KHAMPAGAR MONASTERY/TASHI JONG COMMUNITY: screened Exile And the Dance of Time,Ruben Museum,NYC

Recorded in 1992 and 1994 an award winning documentary on one of the first Tibetan exile communities in India founded by 8th Khamtrul Rinpoche.Under the guidance of Tsoknyi Rinpoche, the film was completed in 1998. The concluding 20 minutes features the elaborate Dance (Cham) Ritual celebrating the birthday of Guru Rinpoche The accompanying activities within the Prayer Hall are presided over by the 9th Khamtrul Rinpoche .
History: After escaping from Tibet in 1958, the 8th Khamtrul Rinpoche had a vision to establish a traditional Tibetan community for the preservation and perpetuation of Tibet’s endangered culture, sacred arts, and Buddhist heritage in exile. Nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas, not far from Dharamsala, Khamtrul Rinpoche established the community of Tashi Jong (Auspicious Valley)for the monks, lamas, Togdens and lay people who followed him into exile from Kham,Eastern Tibet. All together they worked to clear the land and to rebuild on foreign soil the renowned Drukpa Kargyu monastery of Khampagar. Here the precious teachings of the Buddha could be safe for future generations. In 1980, the 8th Khamtrul Rinpoche passed away and in the same year, the 9th Khamtrul Rinpoche was born.
There are approximately three hundred lay people and one hundred monks living together in the Tashi Jong community a “little island of Tibetan culture" surrounded by its Indian neighbors. Today there are the modern conveniences of a small and clean guest house, a cafe, and even an internet connection, when power allows. Still after 50 years in exile the vitality of the community's faith, devotion, and determination which permeates all activities sacred and ordinary remains faithful to the 8th Khamturl's vision.
Every Spring there is the stunning visual feast of Sacred Lama Dances (Tib. Cham) celebrating the birthday of Guru Padmasambhava. To witness the overwhelming beauty and experience the spiritual power evoked by these sacred rituals is considered a great blessing. This dance ritual, was first performed in Tibet more than 300 hundred years ago. In 1958, The 8th Khamtrul Rinpoche a master of sacred dancing, carried the knowledge of these dances into exile and Tashi Jong monks and lamas have performed them ever since. Dressed in elaborate costumes of silks and brocades, they dance in highly stylized movements. Solemn chanting and rich tones of traditional temple instruments accompany the dancers, creating a meditation in sound and movement. When the days of ritual are concluded, the merit of the dances is dedicated for the well being of all beings everywhere.
(Above information is from 1998 review)

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Watch edited excerpts from a cycle of sacred dances that originated in Tibet more that 300 years ago to celebrate the birthday of the great Buddhist teacher know as Guru Rinpoche. This dance is the Celebration of the Anniversary of the birth of Guru Rinpoche Performed in 1994 at Tashi Jong / Khampagar Monastery in Northern India, the unedited footage is part of the Tashi Jong Digital Archive Project which documented this sacred dance ritual in 1992 and 1994. For more information about the film or available footage,please contact Barbara Green, Director Tashi Jong/Khampagar Monastery Digital Archive Project: [e-mail]

