About Us
We are a non-profit organization whose mission is the benefit of all sentient beings, no matter which faith or religion. A way for interacting with other walks of life and trains of thought in a constructive and non-violent way to help gain an understanding of the interconnectedness of each other, working on humanity one person at a time.
Proceeds of donations go toward a number of socially engaged field outreach programs. Some of the members of IEC will travel worldwide to engage in social causes and issues ranging from genocide survivors to the Dalit (human untouchables), homeless and hunger issues. Some of the partners we help to fund include Zen Peacemakers http://zenpeacemakers.org/, Yokoji Monastery (zmc.org), Ahimsa Trust Foundation(http://www.ahimsatrust.org/) and many more.
All donations are tax deductible.
The Center is located in Westport Washington, minutes from the ocean and has retreats and meditation training multiple times during the year. The centre also teaches sustainable farming and food preparation. You can find out more about The Center on our Facebook page. The schedule of classes and events is listed on the Events section of our Facebook page.
The goal of 2016 is to install a windmill energy generator and help convert the existing power infrastructure to a semi off-grid sustainable green energy solution. This solution will help to power the Aquaponic Greenhouse project that’s part of the list of projects ongoing at IEC.
Our Mission
Interfaith Enlightenment Center’s mission is to benefit humanity in general. There are various issues in the world that are a cause of suffering. The fact that we all suffer from time to time gives us all a commonplace inside of the heart from where we can begin to establish compassion for the suffering of others. This is the guide we must establish in our hearts to help us take action.
Interfaith Enlightenment Center was founded in 2012 as a benevolent religious organization to benefit society. Because Interfaith means multiple faiths that interact with each other, Interfaith Enlightenment Center is open and welcoming to members of all faiths and religions provided the common understanding is for the benefit of humanity.
Interfaith Enlightenment Center is involved in socially engaged outreach programs. Some of the field work being done by members of IEC (Interfaith Enlightenment Center) will include bearing witness retreats, working with “untouchable” societies, retreats and fieldwork in places where human rights issues continue to need attention, as well as social outreach programs dealing with hunger. The main focus on bearing witness as well as other aspects of this program is determining ways in which to create an environment where all parties, including both the recipients and the givers, are maintaining an environment of human dignity throughout the process. Sometimes the challenges behind giving often cause a sense of superiority for the giver and inferiority for the recipient, and programs through IEC work to establish an environment of equanimity among the participants.
Interfaith Enlightenment Center does maintain regular practices of meditation, contemplation and practice. Group gatherings often are for the sole purpose of interfaith exploration and dialogue along with sharing of religious practice information. The goal of having interfaith dialogues is to find the common ground between the different schools of thought to allow understanding of each other in a peaceful and meaningful way to each other. Often the causes of suffering between faiths and religions are based on fear-based ignorance of each other. The goal of IEC is to establish common human values and understanding between various faiths and schools of thought. The fact that we are all human beings allows us a starting place in all discussions.
Interfaith Enlightenment Center also is involved in researching and discovering new ways of dealing with common issues surrounding hunger. The IEC is involved in sustainable and renewable methods of producing healthy food production, preparation, and storage methods. Part of the practices at IEC is to establish mindful practices when dealing with food and hunger issues. Some of the activities while working in the field or even locally involve farm assistance and sharing knowledge in clean energy, sustainable farming, water treatment, health, nutrition and diet practices.
MEET THE TEAM
Our volunteers are at the heart of Interfaith Enlightenment. They have all travelled extensively, studied and worked with Organizations and Institutions around the globe in outreach programs.
David Hobbs
David Hobbs began his studies with Swami Muktananda in the 80’s in Siddha Yoga for a number of years. After Muktananda died he went on to Study Zen Buddhism under Maezumi Roshi. David maintained residence at Yokoji Monastery for over a year where he sat motionless and meditated for two 90-day intensive sessions as well as 8 week long sitting periods during that time.
David has received ordinations as a teacher in multiple traditions. David has over 30 years of study in interfaith disciplines with many recognized master teachers. David currently studies with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and David have received the highest initiations taught by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
David maintains contact with dozens of Master teachers, Lamas, Rinpoches, Priests, Tulkus and Gurus that have collected many millions of followers worldwide. He currently is a licensed minister and has taken vows with various teachers. His personal relationships with these teachers provide great value and insight into the differences in each tradition.
David has discovered a way to make available to everyone without being in conflict with virtually anyone’s deeply held beliefs, an immediate glimpse of transcendent states as well as practices which will profoundly deepen one’s capacity to stabilize and integrate the experience of the Absolute with enlightened functioning in the world.
Teachings from David include: Zen Buddhism, Christianity, Tibetan Buddhism, Hindu Guru Yoga, Tantra, Shamanic practices, Kundalini Yoga and many other mind conditioning practices.
Rigdzin Tingkhye
Rigdzin Tingkhye was born in Tibet in 1957, two years before his family followed His Holiness the Dalai Lama into exile in India. There, along with other first-generation Tibetan refugees, they supported his efforts in preserving Tibetan heritage and building a thriving community in exile. Rigdzin spent his formative years studying under a faculty body comprised of some of the leading scholars of old Tibet. The blessing of receiving teachings in Tibetan history, culture, language and philosophy from these eminent masters has been one of the great joys of his life.
