A Tibetan Buddhist center offers ‘approachable’ opportunities to understand the tenets.

FREEPORT – A series of monthly films beginning on March 20 would provide an easy, relaxing way for people to introduce themselves to Buddhist thought, the director of a Freeport Buddhist Center says.

“The Cup,” a 1999 film about two young Tibetan refugees exiled in India who devise a scheme to procure a television to watch soccer, opens the series, which will be held the third Thursday of each month at 7 p.m.

Karen Macrae, director of Tashi Gatsel Ling, located at 20 Independence Drive, said she invites everyone to come and spend some time with Buddhists there and “relax.”

“It’s a very approachable, very easy way to see about Buddhism,” Macrae said. “It’s not complicated.”

Since last October, Tashi Gatsel Ling has been operating in Freeport. For 10 years, Tashi Gatsel Ling welcomed visitors at the Freeport home of Joli Greene, then Mer and Troy Stafford of Pownal hosted a center in their Pownal home for the two years prior to the opening of the Freeport center. Visitors will see gleaming wood floors, colorful Oriental rugs and an ornate altar – and should take their shoes off.

Macrae said that she and others who gather at Tashi Gatsel Ling want to make Tibetan Buddhism available to everyone because it can relieve stress and suffering. She is a much different person since she took up Buddhism three years ago, she said.

“I can’t tell you how much easier it is for me in the world, and how much better I can be for other people,” she said.

Khen Rinpoche Lobzang Tsetan, a Tibetan Buddhist Monk from India who has done much teaching in Maine, is the founder of the Freeport Buddhist Center. Rinpoche entered a monastery in Tibet in 1952, prior to the country’s fall to China seven years later. Rinpoche managed to escape to his homeland.

“His Holiness the Dalia Lama asked him to become abbot of the Tashi Limpo Monastery in southern India,” said Macrae.

Macrae says that Tibetan Buddhism came to Tibet from India, where Shakyamuni Buddha, the historical Buddha, lived around 560 BC.

She defines Buddhism as a non-theistic tradition, meaning that there is no belief in a creator God. But Buddhists honor and deeply revere Buddha for giving the teachings to help people become fully awakened and learn how to act with loving kindness toward all other beings.

“Buddha encouraged equanimity toward all beings that is tolerance for everyone, and he encouraged followers to only incorporate the parts of his teaching that felt right to them into their life,” Macrae said. “There was, and still is, no expectation that an individual will follow any aspect of the Buddhist path that does not make sense to him or her.”

The tenets of Buddhism are “vast,” Macrae said.

“In general, we say that, if Buddhism is seen as a bird, it is supported by two balanced wings. One of these is wisdom and the other is compassion (sometimes called method),” she said. “The wisdom is derived from studying the dharma (or teachings) and from meditation.

“The word ‘meditation’ in Tibetan is the same as the word for ‘familiar.’ This is because the purpose of meditation is to become familiar with one’s own mind and how it works. When we become familiar with our own minds, we can then notice when afflictive emotions arise and work with them so they become less disturbing and so that reacting to them does not cause us to hurt others or ourselves,” she said.

Having compassion for all other beings involves making every effort not to harm other living beings and to help them whenever possible. Such beings include not only people, but also animals and even insects,” Macrae said.

“Tibetan Buddhism requires the individual not only to strive for his or her own awakening, but to do so in order to help bring about the awakening of all sentient beings,” she said. “Thus, Tibetan Buddhism helps us bring peace and compassion for others to the world, which admittedly sorely needs more of these. Thus, we win and the world wins.”

Laurie McDonnell of Bowdoin has been going to Tashi Gatsel Ling for more than three years, having studied with the Pownal group prior to the opening of the Freeport center. McDonnell said she sees Buddhism’s relevance in today’s Western society.

“Everyone is busy and overextended,” said McDonnell, who works at Maine Center for Women, Work and Community. “Meditation is a good way of slowing down. We’re really living a pace of life that’s unsustainable in my mind. We are on the frontier of trying to squeeze in as much as we can.”

McDonnell said she is encouraged with the amount of activity at Tashi Gatsel Ling, and sees pockets of Buddhism arising around the state.

Rinpoche, who in the mid-1970s taught high school in India, received a special invitation to come to the United States and teach at the first Tibetan Buddhist learning center in America, Labsum Shedrub Ling in Washington, N.J.

“He was a high school teacher in India, and was invited to Temple in New Jersey,” said Macrae, who was living there herself when she met Rinpoche. “He has the equivalent of two Ph.Ds in Tibetan Buddhist philosophy. He decided to travel around this country and teach.”

Macrae said that Greene met Rinpoche, and invited him to Freeport.

“This sanga (monastery) has existed 10 years in Freeport,” Macrae said. “Jolie Greene invited him to come to her home, and he lived there. She was a child of the ’60s, too, looking for a spiritual path. She met Rinpoche and there was a connection. He gave teachings, meditations and prayed.”

Today, Tashi Gatsel Ling is located on the second floor at 20 Independence Drive, thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor, Macrae said. Eight core members attend the Tuesday night weekly study group. Nearly 200 come every two months or so, when teachers come to Maine, she said.

“We’re hoping we can get enough pledging members so that we can stay here after our two-year lease is over,” Macrae said. “We just really started operating here in October because it took us a while to set up. We had a visit from Khen Rinpoche in November.”

There has probably never been a count done of Tibetan Buddhists in Maine, Macrae said. The Maine Buddhist Gathering Facebook page and the Buddhist Directory Maine website help draw attention to the Freeport center, though the website also lists more than 30 Buddhist centers in the state.

“Buddhism in Maine is growing,” she said. “It’s the number of groups. When we were looking for a space, people said, ‘Oh, I’m opening up a space in my home.’ I think because the world is so rushed and fast, people need a way to get calm.”

Macrae, who grew up Christian, traces her journey to Maine to Rinpoche.

“I moved to Maine because I met Khen Rinpoche in 2011,” she said. “As soon as I met him, I knew I was going to become a Tibetan Buddhist.”

Macrae said that, although she is director of Tashi Gatsel Ling, Buddhism is about “equanimity.” The center welcomes and honors everyone.

“Anybody doing any religion, that is great, because that is their passion,” she said. “Most religions are based on love.”

A CLOSER LOOK

Among the upcoming programs at Tashi Gatsel Ling, 20 Independence Drive in Freeport, are:

Tuesday, March 4, 7 p.m., “Discovering Buddhism Module 3” on Tuesdays for eight-10 weeks.

Sunday, March 9, 10:30 a.m., “How to Be Happy.” Features excerpts from Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s book, “How to Be Happy.”

For more information or to sign up, contact Doreen Thompson at [email protected] or 650-5035

Khen Rinpoche, right, teaches at Tashi Gatsel Ling in Freeport. The Buddhist center opened on Independence Drive four months ago. In front of the altar at Tashi Gatsel Ling in Freeport are, from left, Khen Rinpoche Lobzang Tsetan, Karen Macrae and Geshe Tsewang Dorje, who will be the next main teacher at Tashi Gatsel Ling in Freeport when Rinpoche retires.