Carving Out a Karmic Path
Dear friends around the world,
I was presented this extremely inspirational and beautiful article about an intelligent and spiritual individual by the name of Venerable Lobzang Dorje, a very educated black Buddhist monk who lives in Indianapolis, Indiana and has opened a Tibetan Buddhist center in order to benefit the black community at large and all communities. How is that possible? One drop of water at a time will fill up the whole bucket. Similarly, a single spiritual institution can contribute towards the spiritual evolution of the whole community. I’m extremely happy and I rejoice tremendously in seeing the opening of the dharma center and reading about his candidness and openness towards his spiritual journey both past and present.
I am very happy to hear that he has overcome his illness of cancer and that he is embarking on opening his house to offer to the community as a sanctuary of peace, growth and spiritual development. At the same time, I rejoice that he has offered up his time to the community and will devote the rest of his life to this mission. I think it is very commendable. I have not had the honor to meet this Venerable Lobzang Dorje but I send my warmest wishes, deepest prayers and my felicitations for the opening of his beautiful Dagom Geden Kunyob Ling Dharma Center. I feel very happy about this.
Humbly,
Tsem Rinpoche
Carving out a karmic path: Black Tibetan monk opens new center in Indy
By EBONY CHAPPEL | Posted: Thursday, December 15, 2016 10:32 am | Updated: 1:21 pm, Sun Dec 18, 2016.
Lobzang Dorje. In October of 2016, the Dagom Geden Kunyob Ling Dharma Center officially opened. It is Dorje’s hope that the center can be a source of good not only for the larger Indianapolis community, but for the Black community, as well.
Our individual beliefs ground us, guide us and inform the way we view the world in which we live. For most people, their beliefs (or lack thereof) are inherited through family and are rarely strayed from. For others, like Leon Pettiway (or Lobzang Dorje), the audacious choice to follow a road less traveled, though daunting, has revealed a life unlike anything they could’ve imagined.
Dorje, a Black Buddhist monk living in Indianapolis’s Herron-Morton neighborhood, discovered the Buddhist faith in a special way. He was raised a Southern Baptist and in his 20s decided to convert to Catholicism.
“I was a devout Catholic,” he said. “I liked the ritual, and for some reason or another, it seemed less restrictive. I found an affinity with it — the pageantry, the liturgy. Christmas wasn’t a big deal for me, but the high season for me was Easter. I loved Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday.”
His background in academia found him living and teaching all over the country in the studies of geography, crime, race, gender and drug use. He came to Indiana from Philadelphia in the mid ’90s. Shortly after arriving, he wondered if he had made a huge mistake. The summer of his move, Dorje lost his mother to a sudden terminal illness.
“I sat on the edge of my bed and I thought, ‘What were you thinking? You must have been out of your mind. Why did you come to this place?’ It took me a while to find out that the reason I came here is because I was supposed to do this,” he said, motioning to his maroon and gold Buddha vestments.
Before converting, Dorje had passing encounters with the Buddhist faith. The first happened in Philadelphia while he was walking on South Street; he ran into a young man who mentioned Dharma teachings being offered in a building nearby. While in Bloomington, Indiana, a friend drove him near a Tibetan cultural center. In another instance, he purchased a book on the faith, though he admits he put it on a shelf somewhere and never read it. In 1995, he moved from Bloomington to Indianapolis and befriended the contractor who was working on his newly purchased home. He learned she was a Buddhist, and he mentioned to her that he didn’t know very much about the faith. One day while visiting Broad Ripple, she saw two monks posting fliers about classes to be held. She snagged one and gave it to Dorje. In January of 1999, while on sabbatical, he went to his first Dharma teaching.
He shared that he was quite content in his current faith system. “I didn’t see Buddhism as a panacea for my problems, because I didn’t have any problems; everyone else did,” he said with a laugh. His curiosity — or as he would put it, his karma — led him to the classes anyway. “I took my shoes off and there was this little monk sitting on the floor with his back against the wall … I looked at him and saw him, and something in me said, ‘I’m here.’ And the monk just smiled at me. I sat there and listened and thought it was absolutely fascinating.”
