Palden Sakya

And so, in 1998 my NJ home became one of the Palden Sakya dharma centers, with Lama Pema as our spiritual teacher.

Over the years, many Tibetan lamas have visited our center, including His Holiness the Sakya Trizin, supreme head of the Sakya School of Tibetan Buddhism.

Other teachers include: HE Ratna Vajra Rinpoche (eldest son of His Holiness Sakya Trizin), Lama Kunga, Lama Guru Gyaltsen, and many more. They have given many wonderful Buddhist teachings, initiations, and ceremonies at our center and to the exiled Tibetan community in the New York metropolitan area, blessing us with their wisdom, compassion, and spiritual energy.

Over the years, I've documented many of the teachings on video, absorbing the precious meaning of their words while filming.

Lama Pema Wangdak

While I was involved with Geshe Roach's dharma group, my then wife Michele pursued the dream of opening a dharma center in our New Jersey home.

My own family was connected with the Jodo Shinshu sect of Pure Land Buddhism in Japan, and my ancestors had been Buddhist priests for over 28 generations, close to 700 years, in the prefecture of Fukui located northwest of Tokyo near the sea. Of course, this lineage was possible because in our sect the priests married and had families, and the eldest son inherited the church and was expected to become a priest.

I grew up visiting my grandparents, who lived in a Buddhist Temple in Santa Barbara, California. Later as an adult, I traveled to Japan and visited my relatives in Fukui, who lived in the 300 year old Sakow temple, in the village of Sakow (actually, the "w" at the end of "Sakow" had been added by U.S. Immigrations; it should probably be spelled "Sako"). My cousin Hitoye was a teacher in the Sakow Elementary School in Fukui.

So this notion of having a temple in our home, while radical, was not something altogether alien and unfathomable to me. I supported this effort but was certainly unaware of what exactly this would entail.

Once again, through our Dharma Talks, Michele connected with a Buddhist monk of the Sakya sect of Tibetan Buddhism named Lama Pema Wangdak who was very enthusiastic and open to her idea of starting a center. He extoled the great karma of doing this, the blessing of such an effort. We agreed, and the search was on to find an appropriate home.

We quickly found a small home with a large finished basement that would be perfect for our center. After we moved in, Lama Pema became a member of our household, and soon thereafter the exiled Tibetan community in New York City donated a beautiful bronze Buddha statue, handcrafted in Kathmandu, Nepal, to the temple. The following spring Lama Pema and Lama Kunga from Nepal consecrated the statue and the temple in a long, elaborate puja ceremony.

Classes have been held at our dharma center since 1998, and I am proud to be a supporter of this community.