Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Santa Fe Welcomes Tibetan Monks

Santa Fe, that lovely Spanish pueblo of New Mexico and haven of everything New Age, welcomes Tibetan monks who are constructing a Green Tara mandala for the city.

"It has the power to heal those in the economic crisis and also at the individual level," Phentsok said. It is a special blessing for everyone in Santa Fe, he added.

The monks making the mandala are from the Drepung Loseling Monastery, known for its Tibetan temple music where chant masters learn to control their voices in multiphonic or "overtone" singing. The monastery dates to 1416 in Tibet.

The Santa Fe paper reports, "Mandalas and the ceremonies surrounding their creation have long been a source of healing and protection, similar in ways to the ancient tradition of sand paintings used in Navajo healing ceremonies."

Drepung Loseling monks will tour the U.S., visiting schools, churches and galleries raising money to support monks in the monastery in India. As part of the tour in Santa Fe, the group will perform an evening of sacred music and dance at 7 p.m. on Dec. 27 at the James A. Little Theater, 1060 Cerrillos Road. Read more here.

Meanwhile the other news from Santa Fe ... orthodox Episcopalians there have left The Episcopal Church because of irreconcilable differences on interpretation of Scripture, ordination of gay and lesbians, same-sex ceremonies in the church, and rejection of the historical claims of Christianity concerning the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. The Santa Fe New Mexican doesn't have much to say about this publishing an Associated Press generality, but it does offer news about Muslims' difficulty in finding a mate and the approval of a domestic partner registry. I guess everyone is welcome in Santa Fe except right-believing Christians.

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