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Buddhism is a path for stabilizing and transforming the
mind, leading to greater happiness and the fulfillment of human
potential. Introduced in India over 2,500 years ago by the enlightened
teacher Shakyamuni Buddha, Buddhism spread throughout Asia. In the
seventh century Buddhism began to take root in the remote Himalayan
region of Tibet.
During the next several hundred years many Indian
masters made the journey to teach in Tibet. There Buddhist texts
were translated into Tibetan and great masters such as Je Tsonkhapa
composed new commentaries. Thousands of monasteries were founded,
unique artistic and literary traditions were inspired, and extraordinary
yogic practitioners flourished outside the monasteries, many of
them in solitary retreat. Buddhism so radically transformed the
culture over the next thousand years that Tibet has become a world
symbol of spiritual mastery.
In recent decades, Buddhist principles and wisdom
have begun to penetrate Western thinking in diverse disciplines
such as science, psychology, medicine, metaphysics, and the arts.
Jewel Heart seeks to serve as vehicle and witness to this process
of personal and cultural transformation by translating the principles
of Tibetan Buddhism into contemporary life, so that all may benefit
from this living tradition. |
