An Invitation from the President of the Board (Dakini Long Life Puja 2009)
Please accept our warm invitation to attend a Dakini Long Life Puja on the occasion of Rinpoche's 60th year of life. Offering this puja is a traditional method of thanking our teacher for so many years of turning the wheel of Dharma for us as well as helping to remove obstacles and create the causes for Rinpoche to enjoy a long life in this world with us. Please see here for an explanation of the meaning and purpose of this puja as written by one of our puja leaders, Rob Standfield.
We are hoping that many of our sangha brothers and sisters from the various centres that make up Gaden for the West will join us in Toronto for this special puja and birthday celebration, as we are offering it on behalf of all of Rinpoche's students and centres. To help make that possible, we have chosen a site for the puja that is large enough for many guests, arranged a discount for some local accommodation, and are planning some fun and refreshments to follow the beautiful puja. To assist us in planning, please RSVP to this email address (g.choling@gmail.com ) if you plan to attend this very special event.
There are many ways to participate whether you live near or far from Toronto. Please consider sponsoring a special offering to be made to Rinpoche during the ritual (see details below regarding what is needed and how to sponsor a particular item) or consider making an offering to help cover the costs of this special puja such as transportation for Rinpoche.
In addition to sponsoring various aspects of the ritual, we are hoping that students at the various Dharma centres might send a message to Rinpoche to be read or shown after the puja as part of the birthday fun and celebration. These messages can be creative, funny or serious, but all full of love for our Rinpoche. We will have some technology available (i.e. laptop and data projector), so you could even send a DVD with a recorded video message, or some pictures and note, or whatever you would like to share with our sangha family as part of the birthday celebration. Also, if you are attending this event in person and would like to participate in a Talent/No Talent Show after the puja in honour of Rinpoche, we are looking for poets, musicians and other artists, students with funny stories about pilgrimages, etc. to share with Rinpoche and all guests. Our theme is "a tribute" to Rinpoche. Please contact me at gelsheimer -at- rogers.com if you would like to send a message from your centre or participate in person after the puja.
As a special note, Rinpoche has asked that we all refrain from purchasing personal birthday gifts for him and, instead, please make a contribution to help pay off the mortgage for Gaden Choling. Paying off this mortgage when it comes due this spring is a high priority for Rinpoche at this time. Please see his personal message regarding this below.
We will be emailing more info as time goes on and info will be posted on our website (http://www.gadencholing.org). We also hope to post audio files that will help us all to learn to sing the verses of the puja before the day arrives, so please check our website. Practice sessions will begin at Gaden Choling on Sunday afternoons in the near future.
I really hope that you will be able to come to this dharma family event in honour of Rinpoche. It will be a very special and meaningful occasion for all of us and lots of fun too!!
With love,
Ann
Ann Gelsheimer
President of Gaden Choling Board