Since its founding in 2000 by Venerable Thupten Donyo, the Gyuto Vajrayana Center has provided the teachings of the Buddha as practiced within the Tibetan Buddhist tradition at their beautiful Center and monastery located in San Jose, California.
To preserve the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the Center invites highly qualified scholars and teachers from the Gyuto Tantric Monastery in India to give teachings and public talks on a broad range of Buddhist topics including the Sutras and Tantras. The original Gyuto Monastery was founded in 1474 in Tibet and the Gyuto Vajrayana Center in San Jose follows in this authentic lineage.
In addition to teachings, the Center organizes initiations, empowerments, prayer ceremonies, funeral services, house blessings and purifications not only for the Tibetan Buddhist community in Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area but for all Buddhist groups and the local community in general. It also hosts cultural activities for students of Bay Area schools and universities, Boy Scout troops and many other local groups.
The Center is actively engaged with the local exiled Tibetan community, with project ranging from teaching Dharma to the Tibetan children to providing a meeting place for the elderly. Gyuto monks also support the Himalayan Tibetan Children's education through Gyuto Charity Project. Watch video part 1 and part 2.
The goal of the Gyuto Vajrayana Center is to provide spiritual and cultural to the Sillicon Valley and Bay Area communities as well as a being a Learning Center that brings together all denominations, Buddhist or otherwise, as well as academics, scientists and medical professionals to discuss ways in which they can work together beneficially.
The Center had the great honor of hosting His Holiness the Dalai Lama in San Francisco in April 2007 and San Jose in October 2010. We look forward to hosting him again soon. Click below to watch the video recording of His Holiness' teaching on the Eight Verses for Training the Mind:
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For photographs of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in San Francisco in 2007. Click here.
For phographs of His Holiness in San Jose in 2010, click below:
Main Event Photos, Interfaith Gathering Sponsor Luncheon, Tibetan audience Also at the 2010 event was an Interfaith Gathering attended by over 500 participants to hear a panel discussion on His Holiness' recently published book on the value of Interfaith, 'Toward a True Kinship of Faiths: How the World's Religions Can Come Together'.
Please note that there is no Lamrim class on Sunday, May 27th, due to the Nyung-Ne retreat.
Venerable Geshe Lobsang Chonyi, resident teacher of the Gyuto Vajrayana Center, teaches the Lamrim Teaching (The Stages of Path to Enlightenment) every Sunday night, from 7 pm to 9 pm. Everyone is welcome to attend the classes as all Gyuto teachings are free, but we would like to request that all members and friends kindly join our membership program to support the Center and its monastery project. Please check our program calendars before visiting the Center for teachings or pujas.
Gyuto Center will be holding Nyung-Ne (fasting) retreat during the month of Buddha's birth Saka Dawa and Memorial Day long weekend.
Nyung-Ne retreat is an effective practice for purifying our negativities. The practice was revealed by Bhikshuni Phalmo, a practitioner who suffered from leprosy. She performed this practice for 12 years in conjunction with Chenrezig (Avalokiteshvara) practice and became a great Siddhi, attaining the Celestial Body.
The retreat course involves powerful practices of purification such as periods of fasting, prostrations, and silence. Practitioners will also recite the six syllable mantra OM MA NI PED ME HUNG. This mantra purifies the six seeds of the six realms within oneself and, further more, has the effect of pacifying the suffering of all beings.
Chenrezig(Avalokiteshvara) is the bodhisattva that embodies the compassion of all the Buddhas. Amitabha Buddha, seeing that Chenrezig recognized that with only two arms he would never be able to help all sentient beings, blessed Chenrezig with 11 heads and 1,000 arms so that he could help everyone that suffers.
Prerequisite: All participants must have received Chenrezig Initiation/Empowerment or at least one Initiation. Registration required, please call (408) 9269430 or send email:
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We request $60 donation for the retreat.
During the retreat there is no room for members to stay over night at the Center. But for those who are driving more then one hour (one way) we can provide space for the night, for those who live close by we ask that you go home and return in the morning.
As a result of the successful outreach efforts of the Gyuto monks over the last 10 years, the Gyuto Center has outgrown its current location and it has become more and more challenging to accommodate the growing number of students and interested members of the community. There is a great need to provide additional space for visiting teachers and monks, retreat facilities, Tibetan cultural events, students housing, dinning facilities and parking areas. The monks hope to build a Gyuto Monastery as a Learning Center in the Bay Area that will not only provide a location for their current spiritual and cultural activities but also become a sustainable foundation for the future.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama has given his full support to this project as it realizes his personal vision of creating Learning Centers that besides bringing the Tibetan community together can be of great benefit to the local community and provide a place where different traditions and groups can discuss their beliefs and ideas in peace and harmony. The Gyuto monks need your support to help build this Monastery and Learning Center in the Bay Area.
His Holiness express support for this project please watch video:
To see an artist's model 3D animation of the Monastery.
Venerable Thupten Donyo, Director of Gyuto Vajrayana Center, is organizing a Buddhist pilgrimage to Nepal and India in November 2 - 17, 2012. Ven. Thupten Donyo will be leading the pilgrimage with prayers and this will be his fourth trips with Gyuto Center members and friends.
A pilgrimage is a journey to a sacred place as an act of devotion and faith. Many enlightened beings have advised to visit the place where the Buddha was born, the place where the Buddha attained Enlightenment, and the place where he preached the first teaching and where he passed away into Maha Parinirvana.
During the pilgrimage we will visit the major holy sites of the Buddha such as: Kathmandu, capital city of Nepal, Lumbini birth place of Buddha, Kushinagar where Buddha passed into Maha Parinirvana, Rajgir, where Buddha gave teachings on the Heart Sutra, Varanasi, where Buddha preached his first discourse and finally Bodh Gaya, where Buddha attained enlightenment. We’ll also visit the Taj-Mahal one of the 7 Wonders of the World.
Registration:
A limited number of people will be accepted on join the pilgrimage. Interested members should contact Ven. Donyo for registration by email to
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or by phone at (408) 204-8724. Registration will be taken on a “first come, first serve” basis and is open to everyone. Registration is open until July 30, 2012.
Gyuto is currently looking for a suitable piece of land in the San Francisco Bay Area to be the future home of the Gyuto Monastic Learning Center serving the San Francisco Bay Area.
Please use the button below to make a secure online donation for the Gyuto Monastery Project. Any amount is welcome!
Your generous contribution will help us to create a monastery center in the Bay Area. All donations are tax-deductible.
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15 Day water bowl offering during the month of Buddha's birth. Everyone is welcome to join the water bowl offering and welcome to bring candles and flowers. Water bowl offering short Video.
15 Day water bowl offering during the month of Buddha's birth. Everyone is welcome to join the water bowl offering and welcome to bring candles and flowers. Water bowl offering short Video.
We invite all members and friends to join the Medicine Buddha puja. Participants welcome to bring flowers, fruits and candles. More information about Medicine Buddha.
15 Day water bowl offering during the month of Buddha's birth. Everyone is welcome to join the water bowl offering and welcome to bring candles and flowers. Water bowl offering short Video.
We invite all members and friends to join the Medicine Buddha puja. Participants welcome to bring flowers, fruits and candles. More information about Medicine Buddha.