DNKL NEWSLETTER, Spring 2017  - VISIT OUR  WEBSITE
Do Ngak Kunphen Ling - 25 May 2017
Greetings from Janine Coover
Dear Friends,

Welcome to the this edition of our DNKL Newsletter. Once again we have much to share with our community of friends and supporters.

In this issue we remember and acknowledge the woman who made DNKL possible, Ms. Joan Dydo. You'll also meet our newest Board member, Denise Bevza, and celebrate the efforts of volunteers who worked hard to make our forested property much safer and tidier.

DNKL continues to engage in many activities to further our goal of bringing happiness and well-being to all. Board member Stephen Dydo describes two such efforts he has helped make happen at WCSU: a course on compassion taught 
by our resident teacher Geshe Lobsang Dhargey, and a two-day conference for educators, counselors and psychologists that was just held this April.

We were fortunate this winter to offer classes and presentations by several highly respected guests -- Art Engle, Wilson Hurley, Eva Lee, Lorne Ladner, Anahita Moghaddam, David Kittay, and Paul Hackett -- on subjects that include contentment, happiness, history and art. As Part of the Monlam Chenmo celebration, DNKL held our annual 1000 Buddhas Offering.

As Khensur Rinpoche Lobsong Jampa enters his eightieth year a Long Life Puja was requested by DNKL, the Guhyasamaja Center, MSTC in Washington, DC, MSTC of New Jersey, Jamtse Cho Ling in Canada and New York and New Jersey Monlam Ceremony Committee from Sera Mey Tsangpa House. Requests were also made by Rinpoche’s devoted western students and by many Tulkus and Geshes such as His Eminence Neten Rinpoche and Geshe Thupten Lekmon, Abbot of Rikon Monastery in Switzerland. Khensur Rinpoche kindly accepted their requests. The prayers were performed at DNKL in March.

This spring there is a bountiful slate of special and ongoing classes and retreats on meditation, and Buddhist topics and practices including a weekend Mindfulness Retreat in May, the annual Animal Blessing and a weekend Nyungne Purification Retreat in June. 

Also in June, DNKL presents, “Living Compassion: The Dalai Lama’s Life Story in Music, Words and Pictures” at the Ridgefield Playhouse. Grammy nominated flutist Nawang Kechog will provide live music accompanying narration by H.H. the Dalai Lama’s niece.  Our list of Classes & Events provides more information on these and other events.

In closing I'd like to once again thank everyone who supports DNKL- you attend our classes and events, volunteer your time, offer donations, and carry into the world your compassion, generosity and wisdom. We are blessed to have such a wonderful community of friends and neighbors!

Yours sincerely,
Janine Coover

President, Board of Directors
Do Ngak Kunphen Ling 
Tibetan Buddhist Center for Universal Peace
If You Wish To Be A Good Person

by Geshe Dhargey
If you wish to be a good person and you want society to develop and become better in a moral sense, it is necessary for each individual person to be able to recognize and acknowledge his or her own flawed ways of thinking and wrongful actions as being flawed and wrongful. I believe this to be an indispensable quality that is the very foundation of anyone’s spiritual practice. It is for me a central principle that, up to this point in my life, is based on my experience in society and my religious study. 

Many people think that any good qualities they have are of their own doing but when it comes to their own faults, they tend to blame others. 
So for example, if someone admires you for your great knowledge and you claim all credit as being your own, you are forgetting the causes and conditions of receiving guidance and instruction from others.

Then, if you are criticized for not being knowledgeable enough your tendency will be to make excuses such as not having enough time to study, or to blame others such as your parents and teachers for not having supported your learning, forgetting your own responsibility. 

Some people accept their own faults but in doing so, they only feel a sense of guilt or shame. They hold that shame, but this also holds them back from their ability to improve. We shouldn’t forget that accepting fault is for the purpose of changing oneself. Once you correct your behaviors and thoughts then you shouldn’t feel guilt or shame any longer because you have achieved a better purpose. There is a saying: “The first time you make a mistake, it's excusable. Making the same mistake again is senseless.” Try best.

Until we acknowledge mistakes as mistakes and acknowledge the mistaken actions that we ourselves have committed, no matter how much we meditate on such qualities as patience and compassion, these efforts will not benefit us. Why is that? If we don’t reflect properly on our own faults, we will either fail to develop the desire to correct them or, due to our pride, we will not want to acknowledge them. For these reasons, it will be difficult for us to remove those faults and there is no doubt that we will continue to think and act in the same way over and over again. Therefore, since those flaws will remain just as they were before, we will not be able to change our bad conduct into good conduct and the foundation for improving ourselves will be lost. In short, if we fail to pursue for ourselves the means of removing our suffering, it is quite possible that suffering will tighten its hold on us, for suffering does not feel any compassion. 

