By Thomas P. Healy
Bloomington, IN – In Tibetan Buddhism there is a practice called “making an opportunity out of a disadvantage or disaster.” Arjia Rinpoche, the new president of the Tibetan Cultural Center (TCC), laughs when a reporter mentions this.
“That’s a profound teaching,” he says. “When we have difficulties in life, how do we face them? We practice Tonglen, which means ‘giving and taking.’
So the center has problems, we can avoid them or just take them and dissolve them — it’s a good chance to practice.”
The renowned Tibetan Buddhist scholar and teacher, who left Tibet in 1998 to escape Chinese repression, will have plenty of opportunities to practice as he leads the Center to financial stability and undertakes an ambitious plan for expanded educational opportunities.
Arjia Rinpoche seems unfazed by the stressful financial burdens that pushed the Center to the brink of financial ruin and dissolution last May, when the property faced a sheriff’s sale.
But his equanimity shouldn’t be mistaken as disengagement. In a recent interview he affirmed his commitment to the center’s core mission of preserving Tibetan culture but also articulated a vision for increasing public exposure to and awareness of his native Mongolian culture.
The uplifting atmosphere that now permeates the TCC is a result of the direct involvement of the Tibetan people’s spiritual leader, Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, who took a personal role in saving the center.
When asked to oversee operations, Arjia Rinpoche says there was no way he could refuse, although his Western advisers had other ideas.
“After I received a phone call from His Holiness’ private office, I talked to friends and my attorneys in California. They said, ‘Is this a big place? If not, just sell it and go someplace else!’”
Recalling the exchange with a hearty laugh, Arjia Rinpoche adds, “I said, ‘No! We can’t do that.’”
He had visited the TCC in 1999 to participate in the Kalachakra empowerment and ceremony for world peace led by the Dalai Lama. Having experienced for himself the valuable role the facility plays in preserving Tibetan culture and religion, he willingly deferred to his spiritual leader and left behind the Tibetan Center for Compassion & Wisdom he had established in Mill Valley, Calif.
“His Holiness has a wide vision, so he sees something that we can’t,” he says.
Besides, he adds, “The City of Bloomington has been very helpful, and the local people are supportive and friendly. If we had this kind of center in California, it would not be as special.”
For Tibetans and Buddhists around the world, the Tibetan Cultural Center is special. Established in 1979 by the Dalai Lama’s eldest brother Thubten Jigme Norbu – a retired Indiana University professor who is also a highly regarded Tibetan Buddhist teacher – the Center occupies a 108-acre plot donated by Tom and Kathy Canada.
It lies a few miles south of College Mall on Snoddy Road, just beyond the reach of southside suburban sprawl.
In addition to being one of the oldest Tibetan cultural preservation centers in the country, the property is home to a temple, the Chamtse Ling (translated as “Love and Compassion” or “Field of Compassion”), as well as a pair of Tibetan monuments called chortens.
The facility has been graced four times by the presence of the Dalai Lama, a formidable international voice for peace, cooperation and interfaith understanding.
“It’s a gem,” says Larry Gerstein, president of the International Tibet Independence Movement, an organization he co-founded with Norbu on March 18, 1995.
“It’s hard to fathom that an individual as revered as Taktser Rinpoche lives here in Indiana and has set up such a magnificent facility.”
Asked about the significance of the TCC, Gerstein says that given the situation in Tibet, it’s essential.
“Cultural and religious activities are restricted inside Tibet,” he says.
“When people engage in various cultural and religious activities they’re arrested. So the only place you’ll see some activities is in exile.”
Gerstein says the TCC ensures that these practices don’t disappear. “The other important piece of this is that it introduces non-Tibetans to the richness of the culture and the religion.”
Robert Thurman, considered the foremost Western scholar of Tibetan Buddhism, was invited by the Dalai Lama to join the new board of directors.
“What is wonderful about it is the TCC has been saved by the intervention of His Holiness. What he’s decided to do is to make that cultural center the host of the branch of the Kumbum monastery.”
Speaking by phone from New York City’s Tibet House, which he founded, Thurman is exuberant in his enthusiasm for the plan.
“The Kumbum monastery is the one major Tibetan monastery that has no exile branch to keep the curriculum alive,” he says.
Thurman maintains this is particularly auspicious, as Arjia Rinpoche is the defected abbot of the Kumbum monastery in the Amdo province of eastern Tibet.
“He’s the reincarnation of the father of the great lama Tsong Khapa, founder of the Kumbum monastery,” Thurman says.
In addition, he notes, the Dalai Lama was born only 40 miles from the Kumbum monastery, where his brother Taktser Rinpoche served as abbot.
“Those of us who are on the board have a long-term hope that once the financial thing is permanently settled, we can develop a closer affiliation with Indiana University like the one that Mr. Norbu used to have,” Thurman says.
Bloomington resident Kathy Connor, who served as Norbu’s secretary at IU and has worked at the Center since its inception, says it’s an honor to have someone of Arjia Rinpoche’s stature and international renown at the Center, and that the effect of his presence has already been dramatic.
“At the recent Losar (Tibetan New Year celebration) there was joy and happiness among the celebrants – quite different than from a year ago,” she says.
“We’re still continuing to work on the financial situation and it looks very good,” Arjia Rinpoche says. “We’re moving forward. The future plans are the most important.”
These plans include a Tibetan children’s summer camp, art and photography exhibitions and involvement in Lotus Fest. Either way, work or play, he’ll find plenty of time to practice.
Thomas P. Healy is a journalist in Indianapolis. He can be reached at thomasphealy@sbcglobal.net
