An auspicious Tibetan name for our home - ༄༅། །བརྟན་མ་གླིང༌། - "Ten Ma Ling" or "Place of the Earth Goddess"

Over this last winter I was fortunate to have the conditions to once again attend the Complete Path Course at the International Buddhist Academy in Kathmandu. It is a rare privilege to receive a month of teachings received directly from such a master of Buddhist philosophy and Practice in the Nalanda Tradition; His Holiness the 42nd Sakya Trizin, Ratna Vajra Rinpoche.

The teachings are given in English, and translated into Chinese, Spanish and Nepali; and one of the precious things about this course is the chance to connect with a beautiful worldwide sangha, united by the aspiration to deepen their understanding and practice. We come from such a wide rage of backgrounds, languages and walks of life, but meet in our faith that compassion and wisdom is what truly liberates.

It is our hope that Gaia Forest will similarly become a place where people from all walks of life, united by this aspiration, can come to deepen their practice, their connection to themselves, to community, and to the Earth. To symbolise this, I took the opportunity this year to somewhat nervously request His Holiness to bestow a suitably auspicious Tibetan name on our project!

The result - welcome to ༄༅། །བརྟན་མ་གླིང༌། - “Tan Ma Ling!” as our home can also be now known. Like all good names, this can be translated and interpreted in different ways. “Tan” can refer to the Earth element, and can also have the deeper significance of “stability” or “solidity - characteristics of Earth in the four elements contemplation. “Ma” carries the meaning of “mother”, or as an honorific, “goddess” more broadly (similar to Drol Ma for Tara). “ling” refers simply to “place”, or island (so that India can be called Jambuling in the texts for example).

Practice places can also bear the epithet “ling”, and this carries an echo of the tendency in many early sutras to begin with the location, often in a certain forest or grove provided by a donor or supported, such as “Anathapindika’s Grove”. This also echoes the Chinese word “lin” for forest, as found in such famous centres as “Shaolin”.

With deep gratitude to His Holiness for his tirelessness, his compassion, wisdom and teachings, and for his support of our vision at Gaia Forest. It is our aspiration to continue to practice and cultivate both ourselves and this beautiful, so that it can truly become an “Island of Stability” in these troubled times.