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TASHI JONG opens with a montage of archival photographs shot in Tibet and northern India, providing a brief historical context for the story of this refugee community. In 1958, the eighth Khamtrul Rinpoche, a renowned Buddhist teacher, fled from Kham in Eastern Tibet with a small group of followers to seek a haven in India. The following year, when tens of thousands of Tibetans, including the Dalai Lama, escaped from increasing Communist Chinese oppression, many more monks and lay followers joined Khamtrul Rinpoche in exile. This was the genesis of a community unique in the Tibetan diaspora because of their ability to stay together through hardship, hunger, and disease and to reconstruct, on foreign soil, the ancient fabric of their lives. It was Khamtrul Rinpoche’s vision to establish the community of TASHI JONG with KHAMPAGAR MONASTERY as a traditional Tibetan community for the preservation and perpetuation of Tibet’s endangered culture, sacred arts, and Buddhist heritage. This inspiring documentary portrays how the vitality of the community's faith and determination permeates all activities, sacred and ordinary. The penetrating photography takes us on an intimate journey through the daily life of this community of three hundred lay people and one hundred monks.We see lay people engaged in the traditional arts and crafts of carpet weaving and woodblock carving; a nun bending to sweep a courtyard while chanting prayers; an elderly woman walking down a footpath with a spinning prayer wheel in hand; and a master lay artist painting a sacred Buddhist scroll (thangka) with devotion and unbroken concentration. We visit the Tashi Jong school, where children are learning English to prepare them for the modern world and Tibetan to sustain their cultural identity, and a secluded yogi Togden (one who has attained realization) teaching a monk the ancient Tibetan medical art of pulse diagnoses and herb preparation. We enter the sacred prayer hall, where the young ninth Khamtrul Rinpoche (b.1980) sits on a high platform presiding over Buddhist prayers and rituals, and we join a truckload of community members who travel to a nearby Indian town to participate in the annual March 10th commemoration of Tibetan Uprising Day. The video culminates in a stunning visual feast of sacred lama dances that were first performed in Tibet more than 300 hundred years ago. Khamtrul Rinpoche carried the knowledge of these dances into exile, and they have been performed faithfully ever since. Dressed in elaborate costumes of silks and brocades, with some dancers wearing intricately carved and painted masks, the monks dance in highly stylized movements. Solemn chanting and rich tones of traditional temple instruments accompany the dancers, creating a meditation in sound and movement. This sacred ritual concludes with the community gathered in a large circle as the lamas pass each bowed head, bestowing the blessings of peace that have been gathered during the ritual. Against a backdrop of the snow-covered Himalayan mountains, the constant beat of drums extends these blessings to the people of Tibet and to all people everywhere. The atmosphere of this poetic documentary is endowed with a sense of harmony, compassion, and serenity. Tashi Jong seeks to reveal how the indomitable spirit of the Tibetan people remains unbroken after forty years of hardship in India and how, with faith, devotion, and courage, they have continued to preserve their ancient heritage as a living reality in exile. The narration, imbued with Buddhist teachings, is spoken by a Tibetan woman and is based on the thoughts and words of the spiritual teachers and lay people of the Tashi Jong community. This was the genesis of a community unique in the Tibetan diaspora because of their ability to stay together through hardship, hunger, and disease and to reconstruct, on foreign soil, the ancient fabric of their lives. After two film excursions to Tashi Jong Community in 1992 and 1994 at the invitation of then TJC president Choegyal Rinpoche, Barbara Green created the Tibetan Video Project as a project of the non-profit Four Corners Foundation in order to help preserve and educate about Tibet's ancient heritage, unique culture, sacred arts, and Buddhist teachings. Later in 1998, with the encouragement and guidance of then Tashi Jong Community President Tsoknyi Rinpoche,TVP/FCF completed a 45 min award-winning documentary-TASHi JONG:A Traditional Tibetan Community in Exile. Director/Cinematographer:Barbara Green, Editor: Nathaniel Dorsky and Narrator: Dechen Bartso with Chanting by Khandro Thrinlay Choden, the film aired on PBS in USA and Canada, Korean Television and festivals in USA and Brazil. Since directing and shooting her first film, Barbara Green has continued to document Tibetan culture and special events in USA, India,Bhutan and Tibet. In addition to filming for Tibetan organizations, Barbara serves on the boards of two non-profit organizations: Committee of 100 for Tibet and Bay Area Friends of Tibet. She has been a presenter at conferences and workshops on Tibetan culture and the principals Non-Violence. WWW.tibet.org/Tashijong TASHI JONG and KHAMPAGAR MONASTERY:

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1992&1994 released 1998 view and download but not permitted to reedit. Buddhist teachings, daily life,March101994,Guru Rinpoche Cham, Sacred Lama Dances, Togdens, Health care, Tashi Jong school children lower and upper grades, crafts and more. Preserving and passing on Tibetan culture.

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The Tibetan Video Preservation Project (TVPP) is a non-profit organization registered in the State of California Our featured project is the Tashi Jong/Khampgar Digital Archive, devoted to digitizing and organizing all 50+ Hi8 videotapes recorded at Tashi Jong/Khampagar Monastery in India 1992 and 1994. Under the direction of Tsoknyi Rinpoche, this rare collection of video documentation will become part of the Tashi Jong/Khampagar Monastery’s permanent archives. In a letter dated June 27,2013, Tsoknyi Rinpoche.wrote: "the archive collection will be offered to the Tashi Jong Community for our archives. You will also make the archives available for scholars, students and others interested in the preservation of Tibetan culture in exile... Please know you have my full support for this important project and my deepest thanks for the work you are doing. Please feel free to contact me, should any questions arise where I may be of assistance."

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