UVA Tibet Events Archive

Bhutan Oral Histories: A Lecture by Dr. Karma Phuntsho

Posted on September 23rd, 2014 | Posted in Events, Lectures | Comments Off on Bhutan Oral Histories: A Lecture by Dr. Karma Phuntsho

Date: Monday, September 22, 2:00 pm
Location: Nau 342

Dr. Phunthso is currently visiting the US from Bhutan, where he is currently is leading several research and entrepreneurial initiatives. Karma Phuntsho was trained as a monk in Bhutan and India, and received a M.St and D.Phil in Oriental Studies at Balliol College, Oxford. He was a researcher at CNRS, Paris, the Spalding Fellow for Comparative Religion at Clare Hall, Cambridge University, and a researcher at the Department of Social Anthropology in Cambridge. He is currently a research associate of the University of Virginia, and is based in Thimphu, Bhutan.

He will be speaking on his most recent project, a multi-year effort to record oral history and traditional knowledge systems throughout the whole of Bhutan.

New Course Offering Free to All: Introduction to Tibetan Medicine

Posted on June 19th, 2014 | Posted in Events, Workshops | Comments Off on New Course Offering Free to All: Introduction to Tibetan Medicine

Dr. Kunchok Gyaltsen, Visiting Professor of Medicine, and Dr. Leslie Blackhall will be offering a free, eight-week [July 9 – August 27], introductory course in Tibetan Medicine.

What is Tibetan Medicine? Tibetan Medicine is a traditional medical system, utilizing behavior and dietary modification, herbal remedies, massage, acupuncture and other techniques. With roots in Tibetan philosophy, this system integrates mental and physical aspects of health to treat illness and improve well-being .

Classes will meet weekly, on Wednesdays [beginning July 9 and concluding August 27] from 6:15 -7:30 p.m. in the 6th floor of the West Complex at UVa. Although students are encouraged to attend each week, individual sessions will also stand alone for those who cannot attend each session. This course is appropriate for all levels of students and will include “hands-on” teaching.

To inquire about registration, please contact Dr. Leslie Blackhall: LB9X [at] hscmail.mcc.virginia.edu (to mail remove the “[at]” and replace with @)

Topics will include:

  • Overview of this medical system, including comparisons with biomedicine and other traditional medical systems
  • Mind-body connections in health and disease
  • Approach to diagnosis
  • Lifestyle and diet
  • Overview of herbal medication
  • Use of massage, acupuncture and related treatments

About the instructors:
Dr. Kunchok Gyaltsen is currently a visiting Professor of Medicine at the UVa School of Medicine. He is the first Tibetan to earn a PhD in Public Health at the UCLA School of Public Health in Los Angeles. He was ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist monk in 1981 at Kumbum Monastery in Amdo, Tibet currently called Qinghai Province, P.R. China. From a young age he studied both Buddhism and Tibetan Medicine under the guidance of knowledgeable teachers at Kumbum Monastery and Kumbum Tibetan Medical Hospital. Dr. Kunchok Gyaltsen has been nationally recognized as a scholar in his field by the National government.

Dr.Leslie Blackhall is Section Head of Palliative Medicine at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. She has studied Tibetan Medicine under Dr.Yeshe Dondhen since 1980 and has her Masters of Theologic Studies in addition to her MD.

Note: This course is not sponsored by the UVa Tibet Center

A Special Screening of the Film A Gesar Bard’s Tale

Posted on May 18th, 2014 | Posted in Events, Film Screening | Comments Off on A Special Screening of the Film A Gesar Bard’s Tale

Gesar BardA Gesar Bard’s Tale tells the story of the famous Gesar singer Dawa Drakpa, and the aftermath of the Gyegu earthquake.

Where: University of Virginia, Clemons Library, Robertson Media Center, Rm. 322

The film will receive its official U.S. premiere at the Rubin Museum in NYC at the end of May, with theatrical shows in other parts of the US to follow and a showing at MoMA in New York in August. Through the generosity and kindness of Donagh Coleman, we will have the opportunity to view it first!

