Thrangu Rinpoche Confers Chakrasamvara Empowerment in Crestone

Photo essay by Marvin Ross

2528

The Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche bestowed the Chakrasamvara Abhisheka at a gathering of some 100 students at Thrangu Monastery in Crestone, Colorado this past July (2017). Marvin Ross captured the empowerment in the photos below.

“In this modern society when everyone has to work and every individual has their own particular difficulties, the most outstanding and extraordinary oral instructions are those of Mahamudra. In particular for all of us who live in the West, these extraordinary oral instructions have great benefit, are extremely easy to practice, and make it easy to attain the ultimate result.” — Thrangu Rinpoche

Share
As a volunteer, going back to the early 1970s, Marvin Ross recorded many of the thousands of teachings that Rinpoche gave during his seventeen years in North America. As a photographer, Marv has documented many important moments of sangha history. Of his photography, Marv writes: “My love of photography started over fifty-five years ago when my parents got me an Argus C3. I would shoot everything but always with mixed results. Then about twenty-five years ago I realized the need to take some photography classes. That made a huge difference in accelerating my understanding of the medium. This new understanding gave a lot more enjoyment in whatever I was shooting. Also in the past fifteen or so years I have been very fortunate to travel, for work and pleasure, to many distant places, always with the camera gear in tow. My love of the outdoors and the search for that perfect dusk or dawn light continues to excite me. Whatever I might be shooting, be it a wedding, race cars, portraiture, street photography, aerial photography or anything new, I regard these experiences as opportunities to further explore myself through photography." Marvin Ross currently lives in Boulder, CO where, among other activities, he works with the Rime Society and serves as a coordinator for Ocean online classes. The photo of Marv, riding what looks like a very small horse, was taken by Mark Wilding.