By: Diana Cox
Dawn Mountain is a center for Tibetan Buddhism located in Houston, Texas. The central mission of Dawn Mountain is to provide Tibetan Buddhist teachings to people everywhere, whether they are Buddhists or unaffiliated. The center provides a wide variety of services, most of them being classes on the different schools of Buddhist thought and literature in addition to guidance on meditation. Dawn Mountain often hosts meditation retreats for all types of practitioners, and invites world-renowned Buddhist teachers to speak at these events. The retreats and meditations focus on the development of mindfulness as a way of promoting peace, attention, wisdom, and compassion. There is a strong sense of community at Dawn Mountain where practitioners are encouraged to cultivate relationships with their teachers and other students.
History & Founders:
This meditation center was founded on June 27, 1996 by Dr. Anne Klein and Dr. Harvey Aronson. They wanted Dawn Mountain to represent a bridge between their Buddhist ideology and the greater population of Houston, and they are currently the resident instructors at their meditation center. They have fostered a strong community of Buddhist followers across the country, and continue practicing to this day.
Anne C. Klein (Lama Rigzin Drolma) had an extensive academic career studying Tibetan Buddhism before she co-founded Dawn Mountain. Klein graduated from Binghamton University with a bachelor’s degree in English, and continued her studies at the University of Wisconsin where she earned her master’s degree in Buddhist Studies. She pursued a PhD in Religious/Tibetan Studies at the University of Virginia, and then secured a postdoctoral position teaching Women’s Studies and Religious History at Harvard Divinity School.
Dr. Klein became a Buddhist student in 1971 when she studied with Kensur Ngawang Lekden, the last abbot at the Tantric College of Lower Lhasa in Tibet, and Geshe Wangyal. In 1973, she began practicing under Khetsun Sangpo Rinpoche from Kathmandu and received approval to teach from him in 1995. She was given the title of Dorje Lopon (Lama) from her teacher in Tibet in 2010, and continued studying with prominent Tibetan Buddhist figures all over the world. She has written several texts that explore Tibetan Buddhist traditions, and her dharmic practices mainly focus on meditation and cultural awareness. Her most distinguished book is The Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse: A Story of Transmission, which translates and comments on the foundational practices of Longchen Nyingthig. She is currently a resident-teacher at Dawn Mountain and a professor of Religious Studies at Rice University.
Pictured: Dr. Anne Klein
Harvey B. Aronson (Lama Namgyal Dorje) also has a strong background in academia. He graduated from Brooklyn College with a BA in Chemistry. He then earned his Master’s of Social Work from Boston University before receiving his PhD in Buddhist Studies from the University of Wisconsin. Aronson met Klein at the University of Wisconsin in 1970, and together they studied underneath Khetsun Sangpo Rinpoche in 1973. Several years later they married and continued practicing with Tibetan teachers. Aronson also studied with teachers in the Geluk, Dzogchen, and Theravada tradition all over the world. Alongside Klein, he also received his title of Lama, Vajra Master from their teacher in 2010. He owns his own private practice as a psychotherapist in addition to being a resident-teacher at Dawn Mountain. He has written Buddhist Practice on Western Ground, which discusses the relationship between Asian and Western spiritual practices of Buddhism, and Love and Sympathy in Therevada Buddhism, which focuses on the Theravada teachings on the four sublime attitudes.
Pictured: Dr. Harvey Aronson
Pictured: Founders of Dawn Mountain
Practices:
Dawn Mountain follows practices associated with Tibetan Buddhism due to the founders’ tutelage under many Tibetan masters. Tibetan Buddhism was established in the Himalayas by the great political and military leader Songtsen Gampo during the early-mid 600s. Tibetan Buddhism is most widely known for applying Tantric practices, and has four main schools. Dawn Mountain follows the Nyingma school, otherwise known as the “Old School” of Tibetan Buddhism. The Nyingma tradition focuses on the “Old Tantras”, which are the first translations of Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Tibetan. The teachings at Dawn Mountain emphasize the central tradition of the Nyingma school: Dzogchen. Dzogchen, brought to Tibet by Padmasambhava, aims to explore discovery and continuation in the natural primordial state of being. It is considered one of the most definitive paths in the Nyingma tradition that can lead towards liberation. Its three main principles that a student must understand goes as follows: introduction to one’s own nature, having no doubt concerning this state, and remaining in this state. Dzogchen is closely associated with tantric practices from Buddhism, but it is clearly distinct from tantric Buddhism. Dzogchen is the central Buddhist teaching that is emphasized at Dawn Mountain. Students at the meditation center closely practice and study the Heart Essence Vast Expanse scriptures that give explanations of Dzogchen.