Manjushri Initiation and Teaching

Posted on May 12th, 2014 | Posted in Events, Lectures | Comments Off on Manjushri Initiation and Teaching

TulkuKaybje Shingza Tulku Rinpoche offers a Manjushri Initiation and teaching entitled “The Calm Mind of Loving Kindness”

Where: Unity of Charlottesville, 2825 Hydraulic Road, Charlottesville, VA

When: Sunday, June 1, 2014

2:00 – 4:00pm  — Manjushri Initiation

5:00 – 6:30pm — Teaching

Presented by:  The Tashi Choëling Buddhist Center and Unity of Charlottesville

All are welcome to receive the Manjushri Initiation, which is a blessing that serves to benefit all persons by helping them to develop their innate discriminating wisdom.

A donation of $30 is suggested, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Shingza Tulku Rinpoche is the 11th reincarnation of Lama Tsongkhapa’s mother. HH the Dalai Lama recognized him as a reincarnation when he was a young child in Tibet. The head of Ragya Monastery, he is one of the highest lamas in the Gelug tradition in the Amdo region of Tibet.

These days, Rinpoche works to preserve Tibetan culture. He travels the world sharing Buddhist teachings of loving kindness, compassion, and calming the mind.

For more information see the Tashi Chöeling Center website here, or call Aila at 434-242-4546

and the Unity Charlottesville website here, or call 434-978-1062

Note: The UVA Tibet Center is neither hosting nor sponsoring this event

Symposium: Environment and Culture of the Tibetan Plateau

Posted on March 11th, 2014 | Posted in Conferences, Events | Comments Off on Symposium: Environment and Culture of the Tibetan Plateau

Reting_valley_WEBPlease join the UVa Tibet Center for an international public symposium that will bring environmental scientists, conservationists, social scientists, and humanists together to discuss research and conservation on the Tibetan Plateau.

There will be two sets of panel discussions during the day.

Location: UVa Grounds, Harrison Institute Auditorium

All panels are in the bottom floor Auditorium in the Harrison Institute and Small Special Collections Library right next to Alderman Library

Schedule

All talks are 20 minutes long with 10 minutes for Q&A; there is also a concluding 45 minutes final discussion.

9:00am-10:30am Session 1

9:00-9:30am
:  Welcome and Introduction: David Germano and Howie Epstein of the University of Virginia.

Julia Klein (Colorado State University): “Snow Disasters, Climate Warming and Grazing Policy: An interdisciplinary study to examine ecosystem and herder resilience to interacting global change threats in central Tibet:

Kelly Hopping (Colorado State University): “The good, the bad, and the shrubby: impacts of climate change and grazing on Tibet’s alpine meadows”

10:30-10:45am:  Break

10:45-12:30pm: Session 2

Emily Yeh (University of Colorado): “Tibetan pastoralists’ vulnerability to climate change: a political ecology analysis of snowstorm coping capacity”

Susan Natali (Woods Hole Research Center): “Interactions and feedbacks among land use, climate change, and permafrost thaw on the Tibetan Plateau”

Ken Bauer (Dartmouth College): “Marx on the Mountains: Some Framings of the Caterpillar Fungus Phenomenon”

Lunch 12:30-2:00pm

2:00pm-3:45pm: Session 3

Ethan Goldings (TSERING and Winrock International, China): “Platforms for Protectors: innovative cultural, organizational and technical tools for Tibetan communities facing environmental stress.”

Palden Choying (Arizona State University): “Toward a Framework for Consideration of Plateau Pika as a Sustainable Component of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau Alpine Grassland Ecosystem”

Lan Cuo (Tibetan Plateau Research): “Climate Change and its Impacts on the Hydrology in the northern Tibetan Plateau”

3:45-5:00pm: Session 4

A short presentation by University of Virginia undergraduates on an environment project in Eastern Tibet they conducted in 2013 and are continuing in 2014.

Concluding Discussion

 

Click here to download the promotional flyer

 

UVA Tibet Day 2014

Posted on March 3rd, 2014 | Posted in Events | Comments Off on UVA Tibet Day 2014

བོད་ཀྱི་ཉིན་མོ།

Tibet Day 2014

Presented by the UVa Department of East Asian Languages Literatures, and Cultures and co-sponsored by the UVa Tibet Center

Join us to learn about Tibetan language and culture, Tibetan Studies at UVa, and more! Discover all the ways you can engage with Tibet and Tibetan Culture at UVa.