He described the first class as being like a scene from “The Matrix.”
“You know when they say do you want the red pill or the blue one, and you take it and you see how far the bunny hole goes? I felt like that, and it has always felt like that. It’s so intellectually satisfying and so deep; it’s this constant peeling back. It made that kind of impression on me,” he said.
He began attending teachings regularly and had a series of mystical experiences, including one with a high lama whom he met during a meet-and-greet in the airport. The man later became his guru, and when Dorje finally “took refuge” (converted to the faith), the lama ordained him with his Tibetan name, which loosely translates to “the indestructible diamond-like mind.”
“Buddhism is all about the transformation of the mind, and if you’re really lucky, which I feel like I was, you meet someone you have a karmic connection with. He blessed me, and as a consequence of that, he stirred up all my stuff,” said Dorje. “The root of a lot of my problem was fear, paranoia, suspicion and the lack of trust. So when you grow up in the household I grew up in, when you grow up Black in the South the way I grew up, there is a lot of fear.”
Dorje added that an additional source of anxiety stemmed from his uncertainty over the decision to convert.
“It wasn’t like any other decision that I would make. Those things were choices I could see myself recovering from, but when it comes to your spiritual life, in that whole Christian notion, it was your very soul that was at stake,” he noted. “If I chose Buddhism and it was wrong, I was going to go to hell. If I chose Christianity and it was wrong, I was going to go to hell. So no matter how I constructed it in my head, I was going to go to hell. Terrifying, right?”
Dorje, soon after converting and visiting Kathmandu, came back to the states and took the leap to become a monk.
When asked why, he pointed to a divine guiding force. “It was all karma. I can’t describe it. It was like out of my control. The whole thing.” In 2002, he took 35 novice ordination vows and, sometime after that process, another 256 to become a fully ordained monk.
It was while on a flight returning from an academic conference in Washington, D.C., that he had an epiphany that grounded his choice.
“The choice wasn’t important, but what was important was my motivation and the quality of my heart. If i made the decision out of that space, it didn’t matter what I chose,” he said.
“Now I look back on it and I go, the benefit of the Buddhist path is it provides a series of techniques and practices that turn the mind from a negative state into a positive state. And a dedication to dedicating one’s life to virtue.
“If you have the karma to be a Buddhist, the aim is to embody this Buddha within and to be a benefit to all beings; if you have the karma to be a Christian, the goal is to dive into it authentically and become the embodiment of Christ in the world,” said Dorje.
He added that he feels anyone, regardless of their particular faith, can benefit from a lot of what he has learned.
In 2012, he retired from Indiana University in Bloomington, and learned shortly thereafter that he had prostate cancer. Instead of allowing the diagnosis and two major surgeries to deter him, he set off to make sure he could use his life and experiences to benefit others.
While on a return trip from Kathmandu, he attempted to sell his home but was unable to find any sufficient offers. At the urging of his guru, he delayed those plans and instead decided to work on creating a new prayer space for himself at home. The project soon evolved into something greater.
“I thought it should really be open to anyone who wanted to come and study or meditate, and this home should turn into a monastic residence. I am turning 70 in August; I’m not going to be around much longer. This home is the result of me working as a professor for over 30 years; when I die, I want it to be a Buddhist community.”
In June of last year, he began planning and designing. In October of 2016, the Dagom Geden Kunyob Ling Dharma Center officially opened.
Beginning Jan. 7, the center will begin holding classes that are open to the public completely free of charge, though donations are welcome.
It is Dorje’s hope that the center can be a source of good not only for the larger Indianapolis community, but for the Black community, as well.
“When I go to dharma centers, they are predominantly white. Even when I go to other places, I always wonder, where are the Black people? I just think that given my experience with the dharma, I know how helpful it can be whether you’re Buddhist or not. If someone is a Christian or from some other faith tradition, I think they could benefit greatly from some of the practices,” he said.
