By Mackenzie Anderson
About
The Kunzang Odsal Palyul Changchub Chöling (KPC) Buddhist temple located in Poolesville, Maryland describes itself as “a hub of compassionate activity, which has a mission to inspire people to improve the world and end suffering for the benefit of all beings” (About KPC). The temple’s name translates to “Glorious Dharma Continent of Absolute Clear Light,” and the KPC affiliates with the Palyul lineage within Vajrayana Buddhism’s Nyingma tradition. As a Tibetan Buddhist temple, the KPC falls under the spiritual authority of the 14th Dalai Lama. American-born Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu Lhamo, who founded the KPC in 1988, currently serves as a Palyul lineage holder and the KPC’s spiritual director. The KPC claims to trace its roots back to Tibet, and it has centers in Arizona, California, and Australia, in addition to Maryland, although Jetsunma serves out of the Poolesville location.
According to the KPC’s mission statement, the temple’s:
mission is to alleviate suffering through compassionate activity in the world by making Buddhist teachings available, offering a place of spiritual refuge including sites of pilgrimage and prayer, offering prayers and spiritual practices to those in need, nurturing the community beyond [its] boundaries, [and] caretaking the natural environment under our custodianship. (About KPC)
The temple places very strong emphasis on prayer and meditation, but it also focuses heavily on fostering a vibrant and welcoming community, maintaining its grounds for both environmental and spiritual purposes, and spreading Buddhist teachings.
KPC’s Constituents
Judging by the temple’s pictures available online, the ethnic makeup of the temple appears to primarily consist of a mix of white and Asian Buddhists, and Jetsunma herself as the head of the temple is a white American. The heavy white presence in the community could result from the temple’s focus on providing beginner programs, which might naturally attract a large number of white American Buddhist converts to the temple. At the same time, however, the temple emphasizes traditional themes and concepts in its teachings, and it explicitly identifies with a predominantly Asian Buddhist tradition, which could account for the heavy Asian makeup, as well. Several monks and nuns live on the temple’s grounds as part of the monastery, so the temple’s community consists of both monastics and lay people.
The age range appears diverse, but many young adults as well as middle-aged individuals seem to be involved, and the temple’s programs designed specifically for children and teenagers indicates that there might be a large number of families with children involved in the temple who have need of such programs.
Events and Services Offered
Every week, the temple offers numerous services in order to fulfill its mission and foster a vibrant spiritual life for its constituents. Although the temple affiliates with the Nyingma tradition, classes are taught by teachers from both the Nyingma and Kagyu traditions and remain open to everyone, regardless of one’s level of familiarity with Buddhist practices. There is no cost to attend the KPC’s classes. Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings, Jetsunma offers Dharma teachings at the temple, which are also recorded and available online for the benefit of those who cannot physically attend these sessions. The KPC also offers classes designed specifically for children and teenagers, as well as beginners.
In addition to Dharma teachings, the temple strongly emphasizes the importance of meditation, with a prayer room open to the public for individual meditation at all times, and sitting meditation classes offered weekly. Saturday morning classes teach sitting meditation without instruction, while those on Sunday morning do offer instruction for participants. Additionally, group practices are held every weekend. Saturday afternoons, groups meet for the showering of blessings or Vajrakilaya accompanied with a food offering ceremony, and on Sunday afternoons, groups also conduct the showering of blessings or food offering ceremonies. Jetsunma also leads meditation retreats, although these are more infrequent than many of the temple’s other activities.
KPC offers many opportunities for beginners to become involved and learn about prayer and meditation. Aside from the Sunday morning meditation classes, which offers helpful instructions for new participants, the temple holds monthly prayer and meditation series geared specifically towards beginners interested in learning Vajrayana practices like chanting, meditation, and prayer. Monthly classes are also held to introduce beginners to KPC as an organization, its mission, the activities it offers, and how to understand and practice Buddhist principles in everyday life. The temple welcomes anyone to participate in its services, and it invites visitors to come and learn more about its mission and operation.
The KPC also prides itself on its care for the temple’s grounds. Although the KPC emphasizes its charge of the land out of environmental concern, its motivation is also religious. The 72 acres of land in Poolesville belonging to the KPC are strongly tied to the temple’s spirituality. The grounds are home to sacred statues of Amitabha, color gardens decorated with colors traditionally associated with Tibetan Buddhism, walking trails designed specifically for meditation and prayer, and several stupas ranging in height from several inches to 108 feet. The temple strongly emphasizes the importance of venerating the stupas in order to obtain good merits, and therefore maintaining the grounds is important for the community.
