NICHOLAS VREELAND: Travels with a Monk

 Offering a scarf to His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Color Portrait by Ven. Nicholas Vreeland

RETURN TO THE ROOF OF THE WORLD, Photo Exhibition, Taipei

Khyongla Rato Rinpoche and Ven. Nicholas Vreeland, Photographer and Abbot of Rato Monastery in Southern India, traveled to Hong Kong and Taipei where Vreeland's exhibition, "RETURN TO THE ROOF OF THE WORLD: A Photographic Exhibition by Nicholas Vreeland," of color portraits and black and white photographs is showing through February 28.

 Nicholas Vreeland Photo Exhibition, Taipei, February 2014

RETURN TO THE ROOF OF THE WORLD
A Photographic Exhibition by Nicholas Vreeland

February 14-28 2014

Huashan 1914 Creative Park

1F, M2, No. 1, Sec. 1, Bade Rd., Taipei, Taiwan

We went to see Master Guo Ru, Dharma Heir of Master Sheng Yen

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A Monks PhotoJournal: May and June

Khyongla Rato Rinpoche and friends, May 2010 (enlarge)
Photograph (c) Nicholas Vreeland /All Rights Reserved

Geshe Vreeland rushing through Naples, June 2010
Photograph (c) Beatrice Caracciolo /All Rights Reserved

Rome, June 2010
Photograph (c) Nicholas Vreeland /All Rights Reserved

New York Leica Gallery Director Jay R. Deutsch and Nicholas Vreeland.
My photo, NYC, June 4, 2010

Rinpoche, author of "My Life and Lives", with a foreword by Joseph Campbell, studying Tibetan texts on his porch, June 2010. Photograph (c) Nicholas Vreeland /All Rights Reserved

HH The Dalai Lama Teaching at Radio City Music Hall, May 20th-22nd, 2010. The Teaching Organizers, front row facing, l to r; Khyongla Rato Rinpoche, Geshe Nicholas Vreeland, Richard Gere and translator Geshe Thupten Jinpa. Photograph (c) Herman Velez/All Rights Reserved

Khyongla Rato Rinpoche making a traditional offering to HHDL
Photograph (c) Herman Velez/All Rights Reserved

View Rato Dratsang Foundation Photographs

A Monk's PhotoJournal: Aug 2009, Dec 2009, March 2010, April 2010
An Open Heart by The Dalai Lama, Edited by Nicholas Vreeland

ANDREW HARVEY: Author Scholar Mystic

A Journey In Ladakh is the vivid account of a journey by a young English poet in search of ancient Buddhist traditions. Ladakh, cut off by snow six months of the year, is where the purest form of Tibetan Buddhism is practiced, dating back 300 years before the birth of Christ.

Andrew Harvey is an internationally renowned religious scholar, writer, and teacher, and the author of over 30 books, including the critically acclaimed Way of Passion: A Celebration of Rumi, Journey to Ladakh, The Return of the Mother, Son of Man, and The Direct Path: Creating a Journey to the Divine Using the World’s Mystical Traditions. He is also coauthor of the best-selling The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying.

Andrew Harvey recommends "everyone read this book."

This is a uniquely beautiful, powerful, and important book–one that restores the deepest mysteries of ancient African wisdom at a time we need them most–Andrew Harvey, author of The Direct Path and The Hope

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Between sessions of HH The Dalai Lama's recent Teachings in NYC on Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, author Andrew Harvey sat down with my friends and mesmerized us with stories from Linda Tucker's book Mystery of The White Lions: Children of The Sun God. As he is the author of over 30 books with his own "Amazon Andrew Harvey Page" and he is recommending everyone must read this book – I'm listening.

"Linda Tucker’s first hand account of her journey into the legend of the White Lion. After being rescued from a life-threatening encounter with lions in the Timbavati game region, Linda embarked on a journey into the mysteries of the White Lion, a mystical journey into the knowledge and ceremonies of Old Africa, in which humans and lions are able to cross the species barrier—in accordance with the most guarded secrets of Ancient Egypt and humankind’s greatest riddle, the sphinx.

The White Lion is a genetic rarity of Panthera leo, and occurred in just one region on earth: Timbavati. Today White Lions form the center of the notorious “canned” trophy hunting industry—hand-reared captive lions, shot in enclosures for gross sums of money. Shamans believe that killing a “lion sun god” is the ultimate sacrilege. The story of the White Lions is a true legend unfolding in our own extraordinary times."

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The Oxford-trained authority on Rumi, Andrew Harvey was born in Coimbatore, India in 1952, where he lived until he was nine years old. It is this early period that he credits with shaping his sense of the inner unity of all religions and providing him with a permanent and inspiring vision of a world infused with the sacred. He left India to attend private school in England and entered Oxford University in 1970 with a scholarship to study history. At the age of 21, he became the youngest person ever to be awarded a fellowship to All Soul’s College, England’s highest academic honor...over the next thirty years he plunged into different mystical traditions to learn their secrets and practices. He is Founding Director of the Institute for Sacred Activism Read Entire Bio

Andrew Harvey
Institute of Sacred Activism

RICHARD GERE: HH The Dalai Lama in NYC

His Holiness the Dalai Lama, West Bengal, 1996
Photograph (c) Richard Gere /All Rights Reserved

Ulan Bator (The Arrival of His Holiness), Mongolia, 1995
Photograph (c) Richard Gere /All Rights Reserved

