About Us
Gyalwa Gyatso Buddhist Center’s mission is to preserve and promote the Mahayana Buddhist tradition in Silicon Valley through education, practice and service.
- Buddhist Programs
A Discovering Buddhism class
- Wellness Programs
- Our Organization
- Our Teachers
- Our Name
- Our Logo
- About Buddhist Monks and Nuns
Welcome. Here is an overview of the programs offered at our center located in Campbell, a small town in West San Jose. This is the location of our weekly events which include Buddhist classes and practice sessions, as well as yoga and mindfulness based stress reduction which are listed under Wellness Programs.
The Buddhist tradition that we teach is that of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, following the instructions of our spiritual head, Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche. All instructors teaching Buddhist topics at our center have been approved by our organization as qualified to teach those specific levels.
Current events are generally posted on our Home page. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us.
Emily Hsu teaches the Thursday night classes
Buddhist Programs
Click here for: Listing of recent posts about events under the “Buddhist Program” banner (Note: the dates that show along the left-hand column are the dates of the post, not the dates of the events.)
We have two regular course instructors teaching classes from the FPMT curriculum. People often ask how to get started; the answer is to come to a class.
There is no perfect class to begin with but it’s good if you can come when a course is starting. That will be less confusing than trying to join in the middle.
Unless otherwise stated, you are welcome to come to any of these. You don’t have to be Buddhist to come to these.
> Discovering Buddhism with Venerable Drimay
- If you are relatively new to Buddhism, or at least to this tradition, Discovering Buddhism is a good place to jump in.
- Tuesday evenings, 7pm, usually 5 weeks per course on different aspects of Buddhism.
> FPMT Basic Program with Emily Hsu
- Intermediate level, best for those who have been through Discovering Buddhism or something similar.
- Thursday evenings, 7pm, longer courses of at least 12 weeks per topic
Geshe Ngawang Dakpa
> Regular Saturday Afternoons - guided meditations and discussion time with Ven. Drimay
> Prayers and Practices - periodic pujas and recitations to purify obstacles and activate our positive potential
> Special Events - visiting teachers, open talks
- We invite various qualified guest teachers, such as university professors and senior Dharma practitioners to give open talks.
- Guest speakers sometimes give general talks and sometimes speake about topics which require more background.
- Geshe Ngawang Dakpa, a Tibetan lama resident in San Francisco,comes down to teach at our center periodically. Check calendar for teaching date
Wellness Program
Sharon's mindfulness class. (C)2011 James W. Murray all rights reserved
> Yoga classes and workshops with various teachers:
Saturday morning yoga class.
- These physical yoga exercises are helpful for improving one’s general sense of well-being and are also useful for meditators who wish to sit more comfortably.
The underlying energy work which is at the heart of yoga has counterparts in the secret teachings of Tibetan Buddhism, whereas in these open classes you can do similar energy work without any initiation or commitment.
> Qigong with Larry Wong - once a month on Sunday afternoons. The Chinese movements in this workshop promote health and longevity by stimulating the chi to directly benefit most areas and functions of the body including the meridian pathways and energy channels. The exercises involve self-massage, stretches, patting/ tapping, and repetitive movements. (Also spelled Chi Gung, Qi Gong, etc. )
Other Wellness Events
At times, we also host Tibetan Medicine classes and clinics. See the calendar for those dates.
Our Organization
Kyabje Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche
Gyalwa Gyatso Buddhist Center (GGBC) is the Silicon Valley center affiliated with the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, FPMT.
Since 2007, we have been located in Campbell, a neighborhood of the greater San Jose area, bordering Saratoga and Los Gatos.
We are part of the Gelug lineage of what is usually called “Tibetan” Buddhism. His Holiness the Dalai Lama is the spiritual inspiration for our organization and Kyabje Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director.
Gyalwa Gyatso Buddhist Center’s mission is to preserve and promote the Mahayana Buddhist tradition in Silicon Valley through education, practice and service.
GGBC conducts on-going courses in Buddhist philosophy and practice. We also host special events with authentic teachers in our tradition, including Tibetan lamas, qualified international monks and nuns, and experienced Western Dharma students. We also have a growing Wellness Program.
Gyalwa Gyatso Buddhist Center is a registered non-profit religious corporation, 501(c)3, and donations are tax-deductible.
| Administrators and Officers: | |
| Director | Gay Bachmann |
| Board President, Center Manager | Dave Jeffords |
| Spiritual Program Coordinator, SPC | Donna Babuska |
| Board Member, Treasurer | Diana Weddigen |
| Board Member | Sally Hutson |
| Volunteers | many other people who help with cleaning, setting up, recording, publicizing, hosting, etc. |
Our Name
Meaning:
Gyalwa Gyatso is the name of the secret aspect of the Buddha of Compassion, Chenrezig (Tibetan), Avalokiteshvara (Sanskrit).
Literally, “Gyalwa” means “Victor” and
“Gyatso” is “Ocean.”
The Sanskrit for Gyalwa Gyatso is “Jina Sagara.”
Pronunciation:
Try saying ‘yell‘ with a hard ‘G‘ on the front of it. Yell, Gyell. Then add ‘wa’ with an open ‘ah’. Gyell-wah. Or if that’s too hard, just ignore the ‘y’: Gal-wa. (The ‘a’ is sometimes spelled with an umlaut over it to make it sound like the ‘e’ in ‘get’.)
Similarly, say ‘yah’, then ‘Gyah’, then add the ending -tso: Gyah-tso. Or ignore the y and make it ‘Gatso’.
In Eastern Tibet, people make the ‘gy’ combination into a ‘j’ sound. So it sounds more like ‘Jellwa Jatso’. Other interesting things happen in Tibetan dialects, like the ‘L’ sound dropping out and nasal sounds jumping in. So you might hear a wide variety of pronunciations, like Jaywa Jamtso.
Both of these words – Gyalwa and Gyatso – are very common in Tibetan.
Or you can just call our group ‘GGBC’.
Even though, an Anglicized version of our name would be easier for English-speakers to pronounce, we are going to continue to use the Tibetan for now, because that is the name our guru, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, chose for the center. It has auspicious connections and connotations.
Our Logo
In the Spring of 2007, we got a new logo. It has been carefully drawn by Ven. Ingrid Norzin Braun according to the instructions of Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
The mala (string of prayer beads) and lotus are the implements held by Gyalwa Gyatso, who is an esoteric aspect of the Buddha of Compassion, Avalokiteshvara, Chenrezig.
These sit inside a Bodhi leaf reminding us of the tree under which the Buddha sat when he attained enlightenment in Bodhgaya, India.
On top of the world is a heap of jewels bringing abundance and good fortune for all our Dharma activities.