The temple fosters beliefs and practices that combine more orthodox Tibetan Buddhist traditions with those predominantly seen in Western “convert” Buddhism. On the one hand, the temple offers traditional rituals such as food offerings and stupa venerations; it teaches concepts such as karma, merit accumulation, and samsara; and it even houses monastics. However, at the same time, there is a very heavy focus on meditation for both monastics and lay people in its community, and although the temple does teach about rebirth and nirvana, it also very strongly emphasizes generating “compassionate activity,” social welfare, and alleviating suffering, particularly through prayer (About KPC).
The Founder
Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu Lhamo not only founded the KPC and continues to serve as its spiritual director, but she is also recognized as a tulku by adherents of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Her title Jetsunma is an honorific that “commands immense and instant respect among Tibetans” and associates her with the female Buddha Tara (Stevens). She is the first Western woman to ever receive such a prestigious title and powerful role in Tibetan Buddhism. However, despite her current prominence, she did not grow up Buddhist. Jetsunma was born Alyce Zeoli in Brooklyn, New York in the 1940s to Jewish and Italian parents. After marrying her current spouse in 1983 and moving to Maryland, she and her husband launched a nonsectarian meditation center called the Center for Discovery and New Life. Up until this point, she had never studied or practiced Buddhism in any form, although she had been practicing nonsectarian meditation techniques for over 12 years.
In 1985, Penor Rinpoche, who at the time served as the throne holder of the Palyul lineage, visited her meditation center and, upon “observing and questioning her closely, told her that she was unknowingly teaching her students the basic tenets of Mahayana Buddhism” (Stevens). Penor Rinpoche thereafter decided to pronounce her a tulku. In 1987, Zeoli was enthroned and became Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu Lhamo. The following year, she established the KPC in Poolesville. Adherents of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition believe Jetsunma to be a reincarnation of Genyenma Akhon Lhamo, the sister of the Palyul lineage’s first throneholder Rigdzin Kunzang Sherab. In 1994, Nyingma master Kusum Lingpa additionally recognized Jetsunma as the reincarnation of Padmasambhava’s consort Lhacham Mandarava.
Jetsunma’s teaching style has been described as “down to earth” for its ability to “make[] ancient spiritual concepts immediately and directly available to modern western [sic] students” (Jetsunma). Jetsunma “has taught extensively on compassion, meditation, the nature of mind and the importance of relying on a spiritual master,” and her work is aimed specifically towards educating and serving Western students interested in practicing Buddhism (Jetsunma). Although she teaches out of the KPC Poolesville temple weekly, her teachings are also available to stream online. She utilizes YouTube, Ustream, social media platforms like Twitter, and her blog called Tibetan Buddhist Altar to spread Buddhist teachings. Jetsunma has also published several teachings online in the form of articles in addition to three books about living out Buddhist teachings in everyday life. She additionally produces albums of Dharma music, which are available for download online.
Despite her prestigious status, Jetsunma comes across as deeply humble, largely due to the fact that she did not begin officially practicing Buddhism until later in life. For example, in an article she wrote called “Why I Chose Buddhism,” Jetsunma notes that “Penor Rinpoche says that [she is] an incarnation of somebody that used to be Tibetan 400 years ago. [She] do[es]n’t really know if that’s true or not,” but she trusts Penor Rinpoche’s judgement and wisdom (2). Jetsunma also focuses heavily on service and involved the KPC in several different service programs. For example, “[s]he founded Tara’s Babies Animal Welfare for dogs, and the Garuda Aviary for abused and abandoned parrots,” and she also directs a prison outreach group (Teachings). Therefore, Jetsunma’s work and her vision for the KPC extends beyond Dharma teachings and into the realm of caring for those beyond the temple’s community.
Works Cited
“About KPC.” Kunzang Palyul Choling, 2 July 2017, www.tara.org/about-kpc-new/.
“Jetsunma.” Kunzang Palyul Choling, 2 Jan. 2017, www.tara.org/jetsunma-ahkon-lhamo/.
Lhamo, Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu. “Why I Chose Buddhism.” 17 Dec. 1989, pp. 1–4.
Oasis of Liberation. Ngagyur Nyingma Institute, 1999.
“Teachings.” Kunzang Palyul Choling, 16 Jan. 2017, www.tara.org/jetsunma-ahkon-lhamo/teachings/.
Stevens, William K. “U.S. Woman Is Named Reborn Buddhist Saint.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 25 Oct. 1988, www.nytimes.com/1988/10/26/us/us-woman-is-named-reborn-buddhist-saint.html.
Wangmo, Ani, and Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu Lhamo. “About Us.” Tibetan Buddhist Altar, 4 Oct. 2011, www.tibetanbuddhistaltar.org/about-us-2/.
Wangmo, Ani, and Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu Lhamo. “Palyul Lineage.” Tibetan Buddhist Altar, 30 July 2013, www.tibetanbuddhistaltar.org/palyul-lineage/.