Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Tibetan Monks from Gaden Shartse Monastery, India



The Tibetan cleansing ritual of "Chedrol" will be offered at Asterisk *Gallery in Tremont

on Saturday, October 11th at 5 PM
By visiting Tibetan Monks from Gaden Shartse Monastery, India
Asterisk * Gallery is located at 2393 Professor Avenue in Tremont, Cleveland, Oh 44113
http://www.asteriskgallery.com/index.html
(For more information about the Monks and Gaden Shartse Monastery visit: http://www.gadenshartsetour.org/)


Dear Friends
It looks like we are set for the Monks visiting us from Gaden Shartse Monastery, India, to offer the Tibetan ritual of Chedrol at Asterisk gallery in Tremont on Saturday, October 11th at 5 PM. They suggest a donation of $20.00 per person, though if this is beyond someone's means, whatever contribution you can offer them will be welcome. The ritual will last about an hour and 15 minutes. I hope that you will be able to come, and to spread the invitation to our community and to anyone who may be interested in this unusual healing experience.

Here is a very vivid description of the "Chedrol" purifiication/cleansing ritual (It means "the lama in the form of Green Tara") given by Lobsang, one of the visiting monks from the Gaden Shartse Monastery in India:

"The participants are bound with 5 colors of yarn. Their obstacles and negativities are fused through ritual into the yarn and then cut free with Tara's diamond knife. Then radiant nectars and multicolored rays of blissful light to remove negativities are poured into the participants. The lama sweeps them with laser-like rays of light from his peacock feather to remove subtle negative imprints.

"Many offerings are made to the interfering forces. All negativities are collected and fed to the interfering forces who are then evicted from the site.

"Diamond-like rays of light are generated under the skin and around/enveloping the participants to give them protection against these negativities and interfering forces in the future."

The intent of Chedrol, as Lobsang explained, is fairly straightforward. All of our sufferings, both individually and as a society, are the result, not of external forces beyond our control; they come from our own internal negativities and delusions. In this ritual, the lama, generating himself in the form of Green Tara - the female Buddha of Enlightened Activity - cleanses the participants of those negativities, purifies them and then gives them protection to help them resist those negativities in the future. The rest is up to us!

Namaste -
Beth

This offering is part of the art Exhibition "Counting Days" Seventeen artists respond to Eight years of destruction opening on Friday, October 10th during the Tremont Art Walk.