Tsering Phuntsok, a practicing Buddhist monk, will be a guest speaker at Somerset Community College on Monday, March 2 at noon in the SCC Harold Rogers Student Commons, located at 808 Monticello Street in Somerset.The presentation will take place in the Citizens National Bank Community Room. It is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.
About Tsering Phuntsok
Since entering the Palyul choekhorling Nyingmapa monastery in Bir, India, in 1987 at age 16, Tsering Phuntsok has been a practicing Buddhist monk. For the first 17 years he studied and practiced in the Nyingmapa tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, receiving training in meditation, Buddhist scripture and philosophy, tantric ritual, lama dancing and music. For several years he trained young monks in ritual and academic subjects. He has received many tantric empowerments and sutra teachings from His Holiness the Dalai Lama and many other High Lamas, including H.H. Penor Rinpoche. In the last several years he has worked on health related projects for his monastery, as well as caring for his nieces and nephews.
Phuntsok currently makes his residence in Dharamsala, India, in the foothills of the Himalayas; his home is less than a minute walk from the temple and residence of the H. H. Dalai Lama. Currently he facilitates cultural exchange programs between the Tibetan community and students from the United States who come to Dharamsala to volunteer with LHA, a local social work agency devoted to improving the lives of Tibetan refugees and local Indians. These groups also learn about Buddhism through visits to Tibetan monasteries. A soft-spoken man, with a quiet and engaging energy and humor, his goal is to practice and explain Buddhist dharma in a way that will help to alleviate suffering and speak to each hearer in a way suited to his or her own level of development.
Some topics Phuntsok may cover in his presentation include:
• Loving Your Enemies
• Buddhist Compassion
• Daily life in Dharamsala
• Buddhist Scriptures—the Heart Sutra
• Spiritual Dancing: the Traditional Practice of Tibetan Lama Dancing
• Rituals, prayers and Practices