Khenpo Tsultrim's Thanksgiving Project

This letter is from Khenpo Tsultrim about his suggestion for how we can use the Thanksgiving holiday to reflect on the plight of other beings and direct our attention to wishing them happier futures:

Dear Dharma sisters and brothers,

Next Thursday, we in the US will be celebrating the traditional Thanksgiving holiday. Thanksgiving is a wonderful tradition in this culture where families and friends gather together to express their gratitude and appreciation for each other and for the blessings that we have enjoyed over the past year. It is a time to reflect, to count our blessings and to be thankful. The heart of Bodhisattva-practice is the repaying of the kindness of others and if reflect deeply we will realize that we are here and alive today due to the kindness of all mother sentient beings.

In this regard, we should also be aware that during this holiday season, an incredible number of turkeys has been or will be killed for the purposes of our celebration. Furthermore, most of these birds have been raised in very poor and inhumane circumstances. In order to more fully integrate our Dharma-practice with our everyday life, I hope we will each do what we can to lessen the unintended suffering that we have caused during this holiday season. To that end, please consider practicing any of the following to whatever degree that you can:

1) Celebrate this Thanksgiving differently - think of other creative ways that do not have to involve the taking of animal lives for this holiday's feast. If this is not completely possible, then minimize the taking of life. Do what we can.

2) Recite as many Mani-mantras (om mani peme hung) or Amitabha mantras (om amideva hrih) as you can and dedicate it to the alleviation of suffering of these unfortunate turkeys and other animals. The TMC will begin this recitation this Sunday (11/23) and we encourage you and your centers to do so until next Sunday (11/30). Please email us at
drikung_tmc@hotmail.com
by next Saturday midnight to let us know how many mantras you have accumulated over the week. We will include that total number at our group dedication prayers conducted at TMC on Sunday 11/30.

3) Make a donation to any no-kill, animal-rescue/shelter that you know of and dedicate the virtue of the donation to the alleviation of suffering of animals killed for food.

Please share this humble suggestion that I have with your family and friends whom you think might be interested.

Yours in the Dharma,
Khenpo Tsultrim Tenzin
TMC Spiritual Director

I've got 3,333 accumulated so far, and I'm going for 50,000 by Saturday night. He suggested today we could do mantras in the car instead of listening to music. I do about 1,000 in ten minutes, and I commute about 30 minutes each way, so that's 6,000 per day (or thereabouts) just in the car. So working a 4 day week, that's half of it right there. I think 50,000 is very do-able. I'll post my progress.

My imaginary readers are encouraged to participate in this effort. You can post your progress here and either email TMC yourselves or I can note your contributions when I email Khenpo-La. And if at all possible, join us next Sunday for the dedication. May all beings benefit!