Arms With Mala, 1996
Photograph (c) Richard Gere /All Rights Reserved

HH THE DALAI LAMA, NYC

Richard Gere's organization, Healing the Divide, and The Tibet Center, founded by Khyongla Rato Rinpoche, are hosting His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teachings in New York City May 20th, 21st, and 22nd. HH will teach Nagarjuna’s Commentary on Bodhicitta (download text here in English, Mandarin and Tibetan), and A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, by Shantideva. www.dalailamany.org. Purchase Tickets

PHOTOGRAPHS BY RICHARD GERE FAHEY/KLEIN GALLERY

H.H. THE DALAI LAMA: An Enlightening Experience May 20-22 Radio City Music Hall

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

Photograph (c) Nicholas Vreeland/All Rights Reserved

In partnership for the fifth time, The Tibet Center and Healing the Divide are privileged to host His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s return to New York City. On May 20th, 21st, and 22nd, His Holiness will impart three days of Teachings on Nagarjuna’s Commentary on Bodhicitta (download text here in English, Mandarin and Tibetan), and A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, by Shantideva. Read more: www.dalailamany.org

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His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama has received over eighty-four awards, medals, and honorary doctorates, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, and the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal in 2007, in recognition of his message of compassion, peace, non-violence, interfaith understanding, and universal responsibility. His Holiness has also authored over seventy books, including An Open Heart, Ethics for the New Millennium, and The Universe in a Single Atom.

NICHOLAS VREELAND: A Monks PhotoJournal April 2010

Train to New Jersey
Photograph (c) Nicholas Vreeland /All Rights Reserved

Khyongla Rato Rinpoche, New Jersey
Photograph (c) Nicholas Vreeland /All Rights Reserved

Buddha

Photograph (c) Nicholas Vreeland /All Rights Reserved

Photograph (c) Nicholas Vreeland /All Rights Reserved

Photograph (c) Nicholas Vreeland /All Rights Reserved

Photograph (c) Nicholas Vreeland /All Rights Reserved

Train from New Jersey
Photograph (c) Nicholas Vreeland /All Rights Reserved

A Monk's PhotoJournal: April 2010

New Jersey: Venerable Nicholas Vreeland, Director of The Tibet Center (the oldest Tibetan Buddhist Center in New York City founded by Khyongla Rato Rinpoche), sent photos from his recent stop-over in New Jersey with Rinpoche while they prepare for His Holiness The Dalai Lama's visit to New York in May. The Tibet Center and Richard Gere's Healing The Divide organization will co-host His Holiness The Dalai Lama's Teachings at Radio City Music Hall in NYC May 20-23, 2010. Purchase Tickets.

A Monk's PhotoJournal: March 2010
A Monk's PhotoJournal: Dec 2009

Nicholas Vreeland Bio
Rato Dratsang Foundation Photographs For Sale
An Open Heart by The Dalai Lama, Edited by Nicholas Vreeland

NICHOLAS VREELAND: A Monk's PhotoJournal March 2010

The town of McLeod Ganj, above Dharamsala
Photograph (c) Nicholas Vreeland /All Rights Reserved

Circumambulating His Holiness the Dalai Lama's palace...
Photograph (c) Nicholas Vreeland /All Rights Reserved

View of the valley from lower Dharamsala
Photograph (c) Nicholas Vreeland /All Rights Reserved

Mani Stones along the Road
Photograph (c) Nicholas Vreeland /All Rights Reserved

The Ling Lineage: Khyongla Rato Rinpoche teaching Ling Rinpoche (left), Thamtog Rinpoche, Guru Rinpoche, Zopa Rinpoche, Dakpo Rinpoche, Pagri Rinpoche and others. Rinpoche was bestowing the oral transmission of a text written by the previous Ling Rinpoche's predecessor, which Khyongla Rinpoche had received from the previous Ling Rinpoche (b. 1903 d. 1983) and was teaching at the request of the present Ling Rinpoche (b. 1985). Photograph (c) Nicholas Vreeland /All Rights Reserved

A Monk's PhotoJournal: March 2010

Dharamsala, India: Tibetan Buddhist monk and photographer, Venerable Nicholas Vreeland, Director of The Tibet Center (the oldest Tibetan Buddhist Center in New York City founded by Khyongla Rato Rinpoche), sent photos from his recent stop-over in Dharamsala, the home of HH the Dalai Lama. After years of receiving NV's photo-email updates, I'm now posting his updates intermittently as "A Monk's PhotoJournal".

Vreeland's Fine Art Photography was recently exhibited throughout Europe and the U.S., including the Foundation Henri Cartier-Bresson, Paris, with proceeds from their sales going towards the Rato Dratsang Foundation.

The Tibet Center and Richard Gere's Healing The Divide organization will co-host His Holiness The Dalai Lama's Teachings at Radio City Music Hall in NYC May 20-23, 2010. Purchase Tickets.

Nicholas Vreeland Bio

Vreeland PhotoJournal
Rato Dratsang Foundation
A Monk's PhotoJournal: Dec 2009
An Open Heart by The Dalai Lama, Edited by Nicholas Vreeland

TRAVEL NOTES: Khyongla Rato Rinpoche

Richard Gere and Khyongla Rato Rinpoche, with HH the Dalai Lama's senior tutor, Kyabje Ling Rinpoche (embalmed body d. 1983), Dharamsala, India 1988. Photograph (c) Elizabeth Paul Avedon /All Rights Reserved

A Monk's PhotoJournal: December 2009

Greetings From The Mountains In Taiwan

Photograph (c) 2009 Nicholas Vreeland /All Rights Reserved

Khyongla Rato Rinpoche, Taiwan
Photograph (c) 2009 Nicholas Vreeland /All Rights Reserved

Rato Dratsang Foundation
The Gere Foundation