“In terms of the Black community, we have so many problems, crime being one, but so many other issues. That was my specialty when I was teaching — looking at race and race relations, crime, gender, and I think that it would be wonderful if the Black community could become aware of this in a way where they don’t see it as an affront to their Christian beliefs or see it as conversion. We don’t proselytize. Nobody would ever have to worry about that, but I sincerely believe it could make for a more peaceful community.”
Source: http://www.indianapolisrecorder.com/religion/article_a450e896-c2db-11e6-98e5-1f14414e5be4.html
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I agree that Buddhism is all about transformation. We have a lot of negative thinking and habitual character. How far we can turn it into positive to benefit others will make our life become meaningful and happy. This is not one day matter but somehow should embark to this journey to transform ourself to selfless. This will be long long journey to make ourself realise Buddha nature is within. But somehow we need to start somewhere.
Venerable Lobzang Dorje is an ordained monk and he has set up a Dharma center in the community where he lives in. He said there are many problems in the black community and the Dharma will be able to help them to solve their problems.
Venerable Lobzang Dorje was very inclined to spiritual practice since young. He used to be a Catholic before but convert to Buddhism after meeting his Buddhist teacher. He truly believes that if we look into ourselves, we will be able to find the root cause of our problems. The solution to our problem is the transformation of our mind by putting the Dharma into practice.
Usually, in the west the students have to pay to attend a Dharma class but Venerable Lobzang Dorje is very kind, he gives the classes for free. He is very sincere in giving. The sickness he has suffered from has changed his perspective. Instead of using his remaining time to indulge, he uses it to benefit people. What we have experienced before we cannot change it, but we can change our action and thought now. We should contemplate on our past experience and realise what impact it has on other people. If the impact is negative, it hurts other people, don’t repeat the same action. If the impact is positive, it has benefited people, we should continue to do more.
Buddhism is a universal system of belief. One need not having any skin colour, affliation, inclinations and etc to practice the Buddha Dharma.
Hope Lobzang Dorje can inspire much more people who are are not traditionally inclined to Buddhism, to engage in the Buddha Dharma. And check out the path.
Wow, this is a fascinating story. The latent dharma seeds and imprints in his mind from previous lives finally opened up at a later stage of his life. I rejoice that Venerable Lobzang Dorje has decided to dedicate the rest of his life to benefit others with the dharma, which is the ultimate medicine.
He made an abrupt turn from Christianity to Buddhism, and I can say the same for myself. To borrow the words of my Christian path, I was blind but now I can see. Lol.
I rejoice for Venerable Lobzang Dorje to have made the choice of serving others as a monk. Being an academia, he must have an intelligent & curious mind. To finally commit to being a Tibetan Buddhist, he must have found much benefits in this religion. Buddha’s teachings is the Universal Truth and as Venerable Lobzang Dorje mentioned, no matter what religion you may be, you can benefit from Buddhism. I hope he fulfil his vision to successfully reach out to the black community to share his Dharmic experiences. In his field of specialty, he understands the problems of the blacks and from his experiences, he would be able to help them integrate Buddhist practices into their current religion of Christianity, without interference or clashes of ideals.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this interesting article on Venerable Lobzang Dorje and his spiritual journey of compassion for others.
The truth is innate to the mind and is without labels, crests, color, prejudice, brand, differentiation, geography, time or history, gender, age, or physical form. It applies to everyone. I rejoice that Ven. Lobzang Dorje has found the truth and is taking steps to lead more to the truth. May the Dharma spread in the ten directions.
Dear Rinpoche
Thank you for this article. I rejoice that Venerable Lobzang Dorje was able to establish a Dharma centre in Indianapolis. I pray that he will attract many African Americans to study Buddhism and bring peace to their mind. It is true what he said, most Buddhist centre in the west attracted the whites and not so much the African Americans. I sure hope for his success
Valentina
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this article about Lobzang Dorje. I think this is my first time seeing or hearing a black person converting to Buddhism. Being a Catholic himself in the earlier days is a big move for him by converting to Buddhism. Buddhism has turn the way on how he look at things and has helped him. Hopefully in the future there will be more black people coming to his center and benefit from it.
