A highly esteemed Tibetan monk, Khentrul Lodro Thaye Rinpoche, visited the University on Nov. 19 to present a lecture at Buddhist House on Buddhism’s four noble truths. He came with an entourage that included four of his students and his personal translator, Paloma Lopez.
Prior to the evening lecture, Rinpoche joined members of Buddhist House, including house manager Tsultrim Davis ’06, for dinner at “Little Tibet” on Main Street in Middletown.
“At the restaurant [Rinpoche] talked with us in an informal way and taught us about Tibetan culture,” Davis said. “It was informal in as much as dinner with a reincarnate lama can be informal, and a good time.”
Rinpoche speaks conversational English and used this to communicate with Wesleyan students at the dinner.
However, Rinpoche’s lecture on Buddhism was given entirely in his native Tibetan language and was then translated piecemeal by Lopez, who has studied Tibetan for the past five years.
According to Davis, the reason why Rinpoche uses only Tibetan to discuss Dharma, or Buddhist philosophy, is because he does not feel comfortable conveying its complexities in English.
Approximately seventy people attended Rinpoche’s lecture, among them Wesleyan students and community members as well as Buddhist practitioners from local Buddhist centers like the Hartford Shambala Center.
“It was a great success,” Davis said. “[Rinpoche] is one of the most esteemed teachers we’ve had come to campus.”
The lecture was sponsored by Buddhist House and the Wesleyan Dharma Study Group, whose members discuss and study Dharma. The group is co-organized by Davis and Lodro Rinzler ’05. It meets Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 7 p.m. in Buddhist House and Sundays at 3 p.m. in a small meditation room underneath the Memorial Chapel.
Rinpoche has twice received the title of “khenpo,” which is the equivalent to a Doctor of Philosophy. He has taught at monasteries in Tibet and India and is the leading monk at the Katok Mardo Tashi Choling Monastery in the Amdo province of Tibet. At the monastery he directs the education and spiritual practice of three hundred monks, sixty of whom are orphaned children or come from families too poor to support them.
According to the website of the Katok Mardo Tashi Monastery, “the monastery’s monks have taken the most extensive vows, including vows not to harm any other being, as well as to devote their lives to the study, contemplation, and practice of the dharma for the benefit of others. The lay practitioners of the area have also taken refuge and [have made] vows of non-harming and helpfulness.”
Rinpoche has been in the United States for the past two years traveling throughout the country and teaching Buddhist Dharma. He has spoken at Yale University and planned to speak in Bramford, CT after he left campus.
“Rinpoche was extremely warm and a lot of fun to spend time with,” Rinzler said. “We were very lucky to host him.”
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