Overview
The Deer Park Buddhist Center in Oregon, Wisconsin is a fully functioning monastery established to make the unique teachings and monastic way of life of Tibetan Buddhism accessible to those wishing to practice in the United States. The monastery is named after the deer park in Sarnath where Shakyamuni Buddha gave the first teaching of the Dharma after his enlightenment. Deer Park was founded in 1976 by Geshe Lhundub Sopa, who served as Abbot of the monastery until August 2012 when he became the Abbot Emeritus. The current Abbot Geshe Tenzin Dorjee and resident teacher Geshe Tenzin Sherab present regular teachings at the monastery today. The mission of Deer Park is “to provide a stable foundation in America’s heartland to continue Tibetan Buddhism’s unique contribution to human culture and wisdom.” Members of Deer Park believe in supporting personal moral and spiritual growth to bring about peace individually and throughout the world. Deer Park serves both monastic and lay students in the philosophy and practice of Tibetan Buddhism. The center mainly serves Tibetans living in the region around Madison, Wisconsin, but is also open to non-Tibetan and non-Buddhist visitors.
Facilities
Deer Park is unique among Buddhist communities in the area because it is a resident monastic community of Tibetan monks and nuns. The monastery is, however, open to all visitors. Deer Park houses two temples on the grounds. The Main Temple hosts weekly services and educational courses on Buddhist philosophy and practice. The Main Temple is also the site of the residential quarters for the monks and nuns that live there year round. The second temple, the Kalachakra Temple, is used as a quiet space for meditation and prayer. The Kalachakra temple was opened in 1981 for the first Kalachakra initiation given outside of Asia by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. The Kalachakra initiation is a special ceremony that had previously only been performed in Tibet and India. The Kalachakra temple was used as the primary temple at Deer Park until 2008 when the Main Temple was constructed. The Kalachakra temple is decorated in traditional Tibetan style with paintings, tankas, and tapestries depicting the life of the Buddha and seat cushions available for meditation. The Kalachakra Stupa was erected to commemorate the Kalachakra initiation in 1981. The stupa is a shrine filled with sacred books, statues, and mantras symbolizing the Buddha’s enlightenment.
Education and Activities
In addition to the classical studies of a traditional Tibetan monastery, Deer Park offers many other educational services open to the laypeople of Wisconsin. Deer Park offers courses in Buddhist philosophy, Tibetan language, and advanced studies. There are intensive summer programs that draw students from all around the world. The monastery offers Tibetan language instruction to Tibetan refugee children. Deer Park welcomes field trips for elementary, middle, and high schools from across the state of Wisconsin to expose children to Buddhist religion, monastic lifestyle, and Tibetan culture. Monks and nuns offer guided tours of the monastery to visitors and also travel to Wisconsin schools to give talks about Buddhism as part of the world history curriculum. Group spiritual practices at Deer Park include regular prayers and rituals, holiday celebrations, vows and initiation into the monastic community, and weekend retreats. A special worship service called the Jorcho puja is given monthly at the beginning of Sunday teachings.
The Deer Park Buddhist Center strongly believes in peaceful and collaborative interreligious discourse and involvement in other religious communities in the area through councils such as the Greater Madison Interreligious Association, Monastic Interreligious Dialogue, and the International Committee for the Peace Council. Deer Park also hosts interreligious meetings and retreats at the monastery. Tibetan Buddhists believe that compassion is at the core of Buddhism and of all other religions. The Deer Park Buddhist Center strives to find commonality among diverse religious traditions to work toward peaceful coexistence and open exchange of ideas.
In addition to maintaining Buddhist practices and philosophy, Deer Park strives to preserve Tibetan culture. The monastery is home to an extensive Tibetan art collection and deceased University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor Richard Robinson’s library of Tibetan texts. Deer Park also sponsors Tibetan dance, theater, and musical performances. Deer Park collaborates with the Wisconsin Tibetan Association to increase awareness in the Midwest of the current political situation of Tibet.
What is Tibetan Buddhism?
Tibetan Buddhism is characterized as a form of Vajrayana Buddhism, the “Diamond Vehicle.” Tibetan Buddhism is characterized by monasticism and the practice of meditation. In 1950, Tibet was invaded by communist China. The Dalai Lama and many other Tibetans were exiled and escaped to India as refugees. Since the Chinese occupation of Tibet, many Tibetans have fled and since established monasteries in India and in the West. The position held by the Dalai Lama and his followers is for peaceful autonomy of Tibet as outlined in his Five Point Peace Plan.
Central to Tibetan Buddhism is the role of the Dalai Lama. The traditional role of the Dalai Lama in Tibet was as a religious leader, but by the 17th century, the Dalai Lama became a Tibetan political leader as well. The current Dalai Lama, His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso, is the latest in a line of incarnate lamas and was identified as a child and trained in a monastery in Tibet before exile to India after the Chinese invasion. His Holiness played a role in the founding of the Deer Park Buddhist Center. First he encouraged the Deer Park founder Geshe Sopa to travel to the United States. Then the Dalai Lama visited Wisconsin in 1981 and performed the Kalachakra initiation at the temple. Tibetan Buddhists across the world look to the Dalai Lama as their spiritual and political leader.
The goal of the Deer Park Buddhist Center is to preserve the unique tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.
Geshe Lhundub Sopa, Founder
A Tibetan Buddhist monk renowned for his high standards of scholarly learning and embodiment of humility, tolerance, and compassion, Geshe Lhundub Sopa was born in the Tsang province of Tibet in 1923. Geshe Sopa was one of the few remaining Tibetan masters who received training in Tibet before Chinese occupation. At the age of 8, he entered Ganden Chokhor Monastery in Shang, Tibet. When he was 18, he entered Sera Je Monastery in Lhasa where he excelled and rose in the ranks of the monastery. Geshe Sopa was selected as one of the scholars to personally test His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama at his final Geshe examination in 1959. Geshe Sopa was forced to leave Tibet and enter India as a refugee, where he completed his examination and received the Geshe Lharampa degree, the highest Geshe degree. The Dalai Lama asked Geshe Sopa to travel to the United States two years after the Chinese invasion of Tibet. Geshe Sopa and three young Tibetan lamas came to learn English and spread the Dalai Lama’s vision of global human values and ethics.
Geshe Sopa settled at a small monastery in New Jersey where he gained a following of students interested in Buddhism. Years later, Geshe Sopa was invited by Professor Richard Robinson at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to teach classical Tibetan language. There, Geshe Sopa taught for over thirty five years, and he became the first Tibetan tenured at an American university. Geshe Lhundub Sopa founded the Ganden Mahayana Center in Madison, Wisconsin in 1976 when his students requested instruction outside of a formal academic setting. When the Dalai Lama first visited the United States in 1979, Geshe Sopa requested that His Holiness bestow the first Kalachakra empowerment for world peace in the West (which had never been performed outside Tibet or India). In 1981, construction of the Kalachakra temple in Oregon, Wisconsin was completed for the Kalachakra initiation, and this became the site for what is now the Deer Park Buddhist Center. His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama has made eight visits to Deer Park since the Kalachakra Initiation in 1981, most recently in March 2016. Geshe Sopa became a Trustee on the International Peace Council in 1996, an interfaith organization that promotes peaceful resolution. Geshe Sopa passed away at the age of 91 in August 2014. Geshe Sopa embodied the values of peace, compassion, kindness, and wisdom that are essential to Tibetan Buddhism.
Website: http://www.deerparkcenter.org/index.html
Phone Number: (608) 835-5572
Virginia Byrd