Event Schedule

4:00-5:00 p.m. Refreshments and Overview of Tibetan Studies at UVa

5:00-7:00 p.m. Opening speech, performance, and presentations

Location: UVA Grounds, South Lawn, Nau Hall, Room 101

Sponsored by the UVa Tibet Center, UVa Asia Institute, UVa East Asia Center, and the Charlottesville Tibetan Community.

UVA Buddhist Studies Group Conference on Buddhist Meditation: History, Culture, Development, Science

Posted on February 24th, 2014 | Posted in Conferences, Events | Comments Off on UVA Buddhist Studies Group Conference on Buddhist Meditation: History, Culture, Development, Science

buddha_1The Buddhist Studies Group at the University of Virginia, an organization devoted to promoting the academic field of Buddhist Studies, is organizing a conference with support from the Contemplative Sciences Center. The conference, coinciding with surge in interest in meditation and contemplation both within the UVa community as well as in society at large, will be held at UVa on Feb 28-Mar 2, 2014. A bright and dynamic figure in the field of Buddhist Studies, Dr. George Dreyfus, will give the keynote speech and act as moderator. Before receiving his PhD at the University of Virginia in 1991, from age nineteen Dreyfus lived and studied extensively in a Tibetan Monastery, culminating in his receiving the highest possible degree bestowed in the Tibetan monastic system of education. Dr. Dreyfus’s work thoughtfully engages the new and evolving partnership between religious studies scholars and scientists. His participation is guaranteed to attract a wide audience. The conference will include thematically organized panel presentations from currently enrolled PhD and MA students from around the country. The panels will address current issues in the study of Buddhist meditation as they relate to psychological interventions, meditative practice, issues of geography and culture, and the literature on meditation. This conference, which follows upon a successful conference from the previous year, promises to provide valuable opportunities for emerging scholars to present and develop their research, form collaborative relationships with peers, and directly participate in framing new and experimental discourses that will drive the field in the coming years.

Schedule

Friday, February 28

5:00-6:15pm:  Keynote Talk:

George Dreyfus, Williams College
“Taking Meditation Seriously (but not too much)”
Nau Hall 101

6:15-7:00pm: Reception

Saturday, March 1

8:45-10:00am: Meditation Study Design Charrette Part 1 (Breakfast served) (Nau Hall 211)

All panel discussions below will take place in Gibson 211.

10:00-11:30am: Panel 1: Pathways to Resilience: Contemplative (De)Constructions of the Self
11:45am-1:15pm: Panel 2: Holding the Un-held Mind: Precept and Practice in Buddhist Contemplation
2:15-3:30pm: Meditation Study Design Charrette Part 2
3:30-5:00pm: Panel 3: There and Back Again: Traversing Cultural Terrain and Contemplative Geographies

5:00-5:30pm: Coffee/Tea Break
5:30-6:45pm: Second Keynote Talk:

Erik Braun, University of Oklahoma
“The Queen and the Monk: How Colonialism Sparked
the Global Insight Meditation Movement”
Nau Hall 211

Sunday, March 2

8:45-10:00am: Meditation Study Design Charrette Part 3: Conclusions (Breakfast served) (Nau Hall 211)
10:00-11:30am: Panel 4: Contemplative Literature (Gibson 211)

Conference Website: https://pages.shanti.virginia.edu/Buddhist_Studies_Gr/

All sessions are open to the public.
For more information, visit: facebook.com/BuddhiststudiesUVa

Key People: Graduate Students: Naomi Worth; Christopher Hiebert; Natasha Mikles; Nicholas Trautz; K. Nyima Cape; James Fair. Kurtis Schaeffer, Professor and Department Chair. All organizers are from the University of Virginia’s Department of Religious Studies.

Bryan Innovation Lab – Gomang Monks

Posted on February 18th, 2014 | Posted in Events, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Bryan Innovation Lab – Gomang Monks
Gomang MonksTibetan Monks Sacred Arts Tour

Join the Bryan Innovation Lab at the Steward School for a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The Monks of Drepung Gomang Monastery are visiting the Bryan Innovation Lab February 17-21, 2014.

