her in about 20 years...

2009 is also the 50th anniversary of the Chinese invasion of Tibet, and there will be events and exhibitions throughout the year, centred around the Tibet Museum at His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Temple complex.

Despite the traumatic events associated with the anniversary, His Holiness made a point of remembering the unbelievable generosity and sacrifice made by his host country, at significant risk to its own national security, in sheltering Tibetan refugees. On March 31st 2009, the 50th anniversary of His arrival into exile in India, His Holiness spent the day in Delhi offering prayers in places of worship of all the major religions in India (photos here), while a banner at the Main Temple simply read “Thank You, India”.

Spring brought several esteemed visitors to Tushita. One March afternoon as we were cleaning the Gompa floor, the call went out "Tenzin Palmo just drove up!!!". We dropped rags and picked up Katags and ran out to greet her, a totally unexpected but utterly delightful meeting. The Pre-Ordination Course was on a tea-break at the time so POC leaders Sister Jotika and Ani Rita were able to catch up with Jetsunma before she sped off again (pictured below). Having such great teachers resident nearby is one of the incredible things about living in McLeod Ganj.

Another visitor who got the population of Tushita rather worked up was Richard Gere, who came up for a brief meeting with Lama Zopa Rinpoche one day. Richard found time to have his picture taken with our Manager, Ruth (below right). This visit happened to coincide with the check-in of an "Introduction to Buddhism" course, so 40 students, brand-new to Dharma, lined up to wave goodbye to our movie star guest. A memorable event for both them and Richard Gere?

And finally, Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron gave two teachings on "Getting to Know your Mind" on the 17th and 18th of May. She is an old friend and annual guest teacher at Tushita, and as always we always had a Gompa packed with enquiring minds. Just another hectic, stimulating, inspired week on the blessed hill!