June Retreat with H.E. Khondung Avikrita Vajra Sakya Rinpoche in Goleta

Tara Ling of Santa Barbara is announcing an in-person weekend retreat with H.E. Khondung Avikrita Vajra Sakya Rinpoche, the Head Lama of Phuntsok Phodrang, Sakya Monastery of Tibetan Buddhism. The retreat is Saturday June 24 from 9 am to 4:30pm and Sunday June 25 from 9 am to 12 pm at the Embarcadero Municipal Improvement District building in Goleta.

The visit is three generations of the Sakya Royal Family and the first time that H.E. Avikrita Vajra Sakya Rinpoche will be visiting Tara Ling SB sangha to offer teachings. Also in attendance will be H.E. Jamyang Dagmo Sakya a Tibetan princess [Princess in the Land of Snows], two of her Lamas’ sons with their wives, and her grandson – the current Head Lama of Sakya Monastery.

Attendees will be guided and learn Four-Armed Chenrezig Initiation, Chenrezig Phowa Transmission & Teaching, and Padmasambhava Life Empowerment. Due to limited seating, pre-registration is required.

Organizing the event is Vidya Carmen Gauci, the resident lay teacher of Tara Ling SB. She has been offering classes in classic teachings of Tibetan Buddhism at the request of Lama Dagmola since 2012. Tara Ling SB is a volunteer-based, non-sectarian, nonprofit Tibetan Buddhist center, supported through donations from the local sangha of students. 

In an email interview, Gauci shared:

Q. Why was Santa Barbara selected to have a Sakya Monastery of Tibetan Buddhism?

A. H.E. Jamyang Dagmo Sakya (Lama Dagmola) has been offering Tibetan Buddhist teachings and initiations at the invitation of her many close SB students since the late 1990s. In 2001, The Dalai Lama-Endowed Chair of Tibetan Studies was established at UCSB, and several of the teachers in this program at UCSB are Lama Dagmola’s close students who invited her to offer teachings locally. 

Tara Ling SB was established in 2012 when Lama Dagmola asked me, as one of her close long-term students, to lead this satellite center of Sakya Monastery of Tibetan Buddhism.

There are two Tara Ling satellite centers established by Lama Dagmola at the specific request made to her by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. His Holiness gave the name “Tara Ling” and he specifically wished to see Lama Dagmola, as one of a handful of revered senior Tibetan women teachers in the West, offer authentic Tibetan Buddhist teachings in the non-sectarian tradition to sincere students in Southern California. Lama Dagmola is a highly qualified senior lama (now 89) and matriarch of the Sakya-Kohn family. 

Q. How did you get involved in the center and why?

A. I am originally from New York, and since age 20 have been a dedicated yoga and dharma practitioner. I began in the Vedanta tradition of Hinduism and lived as a monastic resident at the New York Vedanta Society in New York City for seven years while I completed my fine arts degree with a minor in philosophy, taught art at Marymount High School, and trained for a monastic vocation under the close guidance of the Head Swami. 

I moved to the Vedanta Temple and Convent in SB, to officially become a nun in the Ramakrishna Order. I lived, studied, and practiced there as a nun for five years, and offered service in sacred art, having trained at the School of Sacred Arts in New York City. 

When I came out of the convent, I took yoga teacher training at the SB Yoga Center, and took classes by a UCSB Tibetan Buddhist teacher at the Unitarian Society of SB. This teacher kindly introduced me to one of his root Lamas, which was Lama Dagmola, who became my root Lama in 2002. She officiated my wedding in 2006 and has been my principal teacher and spiritual mentor ever since. This UCSB teacher went on to establish the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies (SBI) in 2003, and asked me to teach and offer local dharma classes in Tibetan Buddhism as well as coach meditation. I assisted in offering many dharma retreats with SBI in Santa Barbara. Many of the students from the SBI dharma study group that I led became students of Tara Ling Santa Barbara. 

I had my Vidya Gauci Decorative Fine Arts business for 15 years and won commissions to do the ceiling art at the Santa Barbara Airport and co-design the floor mosaic with colleague Lori Ann David. I completed decorative fine art installations for many prominent private and commercial clients and properties in Montecito and SB and am presently retired from this business.  

411: Event Address: 224 Vereda Leyenda, Goleta, CA 93117; Email: vidya@taralingsb.com (805) 448-8516