Practitioners who are interested in serious Dzogchen practice may participate in a program called the Dzogchen Cycles of the Vast Expanse at Dawn Mountain. These cycles are supposed to be a journey for individuals to recognize their innermost being through guided meditation practices. Throughout the cycles, practitioners will learn about the lineage of the Heart Essence, integrate Tibetan spirituality into their modern day lives, be trained in the Heart Essence pathways, and more. Senior Dawn Mountain practitioners, otherwise known as mitras, are trained to interact with students in order to support the students’ practices. There is a fee associated with the Dzogchen Cycle program, which covers all required retreats, teachings, and meetings.
The white conch is a symbol of the Dzogchen path: the spaces in the conch’s spiral represent the subtle spaces that are highlighted by Dzogchen.
The meditation center also features less intense types of practices to accommodate varying schedules, levels of commitment, and experience. There are “Sunday Meditations”, which entail member and nonmembers to gather for meditation on mindfulness and to learn more about Buddhist practices. “Teaching Tuesdays” are offered twice per month, and it is when the co-founders lead meditations and lectures on different Buddhist practices. Unlike “Sunday Meditations”, this is not free for non-members. The meditations featured in these sessions are usually silent and focus on breathing, but sometimes sound or simple chants are used as a focusing aid. Additionally, all of the sessions mentioned are live-streamed on Youtube and put in the center’s archives for use at any time. Anne Klein also records and releases a weekly podcast called “Wisdom Through Love and Compassion”, which covers a broad range of topics, like practices that build compassion for the self and others.
Wisdom Through Love and Compassion: Dissolving “self” leads to wisdom and compassion
The Sangha:
From the information available on the website, it seems as though the ethnic composition of the Dawn Mountain staff is not particularly diverse. The two guiding teachers, Anne Klein and Harvey Aronson, are both Caucasian, as well as the rest of the faculty. The board of directors is also all Caucasian, which makes me wonder what the patron ethnic composition is. The website cites that Dawn Mountain has “young, old, single, married, gay, straight trans – people of all races and identity” in their sangha, but the actual racial spread of the community is not made abundantly clear. I can imagine that the majority of Dawn Mountain is also white, given that the meditation center is in Houston. The ethnic spread of Houston is approximately 50% Caucasian, 37% Hispanic or Latino, 25.3% Black or African American, 16.5% Other, and 5.3% Asian, so its understandable how there is probably a disproportionate amount of white clientele going to Dawn Mountain. From checking Dawn Mountain’s social media pages, like Facebook and Twitter, group photos mostly consist of white people with a handful of Asian or Hispanic individuals. However, it is important to note that many of Dawn Mountain’s teachings are available online as podcasts and Youtube videos and it is possible that more people of color engage in these online resources.
Other Communities:
While Dawn Mountain follows a more Tibetan Buddhism path, there is clear recognition of other Buddhist traditions and connection to other Western communities. The founders explicitly explain that there needs to be strong support for practices that do not directly follow Tibetan Buddhism. As a result of this ideology, the Dawn Center often collaborates with other Buddhist communities in Houston. For example, they recently sponsored a symposium with the Rice Department of Religion and the Chao Center for Asian Studies to discuss the art of modern spirituality. They have also done outreach programs with the greater Houston community in order to spread Buddhist practices like mindfulness and meditation. As mentioned previously, Dawn Mountain maintains an active social media presence that engages online communities. Their online podcasts enable countless people to engage in teacher-led practices from the comfort of their own homes. This is a powerful tool for connecting younger generations to Buddhism in the Western world.
Bibliography:
- Dawn Mountain Website: http://dawnmountain.org
- Klein, Anne Carolyn. Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse: a Story of Transmission. Snow Lion Publ., 2009.
- “Dzogchen Center Awakening the Buddha Within – Lama Surya Das, Dzogchen Lineage Holder.” Dzogchen Center, 4 Dec. 2017, www.dzogchen.org/.
- “Dzogchen.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 3 Dec. 2017, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dzogchen#Nyingma_tradition.
- All images from the Dawn Mountain Facebook Page
- Houston demographics