The monks will visit the Bryan Innovation Lab to provide the Steward community with an opportunity to better understand the relationship between Tibetan culture and the science of thought. Through the monks’ varied activities, the students will learn about mindfulness, cultural studies, and traditional foods in an effort to understand their global position in a connected world. The Steward School joins with many modern academic institutions in studying the relationship between quantitative science and contemplative science as demonstrated in Tibetan culture. While on campus, the monks will create a sand mandala in the Wellness Studio, conduct various workshops, visit with Steward students, and perform traditional music and dance throughout the week.

February 17-21 Events

WELCOME: On Monday February 17th, join the Bryan Innovation Lab in welcoming the monks along with a talk on Tibetan Buddhism by UVa Tibetan Studies PhD student Eva Natanya Rolf and the Gomang monks.

SAND MANDALA: From 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. each day, you are invited to observe and take photos of the daily creation of a sand mandala.  A group of monks will dedicate their time solely to creating this masterpiece.

MEDITATION: At 11 a.m. each day, you are invited to various workshops on meditation.

CULTURAL PAGEANT: On Thursday February 20th, be sure to join us for the Cultural Pageant. A reception and discussion on compassion by University of Virginia Tibetan Studies PhD student Nick Trautz will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Bryan Lab, and the Cultural Pageant will take place from 6:30-8:30 p.m. in the Lora M. Robins Theatre. During the pageant, the monks will perform traditional Tibetan music and dance. Click here to register for this event.

CLOSING: On Friday afternoon from 3:30-5:30 p.m., join us outside the Bryan Lab for the closing ceremony and the blessing of Petronis Pond.

Click here to register for Thursday evening’s Cultural Pageant

Location

Bryan Innovation Lab at the Steward School
11600 Gayton Road, Richmond VA 23238

Take 64 East to Gaskins Road South. Take a right onto Gayton road (at Gayton shopping center) the school and Bryan Innovation Lab is on Gayton Road.

Monastic Life & Teachings by the Tashi Kyil Monks

Posted on September 10th, 2013 | Posted in Events | Comments Off on Monastic Life & Teachings by the Tashi Kyil Monks
A Glimpse into Tibetan Monastic Life & Teachings
Tashi_Kyil_Monks

With the Tibetan Buddhist Monks of Tashi Kyil Monastery in Northern India

Unity of Charlottesville welcomes the monks of Tashi Kyil Monastery for a full week of activities and cultural exchange. During the week, the monks will create a Peace Sand Mandala, conduct two evenings of dharma talks, and perform a cultural pageant entitled “Let’s Travel to Tibet”.

Local news coverage of the event here on NBC 29

There is a suggested donation of $10 that goes to support the small and under-funded monastery.

 

Sunday, September 1st

10:30 am

The monks join in for Unity’s Sunday Celebration

 

Sunday – Friday, September 1st – 6th

Peace Sand MandalaSand_Mandala_TK

Sun. from 2-5pm

Mon.-Thurs. from 10am-5pm

Location: Unity’s Terrace Level

 

Wednesday, September 4th, 7:00pm

“Taming the Mind” Dharma Talk

Location: the Unity Sanctuary

 

Thursday, September 5th, 7:00pm

“Explanation of Mantras” Dharma Talk

Location: the Unity Sanctuary

 

Friday, September 6th, 7:00pm

“Let’s Travel to Tibet” Pageant

Location: the Unity Sanctuary

 

For More information
www.unitycville.org434-978-1062

UVA Tibet Day 2013

Posted on February 15th, 2013 | Posted in Events | Comments Off on UVA Tibet Day 2013

Potala palace

UVA Tibet Day 2013

Join us to discover all the ways you can engage with Tibet and Tibetan Culture at UVA.

Learn about Tibetan language and culture, Tibetan studies at UVa, and more.

Agenda

Enjoy refreshments and discover Tibetan studies at UVa (3-4pm)

Opening remarks, performance, and slideshow (4-6pm)

Location: Nau Hall, Room 101, Charlottesville, VA

Presented by the UVA Department of East Asian Languages, Literatures, and Cultures

Sponsored by: UVA Tibet Center, UVA Asia Institute, the Charlottesville Tibetan Community