FOR RELEASE: Dec. 6, 2000
Contact: Franklin CrawfordOffice: 607-255-9737E-Mail: [email protected]
N.Y. -- In an appointment that broadens its interfaith affiliations, the Ven. Tenzin Gephel, a monk at the Namgyal Monastery in downtown Ithaca, became the first Tibetan Buddhist chaplain at Cornell United Religious Work.
Gephel's appointment also is a first for the Ivy League.
Earlier this year, Jane Marie Law, chair of the religious studies program at Cornell and a board member of Namgyal, "approached CURW with news that an anonymous donor wished to support a Buddhist chaplaincy at Cornell," said Janet Shortall, CURW associate director.
Housed
in Anabel Taylor Hall, CURW is a group of more than 20 affiliated religious communities that offer programs of worship, study and social life, as well as opportunities for students to engage in interfaith dialogue. Cloistered among CURW's Christian groups are Judaic and Islamic affiliations as well as Zen Buddhist, Latter Day Saints and even Pagan ministries, among others."With recognition that Buddhism has become a vital presence within the religious landscape of the United States, we feel deeply enriched by the presence of Tenzin Gephel, who has begun to provide spiritual support to Buddhist students -- some of whom are third and fourth generation in a rich variety of Buddhist traditions -- while offering instruction in basic Buddhist philosophy to others who are just beginning to explore Tibetan Buddhism," Shortall said.
With the exception of a name-brand fleece pullover, Gephel dresses in the distinctive crimson and saffron robes of his order. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, he leads a noon meditation in the Founder's Room at Anabel Taylor Hall. It's a bit noisy, with workers on scaffolding right outside the room and a busy traffic intersection nearby. Not ideal conditions for meditation, perhaps. But Gephel says it's good practice to "ignore the distractions outside" so better to focus your attention and "ignore the distractions inside your own head."
Gephel also teaches a not-for-credit course called the "37 Practices of Bodhisattva," on Mondays from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. A Bodhisattva is a person who forgoes the quest for nirvana in order to assuage the suffering of other beings. "The key point of Tibetan Buddhism is to help other sentient beings," said Gephel. "If we cannot help, we can at least avoid harming other beings. Tibetan Buddhism has a special teaching to cultivate an awakened heart of compassion and kindness."
Gephel, 37, was born on the outskirts of Dharamsala, India. His parents were among approximately 100,000 Tibetan refugees who fled to Nepal and India after a popular uprising against the Chinese was crushed in 1959. His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama was among the refugees, along with 55 monks from Tibet's Namgyal Monastery. The monks re-established Namgyal in Dharamsala and there, as a young man, Gephel began his training. In the Tibetan tradition, a monastery serves as both place of worship and a center for learning, contemplation and meditation.
In 1992, monks from Namgyal in Dharamsala established a branch of the Namgyal Monastery Institute of Buddhist Studies in Ithaca, an historic event. As an institute of Buddhist studies, Namgyal combines its Tibetan faculty with an adjunct faculty of preeminent scholars of Tibetan Buddhism. Gephel is among three monks currently in residence at Namgyal and his service at Cornell is an extension of his three-year residency there, he said.
Compassion, kindness and meditation are integral to Tibetan Buddhism, but no less so than rigorous intellectual training in the discipline of self-inquiry -- usually under the guidance of an experienced teacher. Gephel explains that the Buddhist tradition does not ask for a leap of faith as much as an intellectual exploration into the nature of one's own mind. Reason is not abandoned, but cultivated and the smallest experience is subjected to the greatest scrutiny. Gephel says that personal experience with this method will lead quite naturally to the logical conclusion that life is suffering, that the law of karma is real, that mind never dies, that kindness and compassion are basic to our needs and that nirvana is attainable -- it may take a few lifetimes, but it's attainable.
The analytical aspect of Tibetan Buddhism, combined with its emphasis on meditation and good works, would seem to make it an eminently practical study for the aspiring scholar in a leading research institution like Cornell.
"I would like to see that my work here is helpful and is of actual service to students," said Gephel. "Whether they become Buddhists or not, is not the point. If they learn to get rid of those things that are not useful or make life difficult for them, then they will see the benefits of this study in themselves."
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