Reminder: 9AM-11AM Pacific Time
QCSE is a monthly two hour session featuring: some practice, some sharing and deepening of our understanding of selected quotes, and features a 45 minute interview with a special guest who is performing inspiring humanitarian work with grace, intelligence, and openheartedness. Someone we all would like to hear and get to know.
We are fortunate to begin the QCSE Series with an interview with Tsering Gellek – Director of Sarnath International Nyingma Institute, Ananda Light Foundation, The Fearless Rabbit Fund and The Kagyur-Karchag Encyclopedia Project.
Title: Leadership by Example
Quote: “Do we have more potential than we acknowledge?”
Bio: Tsering earned her BA degree in International Relations from Lewis and Clark College in 1995 and her Masters of Law at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in 2000, where she was later honored with the Henry J. Leir Human Security Award in 2017.
Since 2001, Tsering has been engaged in Buddhist cultural preservation work throughout Asia. Her first major projects include the installation of ten large peace bells at the most significant Buddhist holy sites throughout India and Nepal. In 2008, Tsering was asked by her father, Tarthang Tulku, to direct the restoration of the Swayambhu Stupa of Nepal. For the last fifteen hundred years, the Swayambhu Stupa has been renovated every one hundred years, and Tsering was the first woman to successfully complete this two-year major renovation effort. She did this with the participation of over 70 traditional artists, Nepal’s Department of Archaeology, numerous Buddhist priests and their communities, UNESCO, and other consultants. This work was documented in a book published by Dharma Publishing and entitled Light of the Valley, and in a documentary film bearing the same name produced by the Guna Foundation (click here for trailer).
Later Tsering was asked to build and direct the Sarnath International Nyingma Institute, for which she began work in 2007 and which she oversaw until its construction was completed in 2013. She continues her work as Director of SINI, work which includes strengthening the roots of the Institute, developing programs with universities and other centers of learning around the world, and harnessing the power of sharing between the East and the West.
As a part of her work with SINI, Tsering has been overseeing the Kagyur Karchag Encyclopedia Project, which will provide the first reader-friendly and comprehensive overview of the Buddha’s teachings in an encyclopedia form. This groundbreaking project will take years to complete, requiring dedicated, intelligent, and harmonious cooperation to bring it to fruition.
Tsering’s bridge-building comes from her deep and abiding ability to listen, to connect, and to envision possibilities for outreach & large-scale projects with all involved. Her approach to leadership is truly innovative, and I hope the interview will illuminate her particular approach as to how she envisions, plans, and manages projects today. She is a true supporter to those around her, harnessing the energy that comes from collaboration, and thriving in spaces where people are working towards their highest potential.
Sunday Zoom Session January 10, 9:00-11:00 AM PST
Join Zoom Meeting:
https://zoom.us/j/97966014301?pwd=a1hHZFBhWlRyZWdjQWQ4UTRmbE1wUT09
Cost: $25 tax deductible: odiyan.org/quotes. Proceeds are dedicated to the works of Tarthang Tulku and his activities to benefit all sentient beings.
NEXT QCSE SESSION SUNDAY FEBRUARY 14, 2021
Interview: Doug Chadwick
Title: How we think about nature and ourselves
Quote: “As we allow a deep caring to permeate all our actions, we realize the humble heart is the greatest heart of all.”
Bio: Douglas H. Chadwick is a wildlife biologist who studied mountain goat ecology and social behavior atop the Crown of the Continent for seven years. He has since worked as a natural history journalist, producing 14 popular books and hundreds of magazine articles, many of them for the National Geographic Society, on subjects from snow leopards to great whales to grizzly bears in the Gobi desert. Chadwick is a founding Board member of the Vital Ground Foundation, a conservation land trust (vitalground.org), and serves on the Board of the Liz Claiborne Art Ortenberg Foundation, which supports wildlife research and community conservation programs throughout the world (LCAOF.org.)