Our new web site is a lot of fun -- both to work on and to visit. Kate Forster created this beautiful site last summer, with Sara Well's input, and I now maintain it, also with Sara's input.
What was first put up was the Home Page, with a beautiful Tibetan vase background taken from the image that Rinpoche gave Sara when our center began. Linked to the homepage are articles with Rinpoche's biography (however, we have yet to get photos on that page), Rinpoche's long-life prayer, and our Mission Statement (authored by Carolea Webb.) There is a page with links to Rinpoche's other centers, a weekly schedule page with Je Tsongkhapa's "Foundation of All Good Qualities" to explain the meaning of Lam Rim, and a membership page with a lovely picture of a stupa.
Recently I have added a "What's New" page, in order to keep the site up-to-date, some rainbow images, and the past two newsletters. Nathan Foster created the "Tara News" banner on the newsletter page, using the rainbow wavy line image that you can see on many pages. He accomplished this in about 10 minutes; it would have taken me all day! Hopefully this newsletter will be on the site soon.
I would love input from any and all on how to improve the site, and any material you would like put there. May this web site benefit many!
Being a good cameraman is a harder job than the average person may think. After all, everyone is buying video cameras and filming vacations and such. But filming family events and trips for the family, and covering a teaching by a Tibetan Lama for many unrelated Buddhist practitioners, is something completely different. Family members only expect a small coverage of the high points of an event. Visitors to a Sangha coming to watch a teaching by a high Lama expect quality. Giving visitors what they want requires organization, planning, careful setup, and a good knowledge of the subject. Filming takes practice. But if you get something wrong, you can't redo the teachings and try again. All this hard work may be discouraging, but in the end, seeing a high quality video image of a teaching of important Buddhist scriptures, and being able to say that you produced it, makes it all worthwhile.
