New York City -- The Tibet Center is proud to announce that His Holiness the Dalai Lama has appointed its Director, the Venerable Nicholas (“Nicky”) Vreeland, as the new Abbot of Rato Monastery, which is based in India.  This is a historic moment; this is the first time that a Westerner has been appointed as abbot of a Tibetan Buddhist monastery. 

During the investiture in Long Beach California on April 20, 2012, the Dalai La-ma stated, “Your special duty (is) to bridge Tibetan tradition and Western world.”  The Dalai Lama was in California giving teachings and public lectures.

On May 10, The Tibet Center will host a reception in New York City to celebrate this appointment.  On July 6, Vreeland will be officially enthroned at Rato Monastery in India as the new abbot.

As he has done for many years, Vreeland will continue to split his time between The Tibet Center in New York and the monastery in India. The original Rato Monastery, located on the outskirts of Lhasa, Tibet, was established by Je Tong Khapa in the 14th Century to preserve the teachings on Buddhist logic. By 1959, Rato had over 500 monks in residence, with scholars from all the great monastic universities of Tibet converging there every year for a month of intense philosophical and logical study and debate.

In 1983, Rato was reestablished in a Tibetan refugee settlement in the south Indian state of Karnataka, where two years later Vreeland became a monk and began his monastic studies.  He sat for his Geshe degree (Doctorate of Philosophy) in 1998, after which he returned to New York to assume duties as the Director of The Tibet Center —Kunkhyab Thardo Ling — where he had first begun his studies of Buddhism with the Center’s founder, the Reverend Khyongla Rato Rinpoche in 1977. 

The Tibet Center has been a co-host with the Gere Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s visits to New York a number of times, including two public talks in Central Park and teachings at Radio City Music Hall.  Vreeland has edited the New York Times bestseller, An Open Heart, and the recent, A Profound Mind, both authored by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. 

Though there are well over a thousand Tibetan Buddhist monasteries, Rato Mon-astery is one of only a dozen important Tibetan Government monasteries under the Dalai Lama’s patronage.  Today there are approximately 100 monks at Rato ranging from the age of 6 to 90. 

Vreeland has been a photographer since he was 13 years old, and assisted Irving Penn and Richard Avedon. A recent exhibition of Vreeland’s work, Photos for Rato, toured major cities around the world, raising most of the funds needed for the construction of Rato Monastery’s new campus and temple, which was inaugurated by the Dalai Lama on January 31, 2011.

www.thetibetcenter.org
www.ratodratsangfoundation.org
www.nicholasvreeland.com
New York Times 2010:  www.nytimes.com/2010/05/20/fashion/20Close.html
May 10 Event:  5:30 – 7:30 pm, 145 Ave of Americas, #2A, at Spring St, New York City
Media Contact:  Josh Baran – jcbaran@gmail.com – 917-797-1799
Short video clips of the April 20th event with the Dalai Lama and the 2011 inauguration of Rato Monastery are available.
Photos available.

Contact

Josh Baran
917-797-1799