His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Representative to North America Visits DNKL

by  Denise Bevza
On March 15, 2017, the Sixteenth Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to the Americas, Penpa Tsering, met with Gyumed Khensur Rinpoche, Geshe Dhargey and the entire DNKL Board of 
Directors, together with past Board members John Cerullo and Tashi. Also with him were representatives, Sonan Tsering, and representatives from other regions. 

Penpa Tsering’s historical description of the Tibetan Government in exile was highly informative. He explained that in March of 1959 His Holiness the Dalai Lama was forced to flee Tibet for India and was followed by approximately 80,000 Tibetans who settled in India, Nepal and Bhutan.  Within a month, His Holiness the Dalai Lama re-established the Tibetan Government in exile which was moved to Dharamsala in 1960 and the Tibetan parliament in exile was formed.  

Penpa Tsering was the the Speaker of the 15th Tibetan Parliament in Exile which has approximately 43 members, and was appointed the new Representative for the Office of Tibet in Washington, DC in July of 2016. He served 30 years in the Senate and 7 years in the House. Today, there are more than one hundred and fifty thousand Tibetan refugees spread out throughout many countries.   

Board President, Janine Coover gave an illustrative description of DNKL and presented Penpa Tsering with our DNKL brochure publication.  Board Member, Stephen Dydo, explained the amazing relationship and outreach educational work that DNKL does with Western Connecticut State University collaborative Center for Compassion, Creativity and Innovation (CCCI).  Board Vice President, Gloria Cosgrove, gave an overview of the many educational programs DNKL offers to its Members and the public.  John Cerullo explained the close working relationship with Karuna publishing, who published the Book written by Gyumed Khensur Rinpoche, The Easy Path: Illuminating the First Panchen Lama’s Secret Instructions, one of the great eight lam-rim texts which is nearly 400 years old.  (By the way, Karuna also was responsible for publishing the beautiful prayer books for the Long Life Puja for Gyumed Khensur Rinpoche.) 

Penpa Tsering seemed VERY pleased with the goals and accomplishments of our humble Center.  Rinpoche and Geshe la spoke quite a while with Penpa Tsering.  It was an honor to see them speak and laugh, and, while I do not speak Tibetan, the good will between all resounded loud and clear.  Penpa Tsering is hoping to meet with Dharma Centers across the US.

He explained that His Holiness the Dalia Lama’s goals are threefold: 
1. To support secular ethics and promote human values (such as compassion, loving kindness, forgiveness etc ) that make life happier since we all are the same and want happiness and do not want to suffer;
2. To promote religious harmony and understanding among all religious traditions;
3. To work to preserve the Tibetan Buddhist culture which is a culture of peace and non-violence.  

It was a great honor that Penpa Tsering accepted our humble invitation.

Volunteers Clean-Up

by Jennifer Salkin 
John Ballard, a landscaper in the Hartford area, initiated the fall workday at DNKL.  While attending Rinpoche’s teachings, John also had an opportunity to walk around DNKL’s beautiful property. He noticed some dead and dying trees that were potentially hazardous and offered to help take them down.

A team of volunteers joined including James Chan, Gelek Choedup, Geshe Dhargey, Danny Dillon, Sharan Finik, Bruce Johnson, Laura Del Valle, Guy Raymond, Bruce Riley, Jennifer Salkin, Joseph Savage, John Simpson, John Wesley, Nawang Phuntsok, Pasang, and others. They joined John in taking down the trees, cutting away dead branches, blowing and raking the fallen leaves, and splitting and stacking logs. Pasang cooked a delicious lunch for all the volunteers.  The teamwork was an example of the saying, “many hands make light work”. Thank you to John and all the volunteers who spent part or all of Saturday helping to spruce up Do Ngak Kunphen Ling.

Also, earlier this spring Redding Trail Tender volunteers Stuart Green and Ken de Freisse pruned the trail that connects DNKL property to the 2.8 mile long Little River North Trail. The Little River North trail is scenic and tranquil. Please schedule some time to enjoy this trail and the other trails at DNKL.

A Spring Work Day will be scheduled soon.  If you would like to help with spring clean-up and planting or have plants you would like to share with DNKL please contact DNKL and add “spring clean-up” in the subject line.  

Please bring gloves and gardening tools.
Geshe-la Teaches a Course on Compassion at WCSU

by Stephen Dydo

Geshe Dhargey just completed teaching a new class at WCSU, Ethics and Compassion in the Real World, that began on Monday, January 23, 2017.

He taught the Honors class with the assistance of four other professors: John Briggs, Stephen Dydo, Don Gagnon, and Eric Lewis. The core readings included His Holiness the Dalai Lama's "Beyond Religion" and Geshe Thupten Jinpa's "A Fearless Heart". Additionally, students studied compassion and ethics as demonstrated in Eugene O'Neill's A Long Day's Journey into Night, Lewis' new composition Requiem, and Dydo's Sandy Hook (violin and piano) and Tipping Point (video).

Briggs presented Native American cultures of compassion and connectedness. The students were required to actively engage their notions of compassion in real world activities.

