“Whoever sees, hears, remembers, or touches the Stupa will receive all the joys of the Buddhas and all the blessing.” The Buddha
In the beginning
Buddhism has flourished and has been integrated into Asian culture for thousand of years. Temples are everywhere; monks and nuns are universally revered. Understanding the teachings of the Buddha has become more important as the world becomes more economically advanced and adopts the materialistic approach toward life. It is clear that fewer and fewer people truly experience lasting happiness.
Searching for answers that would satisfy their spiritual needs, many people come to many different varieties of Buddhism, such as Theravada, Mahayana or Vajrayana paths. These approaches are like different doors to the same destination, leading equally to Enlightenment.
It is also significant that more and more lay people are becoming more interested in serious practice of Buddhism but are rather reluctant to lead a monk's or a nun's life. In fact, for many, embracing the Buddha's teaching and developing Bodhicitta and compassion in their daily lives are challenging and are more practical and tangible in that they need to continue to carry on their lay lives and responsibilities, yet all their bodily action, speeches and mental activities are fully in line with the Buddha's teaching
Sharing this sentiment as do many Thais, Dr. Krisadawan, who is fluent in Thai, English and Tibetan, believes that Buddha nature is already inside everyone's heart. This makes lay people to have equal right to learn and practice Buddhism, as well as to live as mothers, fathers, sons, or employers.
Having been inspired by many Tibetan Lamas, both male and female, during the last 10 years, as well as having directly experienced Tibetan culture and how Buddhism has engaged in their daily life, she feels that the teaching of Mahayana Buddhism offers an interesting aspect and an opportunity for lay people to understand Buddhism better, allowing them to know another ‘door’ to the goal.
In 2005, Krisadawan established the Thousand Stars foundation, a non-profit organization providing (a) an opportunity to lay people to discuss and practice Mahayana Dharma via conferences and individual practice, (b) improvement of standard of living of Tibetans in remote area, (c) support to Tibetan monasteries and nunneries in remote areas, especially in Kham province of eastern Tibet.
Currently, moreover, the Foundation is undertaking the Shanti Tara stupa project at Kadiravana Retreat Center in Hua Hin, Prachurb Khirikhan. This is the first Vajrayana stupa in Thailand. It has attracted both Thais and international followers consisting also of young and enthusiastic members who all share the same passion and love of Tibetan life, culture and Buddhism.
Continuous Flow of Inspiration
Krisadawan has always been interested in Buddhism. Growing up in a Theravada environment, her love of the religion was so powerful that she once contemplated becoming a nun. However, it was not until she became a Buddhist youth representative that she was exposed to other forms of Buddhism. She then realized that to become engaged in Buddhism did not mean giving up lay life and becoming a nun; instead there were many other ways one can practice the teaching.
With the love of Tibetan culture she experienced whilst visiting Nepal, she decided to continue to study for the doctoral degree in linguistics from Indiana University in the US. The linguistic skill she honed as a scholar led her to become an interpreter to many famous Tibetan lamas. For years the kindness of the lamas touched and inspired her to follow upon their footsteps.
Whilst spending her time doing ethnographic research in Tibetan and Kham area, Krisadawan became a student of Kunga Sangbo Rinpoche, the abbot of Jyekundo Monastery in Kham, eastern Tibet. For more than nine months she witnessed the dedication and compassion of Kunga Sangbo Rinpoche when he tirelessly worked for the benefits of the people by building a school in his hometown where most children are illiterate and renovating monasteries.
“Even though he has only little money, he would not think about himself. He would want to use that little money to improve other people’s lives. And that made me think I should use my knowledge to do good things for others,” said Krisadawan.
So instead of following her original dream to be ordained, she decided to follow Kunga Sangbo Rinpoche's advice to use her Buddhist knowledge and language skills to benefit others as a lay person. With the desire to attain Buddhahood while carrying on a lay person’s responsibilities and the determination to follow his action, she wondered how to integrate these wonderful ideas.
Thousand Stars Foundation
“One day, Avalokiteshvara, who refused to leave the samsara until the last sentient being attained Enlightenment, saw that there were so many lives he had to help, yet still there were countless more lives who were now suffering in samsara. Tears dropped from his eyes and out came White Tara on a lotus. She comforted him not to cry and vowed to help and followed him in every life to help all sentient being.”
