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"According
to the Sutras, the White Lotus represents conventional Bodhicitta
and the sun the ultimate Bodhicitta.
According to the common interpretation of the Highest Yoga
Tantras, the White Lotus represents the Illusory Body and
the sun the Clear Light.
Sun and Lotus together represent the Union of Illusory Body
and Clear Light." |
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| GENERAL INFORMATIONS |
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Pundarika is affiliated
to the Gelug tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, the
school of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Its foundation
was inspired by the Ven.Geshe Ciampa Gyatso, the
resident teacher and abbot of the nearby Lama
Tzong Khapa monastery. Even before we started
restructuring the house, he inspected the site
and confirmed that its position, the special quality
of silence of the surroundings and the purity
of the air made it particularly suited for meditation.
Later, the Ven. Jhado Rinpoche, abbot of the Namghyal
monastery in Dharamsala (H.H. the Dalai Lamas
personal monastery), blessed the site and gave
it its name, thus creating a special link to the
Kalachakra
Lineage, of which he is one of the holders. The
idea at the basis of the foundation of our Centre
was to create, in the West, a place suited for
high-quality retreats.
According to the Buddhist Sutras, such a place
has to fulfil certain conditions:
 It
must provide the retreatant with his basic necessities,
without distracting him from his meditation.
This condition is fulfilled at Pundarika by
the presence of helpers who take care of the
food and other material necessities.
It must be in close vicinity to a place where
there are qualified teachers and which was blessed
by realised beings. This condition is fulfilled
by the close vicinity of the ILTK (about twenty
minutes by car). Both resident teachers of this
monastic Centre, the Ven. Geshe Ciampa Gyatso
and the Ven. Geshe Tenzin Thenpel, hold the
geshe lahrampa degree, the highest title conferred
by the famed monastic universities of the Gelug
tradition.
It must lie within a pure environment with
pure water and pure air. Further requirements
falling under the same category are that it
should be set in a position well exposed to
the sunlight and surrounded by a wide, beautiful
natural landscape, over which the gaze can sweep,
embracing much space. This is to allow the mind
to become luminous and spacious almost spontaneously.
There should be no artificial sounds and
no noise that can disturb concentration, allowing
the mind to become one with silence.
 The
last two points are equally fulfilled at Pundarika:
the centre is located in one of the most beautiful
and famous areas of the world: in Tuscany. It
is nestled in a rural hillside gently rolling
along the Mediterranean shore.
It is located in the province of Pisa, just at
an hours drive from Florence and twenty minutes
from the beach. The closest village, at a distance
of two kilometres, is Riparbella, which can be
reached by a track. The Centro Pundarika is surrounded
by woods on all sides and offers magnificent views
on the hillsides and on the valley stretching
below.
At the Centre, one is immediately struck by the
particular quality of silence that envelops the
whole site. Around the Centre, there stretches
a vast private property, overgrown with the typically
aromatic Mediterranean vegetation, which invites
to long hikes and walking meditations in its cooling
shade. |
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| - Centre for Meditation and Spiritual Retreats |
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