Friday 9 May 2008

A slight aside - Lhundrup Thobgye Ling School


As a slight aside from the normal materials, I thought I would provide an update on our work for the 'Pemako Project' whose work includes supporting a local school in North Eastern India http://www.visionbuilders.org/content/public/default.aspx?id=1001 which provides both a modern education but also training in the yogic Buddhist tradition for local children (see elsewhere in the blog for more details).

The latest donation includes £50 from my employer, Corus in Caldicot South Wales (http://www.corusservicecentres.com/en/) which was given an award to grant to charities with local connections for managing a year without any accidents at our manufacturing site. The total donations year to date have reached £395 - which means we have contributed to feeding, clothing and educating four children at the school this year so far.

It is easy for people not well acquainted with our work to purely associate Sang-ngak-chö-dzong with the Aro Tradition in the UK, but in fact our remit extends to support the preservation of the yogic Buddhist traditions across all lineages and schools. The Nyingma, Kagyud and Sakya schools all contain a yogic element, although it is by far and away most prevelant in the first two traditions. Our charitable goals include supporting all of the myriad forms and manifestations of the yogic traditions, and included is a warm connection with practitioners from within the Bön tradition. To this end, charity volunteers and practitioners from the Aro Tradition are encouraged to attend and support events lead by teachers from any yogic tradition. This encouragement has led me personally to be fortunate enough to have contact with and receive teaching from Nyingma, Kagyud, Sakya and Bön teachers, including Lopon Ogyen Tanzin Rinpoche (see elsewhere in this blog) who is the head teacher at Lhundrup Thobgyé Ling. Tanzin Rinpoche is a teacher from the Dudjom gTér, not the Aro gTér, and is a ngakpa. We've been delighted to be able to host him as teacher on a number of occasions in the UK, where he primarily travels to teach his own students in England. We are extremely happy to be able to provide the primary UK route for charitable donations to support his school, enabling Buddhists and non-Buddhists, from any tradition or none, get their funds out to the east in the most direct, effective and tax efficient manner possible.