Inspired by this story, Krisadwan always feels close to Tara, a female Bodhisattva who vows to help all sentient beings. As a result of this she founded the Thousand Stars Foundation. For the first time she felt that Tibetan language proved useful and it showed the way to cultivate compassion and give an opportunity to contribute to the benefits of others. On one occasion, while she was paying homage in front of the speaking Tara statue in Dzachuka, she vowed to follow Tara in order to help her in every lifetime.
Later on, faith brought her to meet Kandroma, a revered female lama who was the daughter of Lama Longtok, who passed away while leaving his body intact. Kandroma was struggling to build up her father‘s hermitage. Krisadawan was impressed by her determination to transform a small hermitage into a nunnery. Together they practiced Longchen Nyingtik, and in 2007 the building of Zangtok Pari became the first project which the Thousand Stars Foundations along with Global Women’s Fund and Bridge fund, USA, supported. The small ruined hermitage became a fully functioning nunnery which can currently accommodate 15 nuns.
Since 2005, the Foundation has been helping Tibetan children and nuns as well as organizing public conferences to promote Tibetan culture, peace, studies of Mahayana texts as well as Buddhist practices in daily living. So far many local and international guest speakers have contributed their time and knowledge to the Foundation’s many conferences. They are, for example, Nyima Dakpa Rinpoche, Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, Phakchok Rinpoche, including a famous doctor Dr. Tsedor Nyarongsha and a historian Professor Thubten Phuntsok.
A New Project...Pursuing a Dream
The lama, or guru, is believed to represent the condensed mind of the Buddha, and in Mahayana belief the teacher and the student are interconnected through faith and karma. When Krisadawan met Kundrol Lhasay Rinpoche, a highly revered Dzogchen master from the New Bön tradition who lived in Chengdu, China, their relationship developed to something far beyond the basic practice of mind training and meditation.
In 2006, she bought a piece of land in Hua Hin, Prachurb Khirikhan. The peaceful location was ideal for a retreat center and a Tara temple where people could visit and pray. It would provide a type of environment that was friendly to everyone, especially female lay practitioners. The land would also serve as the first Tibetan library and education center in Southeast Asia. At that time Lhasay Rinpoche asked Krisadawan to undertake a huge project of building the Shanti Tara Maha Stupa. Despite his humbleness and low profile outside of Tibet, Lhasay Rinpoche had a vision to build a great stupa in Thailand which he believes to be one of the most scared places on earth, a place where people already embrace Buddhism into their heart and their way of living.
“This (stupa) is your project. But it is in fact neither yours nor mine. I can’t take it back to Tibet nor you can take it when your body leave this world.”
The request by Lhasay Rinpoche shows his trust and confidence in Krisadawan to carry the huge project, which seems impossible in the beginning.
While Krisadawan was gathering information on building stupas, Lhasay Rinpoche sent a vast amount of prayer flags from his hometown to Krisadawan to build a mantra stupa for the first time in Thailand at the Khadiravana Center. The prayer flags consists of five colors -- blue, green, red, white and yellow. These colors represent sky, air, fire, water and earth, thus representing all elements of the cosmos. Every time the wind blows the flags, the mantras written on them are sent out to all corners of the universe, generating peace and happiness all around. Not only does each colour have a specific Buddhist meaning such as the five Buddha family or the five skandhas, but in today’s context the different colors signify diversity in each of us who came from different backgrounds yet all work together to create peace and harmony.
At Present...
The project started to take shape in 2007, after Krisadwan prostrated her way for eighteen days from Nyethang Tara temple near Lhasa to Samye Monastery, 80 kilometers away. She did this to accumulate merit, and the deed gave her a lot of strength and determination to carry on this daunting and ambitious project.
The Thousand Stars Foundation believes that the Shanti Tara Stupa project will benefit everyone, any sentient being who sees, touches and hears about the Stupa. It has the healing power and reminds us of goodness and positive determination to do good things for others.
This belief should transcend all boundaries in the world, and come across different beliefs and nationalities, just like Mother Tara who is willing to do everything to benefit the world.
Lastly, the project should inspire us as an individual, men or women to continue to carry on our dream to make the world a better place.
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