Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Samye-Ling Entertainment

Samye-Ling Entertainment Housed in a traditional Tibetan tent, various performances took place in front of the Temple at the annual Samye-Ling tea party, Eskdalemuir Scotland. Meanwhile all over the centre visitors enjoyed the relaxed ambience in the peace garden, by the stupa or in the veg and herb gardens.

Johnstone house, the start and development of Samye-Ling Tibetan Centre, in shot is the Cloutie Tree. As you enter the peace garden from Johnstone House there is a Cloutie tree with colourful cloths tied to its branches. It is both a Scottish and Tibetan custom to make a wish and then tie a coloured ribbon to the tree. As the cloth fades the wish is carried off by the elements and hopefully one day comes true. People are welcome to take a coloured ribbon from the black container beneath the tree, make a small donation in the box and then tie a ribbon to the tree.



Acharya Nāgārjuna (c. 150 - 250 CE) was an Indian philosopher, the founder of the Madhyamaka (Middle Path) school of Mahāyāna Buddhism, and arguably the most influential Buddhist thinker after Gautama Buddha himself.

His writings were the basis for the formation of the Madhyamaka (Middle Way) school, which was transmitted to China under the name of the Three Treatise (Sanlun) School. He is credited with developing the philosophy of the Prajnaparamita sutras, and was closely associated with the Buddhist university of Nalanda. In the Jodo Shinshu branch of Buddhism, he is considered the First Patriarch.

Little is known about the actual life of the historical Nagarjuna. The two most extensive biographies of Nagarjuna, one in Chinese and the other in Tibetan, were written many centuries after his life and incorporate much lively but historically unreliable material which sometimes reaches mythic proportions. Nagarjuna was born a Brahmin, which in his time connoted religious allegiance to the Vedas, probably into an upper-caste Brahmin family and probably in the southern Andhra region of India.


Green Tara in the garden at Samye-Ling. Tārā is the flawless expression of the inseparability of emptiness, awareness and compassion. Just as you use a mirror to see your face, Tārā meditation is a means of seeing the true face of your mind, devoid of any trace of delusion. The main Tārā mantra is oṃ tāre tuttāre ture svāhā (pronounced by Tibetans and Buddhists who follow the Tibetan traditions as oṃ tāre tu tāre ture soha).

Tibetan Buddhism relates Chenrezig to the six-syllable mantra Om Mani Padme Hum. Thus, Chenrezig is also called Shadakshari ("Lord of the Six Syllables"). The connection between this famous mantra and Avalokiteśvara already occurs in the Karandavyuha Sutra (probably late fourth or early fifth century), one of the first Buddhist works to have reached Tibet (before the end of the fifth century).

Samye-Ling greenhouse, an equally productive part of the garden, here growing grapes, cucumbers, basil, tomatoes, figs....

North Fife History. Cupar: A History History of North Fife Cupar. North Fife Property. Tour Scotland. North Fife Maps. St.Andrews and East Fife: Cupar, Anstruther and Crail (Explorer) Rent a Cottage in North Fife Scotland.

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