Tupten Osel Choling (TOC) is a Tibetan Buddhist, non-profit organization based in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was founded to support the work of Ven. Sogan Rinpoche who has generously offered to share his knowledge of the Buddhadharma with anyone wishing to receive it.
TOC sponsors teachings, animal release ceremonies and retreats, and invites other Buddhist masters to teach in the San Francisco area.
Our Name
The meaning of Tupten Osel Choling is actually a shortened form of the Tibetan phrase:
Tupten Osel Chokhor Ling
Tupten means the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha.
Osel means the clear light of ultimate reality.
Chokhor means Dharmacakra – or – the wheel of the Dharma.
Ling means the abode.
So the name can be translated as: The Abode of the Dharma Wheel of the Buddha's Teachings on the Clear Light of Ultimate Reality
Our Logo
The meaning of the Tupten Osel Choling logo
1. To illustrate the thorough purification of destructive states of mind: An Unfurling Stainless White Silken Scarf (Or: An Unfurling Stainless White Katag).
2. To show the impartial compassion that reaches out to all and will remain until the ocean of samsara is emptied: A White Lotus in Full Bloom.
3. To demonstrate the continual turning of the dharma wheel, where the view is mutual dependence and the conduct altruistic: The hand gesture/mudra of turning the dharma wheel.
4. To signify the development of love, compassion, and the precious mind aspiring to enlightenment for the betterment of all: A Bodhi Leaf.
Our Lineage
The fact that Buddhists of all traditions can follow a truly unbroken line of masters and disciples from the Buddha down to their own beloved master, in our most fortunate case, Sogan Rinpoche, is one of the primary characteristics of the dharma.
The following three diagrams are an attempt to express the extraordinary richness of our particular tradition. It is hoped that using the graphic method of the genealogical tree will invoke an immediate experience of the lineage. While reading the inspiring autobiographies of past masters there is a natural tendency to separate their majestic accomplishments from our own seemingly mundane lives. This is not and could not be so. Initially as a challenge and personal study my motivation was to show, even naively, how the Sogan Lineage has weaved through other histories and is continuous with the lives of his present students. These diagrams also wish to speak of the future.
While the garland of compassion that the lineage expresses is immutable, experiences appear with various intensities. As is well documented in Buddhist texts, our age is experiencing significant challenges. Our environment and even our understanding of ourselves is being distorted by the same human capacities that once ensured our survival. The wisdom and the methods revealed in the continuity of the lineage seem particularly relevant. These diagrams represent an aspiration, quite simplistically, to future modes of translation. The needed translations of the lineage to generations for whom literacy may not be associated with comprehension of textural documents as it is today. While the blessing of the lineage are timeless, they appear to us in the form of our precious lama of the three times Sogan Rinpoche. May his life and inexpressible inspiration continue forever and always in the hearts and minds of devoted students, just as he is a perfect expression of his own most precious masters.
With much love,
Richard Preyer
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