Living in the United States over the past twenty-five years, Rigdzin has sustained his passion for philosophy and everyday loving-kindness through his work as a language teacher, private chef, business owner, and interpreter for distinguished lamas, astrologers and political activists.
A loving family man, Rigdzin is known and appreciated as an accessible contemporary teacher whose exceptional wit brings clarity and delight to his commentaries. He follows in the path of his ancestors, yogis of Ganden Tse and Tashi Chopel monasteries (est. 1384) in Tingkhye, Tibet.
(Tingkhye is pronounced ting-kay and translates into “deep birth.”)
Lewis Pratt
IEC Tibet Sky Village Program Contributor
Lewis is a Seattle-born and based business planning and marketing professional with a strong continuing interest in Tibetan culture and Buddhism. For over a decade, he has known and benefited from the support of Tibet Sky Village founder Rigdzin Tingkhye, whose network and community of friends, contributors and supporter he now supports through Interfaith Enlightenment Center projects and programs such as Tingkhye Emergency Housing Relief.
Over the last twenty-five years, Lewis has worked on numerous local, US, and international business start-ups and currently specializes in competitive content development for multiple hi-tech firms
Stacy Robinson
Washington native Stacy Robinson’s long and varied experience began as an interfaith laywoman during her enlistment in the United States Marine Corps, serving multiple minority faiths at her duty stations. Over the course of the next ten years, she carefully cultivated a healing practice using a combination of Reiki and Pranic healing, receiving the highest certifications in Usui and Karuna styles of Reiki.
Travelling around the world to experience the different energy states of sacred places have been foundational in Stacy’s understanding of the spirit of consciousness. From the ancient circles of Avesbury and Stonehenge to trekking the Mojave Desert in search of energy vortices, climbing Mount Kurama, Japan and honouring its secluded Shinto shrines, to sitting beside Sufi saints in Hyderabad, India.
Stacy has a deep passion for understanding the evolving capacity of awareness and the miracles we are capable of. Currently, she is developing ground-breaking energy techniques aimed at helping individuals expand their mental and spiritual potential that are out of this world.
Mickey Braun
Mickey Braun picked up his first book on self-hypnosis from the public library when he was about 12 years old. Since then, human potential and the seemingly endless capacity of the human mind to either “lift us to heights unimaginable” or “dash us to the darkest depths” has become an endless source of fascination and study for him. Mickey used self-hypnosis for years with results that ranged from miraculous to disappointing.
It wasn’t until years later while working as a personal trainer that Mickey had an “AH-HA moment” that changed forever the way he did self-hypnosis. After using this new insight to defeat his own alcoholism and drug addictions, Mickey began his Hypnosis training and study in earnest. Mickey has studied the hypnosis masters old and new, from Franz Anton Mezmer to Igor Ledochowski who certified Mickey as a Hypnotherapist (IAPCH).
Having mastered several styles of trance work, Mickey developed a system of self coaching that is unique in it’s ability to show you resources you have hidden from yourself! He has also codified his self-hypnosis program, developed a cold reading system for sales people and other professional persuaders, created the “I used to smoke” quit smoking seminar, a weight loss system that is completely counterintuitive, and the “Warrior’s stress destroyer” stress relief seminar.
Mickey looks forward to sharing his considerable hard won insights from years of working with clients in an effort to shorten the distance between where you are and where you want to be.
Theresa Rasmussen
With 16 years of global philanthropic fundraising experience helping design and execute strategies to increase global philanthropic support by engaging and connecting with individuals, companies, and foundations that share the goal of making the world a safer, healthier, and better place. I have worked at the nexus of humanities, science, human rights and environment with organizations such as the United Nations, His Holiness, the 14th Dali Lama, The University of Oxford, The University of Washington to name a few.
In all my roles, I spent most time networking with leaders, academic chairs and faculty, volunteers, and other staff to actively identify potential donors, to cultivate and nurture positive external relationships, and solicit major gifts that support funding initiatives. All this has given me a deep understanding and empathy for the values and importance of giving, and am motivated by attracting philanthropic support for the greater good.
My most life-changing moments came after meeting with His Holiness, the 14th Dali Lama in 2008 and working to expand Buddhist Studies at Oxford, creating collaboration in the study of Buddhism and science. Then in 20011-13 the continuation of this work through a collaboration with His Holiness’s Foundation and Buddhist organizations worldwide to find ways to promote Buddhism and Science and preserve the Tibetan Culture was an honour and a life-changing role for me.
I have spent the past 8 years as a Buddhist spiritual seeker, looking to promote compassion and mindfulness in all forms. For the past 45 years practising Lakota Sioux beliefs and now incorporate my Buddhism with them. I love having this role of Board Member and to share this with the world through my work at the Interfaith Enlightenment Center. Meditation, ceremony, breathing, and yoga are my passion.