With folded palm,
Vivian
Very inspiring and wonderful story of a Black Buddhist monk, Dorje lived in Indianapolis discovered the Buddhist faith in a special way.When he knew he had prostate cancer., he decided to made use of his life and experiences to benefit others.
Dorje turn his home into a monastic residence as a sanctuary of peace, growth and spiritual development where anyone can study or meditate.The center was opened to the public free of charge with the help of donations.It is Dorje’s hope that the center will benefits the Indianapolis community of all races and making it a more peaceful community.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing these inspiring article.
Dear Rinpoche,
Venerable Lobzang Dorje has shown me that an ordinary person or monk (not being known as reincarnated High Lama) can guide others in Dharma way too. Just like how a continuous drops of water in a cup can eventually spilled over to benefit those around it.
At the age of around 56, he took refuge from his teacher and soon after that, when he came back from Kathmandu ( I believe this is what we called pilgrimage) he took his vows. And this is really WOW?.. This is why Rinpoche always encourage us to go for pilgrimage. The potential for good karma to open up will be high. This will not only benefit oneself but those around us too.
Later on, when he was down with illness ( cancer), this actually made him realised and aware that life is short. I think at this point of time, the wisdom of Buddha’s teachings about death and impermenance must have begun to sink into him. I am humbled by his way of life. From being a Southern Baptist to a Catholic and now, being a Buddhist himself, his spiritual path is very similar to mine ( Catholic to Buddhist).
In essence, just do what you feel is right. ? especially since now we have met Dharma.
“It’s never easy but nothing is easy anyway”
Thank you Rinpoche for this article.
I find Venerable Lobsang Dorje’s story very inspiring, especially the establishment of the Dharma centre to benefit the community. I wish him long life and success in his Dharma work.
It is truly refreshing to read about how Dorje became a Buddhist and a monk. He attributed it to karma. However, he stressed that motivation and the “quality of one’s heart” were most important in all our choices or decisions. He recognized , as Buddhists all should do, that Buddhism was essentially about the transformation of the mind. Buddhism is beautiful because it “provides a series of techniques and practices that turn the mind from a negative state into a positive state”. The best dedication , he most aptly puts it, is to dedicate one’s life to virtue.
I love how he puts the whole way of practice within the “frame” of karma:
“If you have the karma to be a Buddhist, the aim is to embody this Buddha within and to be a benefit to all beings; if you have the karma to be a Christian, the goal is to dive into it authentically and become the embodiment of Christ in the world,” said Dorje.
Now he has turned his home -the ‘fruit’ of his 30 year career – into the Dagom Geden Kunyob Ling Dharma Center in Indianapolis which officially opened in October 2016! He hopes that the centre will be of tremendous benefit not only to the Indianapolis community , but to the Black Buddhist Community. Classes will be held there free of charge. He hopes the centre will contribute to making a more peaceful community.
It must have very liberating for him to be able to face the root of a lot of his problem that was fear, paranoia, suspicion and the lack of trust. A lot of us have that growing up in various degrees but in the act of survival have managed to bury that so deep that it became a part of our psyche.
What I find beautiful is that he, at that age, has that motivation to just help in any way to create a sanctuary for the community. Even when describing how he ended up in Indianapolis as karma, not a coincidence reaffirm to me that there is no such thing as a coincidence.
Thank you, Rinpoche for sharing this article and showing us that age and illness should not be obstacles to our practice. With the right motivation every small act to benefit others will bring peace and calm to us.
Dear Rinpoche,
It is most heart warming to hear and read such wonderful and rejoicing news.
Dharma is indeed growing and it is growing amongst all human beings, whatever ethnicity they are from. I believe there may be many Africans in the African continent who are practicing Buddhists.
I feel very humbled through this article and indeed, it really motivates us that if a person like Ven. Lobsang Dorje can do it, why can’t we? It’s all in our minds. Do we transform or do we prefer to still be stuck in our cocoon?
For me, I am still stuck in my cocoon due mainly to fear of the unknown, and perhaps a lack of faith. But I will keep working on this and be an inspiration to my family, friends and all humans who deserve to be happy and free.
Thank you.
Humbly yours
Lum Kok Luen