Tibetan cultural center promotes inter-faith harmony

Snoddy Road is home to one of Bloomington’s best-kept secrets.

Just 15 minutes southeast of campus, the Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center is nestled on a 108-acre wooded complex. The ornately decorated entrance gate beams bright reds, blues and gold as it welcomes visitors to cross its threshold. Beyond the gate lay a spread of landmarks and buildings with uniquely Tibetan architecture, a feature that distinguishes the TMBCC from any other center in the Midwest.

Its prominence in the region draws guests of high rank to the TMBCC, including the Dalai Lama, who last visited the Center in May 2010.

“We want to preserve Tibetan Mongolian cultures and traditions, offer Buddhist education from all traditions and promote interfaith harmony,” Center Manager Patricia Ellis said.

In an effort to do just that, TMBCC board member Winnie Edgerton suggested collaborating with the Shambhala Meditation group.

Edgerton said its focus is more spiritual than religious, using a specific style of meditation to encourage mindfulness.

The TMBCC and the newly established Hoosier Heartland Shambhala Meditation group offer group meditation sittings every Monday and Thursday.

This week, the groups expanded their collaborative efforts to bring Lama Chuck Whetsell to Bloomington and Indianapolis to offer Shambhala meditation training and public talks.

Not many people call him Lama, but Whetsell said his grandson occasionally calls him Lama-Papaw.

In his professional life, he is a private practice psychologist, but he has been practicing mindfulness meditation disciplines for more than 40 years.

Whetsell is a Hoosier, too. He completed his B.S. in biological sciences at IU in 1976. He had been practicing martial arts throughout college and found Buddhist meditation through a friend. He decided to travel to Boulder, Colo., to pursue a master’s degree in Buddhist and Western Psychology at Naropa Institute. He went on to receive a doctorate in psychology from the University of Kentucky in 1990.

He has spent the last 35 years teaching meditation and Buddhist philosophy and leading weeklong retreats and weekend intensive programs.

His teachings align with those of Shambhala philosophy — to get in touch with the inner selves through contemplation and meditation.

“The view is that the intrinsic quality of humans is that we’re kind and have wisdom, and we have the strength to connect with both of those for both the benefit of ourselves and others,” Whetsell said.

Whetsell has been in Bloomington since March 23 and will stay until March 30. He gave evening public talks about various topics throughout the week.

In his Wednesday lecture, he tackled the topic “world peace and non-struggle.”

Whetsell said intelligence is environmental and engaged the attendees in a conversation about their own perceptions of “world peace.”

One man said in his hippie years, his view of world peace was that “everybody would get stoned and eat organic food.” But he admitted that wasn’t realistic. Another woman chimed in, commenting that she never felt like world peace was possible because those in power always seemed to be corrupt.

Whetsell turned the course of the conversation from placing the burden of “world peace” on others and focusing on individual inner peace instead. He said world peace may seem unachievable, but by focusing on oneself it might not be.

“Our modern culture produces a high level of activity and multi-tasking and a low level of reflection,” Whetsell said. “There is a disconnect between what we really want and what we are trying to do to be fulfilled, and that is where we fail.”

He said this spread of peace starts with kindness and curiosity — a genuine interest in one’s surroundings.

“It’s difficult to do this with another if we can’t first do this with ourselves,”
he said.

John and Lou Anne Hornung, who have been taking meditation classes at TMBCC for about a year, related to Whetsell’s message.

“We wanted to learn a little bit more about how to quiet our minds,” she said. “We don’t seem to be very good at that. It’s go, go, go all the time.”

Whetsell finished the talk by leading a mindfulness meditation session. He will lead a group meditation at 6 p.m. Thursday at the TMBCC.

On Friday, he will lead a one-day meditation retreat for those interested in making meditation part of their daily lives.

“Shambhala is based off the wisdom of the human heart rather than looking at a book and saying ‘This looks good’ and ‘That looks good,’” Whetsell said. “When we connect with the intrinsic qualities, it can fundamentally change the world.”