Geshe-la, Briggs, Dydo and Lewis have also collaborated in other activities at WCSU, including bringing His Holiness the Dalai Lama to the campus in 2012 and in creating the Center for Compassion, Creativity and Innovation in the following years.

DNKL's Conference on Compassion in Education

by Stephen Dydo   
This April 28th and 29th, DNKL's second annual conference on bringing compassion into the classroom was held at Western Connecticut State University (WCSU). This year's conference, titled "Nurturing Compassion and Creativity in Education", was a joint effort with WCSU's Education and
Educational Psychology Department, the Center for Compassion, Creativity and Innovation, and the Institute for Holistic Health Studies.

DNKL's Susan Altabet, Stephen Dydo and Jennifer Salkin worked with representatives from these organizations to create a full two-day conference. The target attendees included people involved with classroom teaching as well as counselors, psychologists, and anyone working with educating young people. The first day, Friday April 28, had panels on yoga in the classroom, mindfulness for teachers, developing social and emotional learning (SEL), and practical applications of compassion. Among the presenters were DNKL's resident teacher Geshe Lobsang Dhargey and DNKL community member and elementary school principal Sharon McGreevey.

The following day, Saturday the 29th, the conference was held concurrently with the fifth Instructional Leadership Conference organized by WCSU's Doctor of Education in Instructional Leadership Program. Scarlett Lewis, of the Jesse Lewis for Love Foundation, gave an opening presentation to all. The DNKL program continued with panels on using compassion in the educational system, counseling with compassion, and finally teaching compassion to children with comfort dogs. Among the presenters were Wilson Hurley from the Mahayana Sutra and Tantra Center (DC), Gabriel Lomas from WCSU, and Tom Pruzinsky from Quinnipiac College.

If you would like to donate money or to volunteer at future conferences or have any questions, please e-mail [email protected] with the subject line, “Education Conference.”
Joan Dydo and the Creation of DNKL 

by Stephen Dydo
This past January, we lost our greatest benefactor, Joan Dydo, whom we all called Jen. It was Jen who sold the land now occupied by
DNKL--95.5 acres--to the Mahayana Sutra and Tantra Center of Connecticut (MSTC-CT) for $1.00. MSTC-CT is now known as DNKL. This was the beginning of the road we are traveling together as we build all the various programs that DNKL is running and will run in the future.
Jen grew up in Queens and, after an initial position at General Motors in New York's Chrysler Building, moved over to a job as assistant to Herbert Hoover in the Waldorf-Astoria. President Hoover introduced her to Maurice Pate, the founding director of UNICEF, and she later moved to the United Nations to work with Pate. During that time she was earning a master's in library science, and eventually became the UNICEF librarian. 

After Pate died, Jen continued a close relationship with his wife, Martha. At that time, the two of them spent many weekends together at Godstow, the Pate country home in Redding. When Martha herself died, she willed the Godstow property to Jen to run as a home for the not-for-profit Pate Institute for Human Survival. This she did for ten years. When that became too much of a burden for her, she asked her nephew Stephen Dydo and his wife Susan Altabet to assist her in finding a new organization to take over the property. After interviewing many leaders of organizations working in areas compatible with Maurice and Martha Pate's vision for world peace, they finally agreed that the Mahayana Sutra and Tantra Center was the best organization to promote that vision. And that is what we continue to pursue, as DNKL, thanks to Joan Dydo.

DNKL’s Newest Board Member

by Denise Bevza

It is such an honored to have joined the Board of Directors in January 2017.  I’ve be asked to write a little about myself so our Sangha could know a little more about me.  May I be of great service to DNKL.  

I am married and have two children, ages 17 and 20 and live and work in New London, CT.   It has been my pleasure to have practiced law for over 30 years and work with my husband, William Brennan, in a small private practice, Bevza & Brennan, LLC.  
One thing I’ve learned in both my practice of law as well as my practice of the Dharma teachings is that legal matters often create opportunities to change patterns or configurations that are no longer working for us. This can take many forms including the loss of a job or marriage or an accident related injury.  At first, the process is often difficult and unwanted. If we bring wrathful compassion to this process, we come into greater clarity and discernment.  Once we soften our resistance to these inevitable changes, it frees us up to take more effective action and reclaim our life’s purpose. 

I found DNKL in the summer of 2014, following the connections to this Center from the His Holiness The Dalai Lama’s visit to Connecticut. Late summer and into this fall, I began coming regularly to teachings at DNKL and falling deeper and deeper in love with our Lamas, the Dharma and this incredible Sangha.  

We are so fortunate to be a part of this amazing Sangha and have the guidance of these exquisite teachers in Gyumed Khensur Rinpoche and Geshe Dhargey.  It is such a privilege to serve on the Board.  

Thank you All, for all that you offer our Community.  May it ripple out, into the world at large.  
With much love and gratitude,
Denise