Placerville Friends of Tibet is dedicated to working in the Sierra Foothills and Sacramento area communities, supporting Tibetan culture and arts, and Buddhist monks and nuns living in Tibetan Refugee Settlements and Monasteries in India.
Each year our community hosts the monks who graciously share their arts and culture, Tibetan perspectives on the Buddha’s teachings, mandalas, empowerments, healings, and blessings for individuals, families, the environment, pets, and the community.
PFOT is an Arts Incubator program from Arts and Culture El Dorado! This innovative program will allow us to raise funds for Placerville Friends of Tibet and the Tibetan monks.
You can Donate HERE to Placerville Friends of Tibet to help financially support the tours.
What is Tibetan Buddism?
Buddhism is understood as a philosophy, or a set of beliefs and practices, based on the teachings of the Buddha, or ‘Awakened One’ - the title given to the Indian spiritual seeker Siddhartha Gautam after he attained enlightenment more than 2,600 years ago. The Buddha’s best known teachings - the four noble truths and the eightfold path - describe the nature of human suffering, that everything arises from causes and conditions, and that there is a way to liberate oneself from the existential pain of living and achieving nirvana. These teachings spread throughout India and Asia and eventually the rest of the world. While the broader Buddhist family includes many different schools with their own beliefs and practices, these various traditions share a conviction that one can come to understand the truth of existence by living an ethical life dedicated to spiritual development, while benefiting all sentient beings.
Tibetan Buddhism evolved into four main traditions - Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyu and Gelugpa. The tradition of Gelugpa is the largest and most influential tradition in Tibet and the tradition of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and the Gaden Shartse Monastery. His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, a Tibetan monk and the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people, advocates for peace, non-violence, and the cultivation of warm-heartedness and human values such as compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, contentment and self-discipline.
What is a Sand Mandala?
According to Buddhist historythe purpose, meanings and
techniques involved in the spiritual art of sand mandala
painting were taught in India by Shakyamuni, the historical
Buddha, in the 6th century BCE. In the 11th century the teachings
traveled from India to Tibet, transmitted in unbroken lineage.
Mandala means literally "that which extracts the essence."
Noted Tibetan scholar Robert A.F. Thurman wrote:
“The mandala is a complete three dimensional environment, an
alternative universe, a world centered on a divine mansion
that contains Buddha archetype deities with specific types of
bodies, surrounded by gardens and charnal grounds, replete with
mountains, lakes, trees, and various divine, legendary and
historical beings. The borders of this world are sealed against all
negative influences by rings o fire and diamond thunderbolt
energies which, when desirable, can be made permeable to
absorb beings from ordinary world, to bless and transform them.”
Each grain of sand is charged with the blessings of the ritual process, and the entire sand mandala embodies a vast store of
spiritual energy.
In upholding the principle that all phenomena is transient, during
the dissolution ceremony the monks sweep up the mandala and place the sand in a river, lake, or ocean to purify the surrounding environment and is offered as a blessing to end suffering for all sentient beings.
"Each of us must learn to work not just for his or her own self, family or nation, but for the benefit of all humankind".
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama