Dear Donors and Friends,
In light of the events of the last few days, where every letter or e-mail seemed to contain a donation, it felt timely to give you all a fund update.
Periodically our general fund raising efforts mean we have a surplus in the general charity fund, and we transfer that money into our appeal fund. That, combined with recent donations ranging from £20 to £1,000, have taken our appeal fund up to £58,032.85. We are well on course to match what we raised in 2007, and bring in over £10,000 during 2008.
Our thanks, thoughts and best wishes go to all who have made donations, and all our fund raisers.
Best regards
Ngakpa Namgyal, Appeal Director.
Sunday, 27 July 2008
Sunday, 29 June 2008
British Tennis Champion Supports Drala Jong
Update 27/7/8 - Yesterday Richard presented the Drala Jong Appeal with £333, including his £100 prize and over £200 of sponsorship money. Way to go, Richard!
I'm delighted to announce that a Brit (more particularly, a Welshman) has won Wimbledon - or rather Wiimbledon. Richard O'Donovan has come out on top in the Cardiff Wiimbledon championships, and has nominated the Drala Jong appeal to be the recipient of his sponsorship money and the prize money for the victory.
Our deep gratitude and admiration go out to Richard, who has won something that Henman, Rusedski, and (to date) Murray have not managed - a British tennis championship.
Wednesday, 25 June 2008
Pride and Prejudice
Some folk who hear about Drala Jong assume all the art that will be created and performed there will be from an unfamiliar cultural context - either obviously overtly Buddhist, or inspired by Asian and Oriental influences. This pre judgement leads to the conclusion that somehow Drala Jong won't be accessible to everyone, but just those who want to explore Buddhist practice. In actuality, we're proud that in fact Drala Jong will be about exploring and expanding all the senses and sense fields, and engaging with art in every way it might manifest. Our intention is to make the centre relevant to anyone who enjoys art, craft, or the simple joy of living - whether inspired by East or West, whether modern, or traditional. An example of this is embracing classical forms of dance, in particular 18th century dance.
I was fortunate enough to watch a performance by The Renaissance Historical Dance Society http://www.rhds.org.uk/ whilst on holiday recently. Some of the performers are shown here. Drala Jong will provide a venue where we can invite a myriad of artists, crafts people and living history enthusiasts to share their passions.
This is not a mere whimsy on our part. Buddhist practice is not about the stereotypes of 'vegetarianism' or 'being terribly nice to people'. It is about a myriad of human qualities, including dealing with people and the world at large in a genuine, authentic way; about poise, and grace, dignity and respect; courtesy and generosity of spirit. These qualities can be found in a host of forms within modern secular life, as well as within Buddhism (witness the teachings of Trungpa Rinpoche's Shambhala lineage). These qualities can also be found within 18th century English dance.
Saturday, 21 June 2008
Fund Raising at Wiimbeldon
Adding to the list of unusual ways of raising funds for the appeal, Richard O'Donovan of Whitchurch, Cardiff is playing at Wiimbledon this year. No ... not Wimbledon ... Wiimbledon. This is a tournament of tennis played on the Wii games console which is taking place at the end of June in Cardiff. The requirement for entry is a 'pro' status of 1000. Richard's status is currently 2096 playing right handed and 2008 playing left handed, so he stands a good chance of doing well. The prize for winning is a cheque for £250 for his chosen charity, and his chosen charity is - yes you guessed it - Sang-ngak-chö-dzong, specifically the Drala Jong appeal. The organisers also suggest players seek sponsorship and if anyone would care to sponsor him via this blog please let me know if you would like to sponsor him and I'll put you in touch. So far there is £100 pledged by his sponsors and we'd love to help him improve on that.
For more information about the tournament in general please go to the Wiimbledon web site:
http://www.wiimbledon.org.uk/
Check back in with the blog in a few weeks time, and I'll let you know how Richard performed. There's no Henman Hill at Wiimbledon, but maybe we can set up an O'Donovan Den in the competition venue, with Strawberries and Cream all round.
For more information about the tournament in general please go to the Wiimbledon web site:
http://www.wiimbledon.org.uk/
Check back in with the blog in a few weeks time, and I'll let you know how Richard performed. There's no Henman Hill at Wiimbledon, but maybe we can set up an O'Donovan Den in the competition venue, with Strawberries and Cream all round.
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.
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.
Saturday, 19 April 2008
The Art of Living - Part III - art and the wider world
What follows is an excerpt from an unpublished interview with Ngak'chang Rinpoche from 2007 regarding Drala Jong. I will include more excerpts from articles and interviews over coming months to help elaborate upon elements in the Drala Jong brochure available at http://www.lulu.com/content/719036
The interviewer is Caroline Sherwood (Q) and all responses are from Ngak'chang Rinpoche (NCR), one of the lineage holders of the Aro gTér and a Spiritual Director of Sang-ngak-chö-dzong.
Q: Drala Jong is a 'Retreat Centre' - so, what part does retreat play in the modern world?
NCR: Same as it did in the old world. However – I would say that it plays the same part as a guitar lesson or a horseriding lesson. You have to take time out in order to learn a skill or to gain experience. Meditation is not different in that sense to any other realm of skill or learning.
Q: What help do you still need for the new centre?
NCR: A great deal of money.
Q: What will Drala Jong offer to non Buddhists?
NCR: It will offer something quite surprising. Vajrayana—or essential vajrayana—is an area in which people are already involved whether they know or not. Vajrayana is there in romantic relationships and in the Arts. Vajrayana is there in all forms of creativity and in all human endeavours. We would make that obvious to people by speaking at an essential level about whatever interests them in life. This will be especially important to people involved with the Arts – but every area of life is open to being informed by essential vajrayana.
Q:What part do art and craft play in your tradition?
NCR: You could almost say they are the tradition. Vajrayana deals with the senses and the sense fields – and in so doing touches the heart of creativity. The essential nature of creativity is compassion – but that statement would take a great deal of explanation.
Q: I notice the brochure mentions dance. What kind of dance is this?
NCR: Meditative dance. The actualisation or enactment of the realised state in terms of movement. Dance is an aspect of enlightened theatre – and as such is central to the Arts. Vajrayana contains all the Arts and expresses itself through the Arts.
Q: The name Drala Jong translates as ‘Sparkling Meadow of Primal Iridescence’ - this may seem rather grand to some people. What inspired it and what does it imply?
NCR: The ‘grand’ sound of the name stems from Vajrayana spiritual culture. If a name is given for any endeavour, then—according to Vajrayana—it needs to be inspirational. This name accords with that style. Drala Jong could also be translated in many different ways – because there is no English equivalent for drala. Jong simply means meadow – but meadow has certain connotations in Tibetan that might be lacking in English – so I made it ‘sparkling meadow’. Then drala . . . well . . . drala relates to the fact that the world is not inanimate, insensate, or uncommunicative. Drala is the living ambience of the world in terms of the personality of a place. If you take a walk in a wood—and you’re not entirely preoccupied with thought—you may well have a sense of connectivity. You may feel that the trees reciprocate within the sense fields. We’re not exactly speaking of Ents here—you understand—but maybe Tolkien did have some sense of what is meant by drala. I don’t want to make this as flowery as ‘being in harmony with nature’ – and anyway, that would only be part of the story. In terms of drala the harmony would be a two way process . . . it might even be three dimensionally contrapuntal. Oh dear . . . I think I’ve made it sound grand again.
The interviewer is Caroline Sherwood (Q) and all responses are from Ngak'chang Rinpoche (NCR), one of the lineage holders of the Aro gTér and a Spiritual Director of Sang-ngak-chö-dzong.
Q: Drala Jong is a 'Retreat Centre' - so, what part does retreat play in the modern world?
NCR: Same as it did in the old world. However – I would say that it plays the same part as a guitar lesson or a horseriding lesson. You have to take time out in order to learn a skill or to gain experience. Meditation is not different in that sense to any other realm of skill or learning.
Q: What help do you still need for the new centre?
NCR: A great deal of money.
Q: What will Drala Jong offer to non Buddhists?
NCR: It will offer something quite surprising. Vajrayana—or essential vajrayana—is an area in which people are already involved whether they know or not. Vajrayana is there in romantic relationships and in the Arts. Vajrayana is there in all forms of creativity and in all human endeavours. We would make that obvious to people by speaking at an essential level about whatever interests them in life. This will be especially important to people involved with the Arts – but every area of life is open to being informed by essential vajrayana.
Q:What part do art and craft play in your tradition?
NCR: You could almost say they are the tradition. Vajrayana deals with the senses and the sense fields – and in so doing touches the heart of creativity. The essential nature of creativity is compassion – but that statement would take a great deal of explanation.
Q: I notice the brochure mentions dance. What kind of dance is this?
NCR: Meditative dance. The actualisation or enactment of the realised state in terms of movement. Dance is an aspect of enlightened theatre – and as such is central to the Arts. Vajrayana contains all the Arts and expresses itself through the Arts.
Q: The name Drala Jong translates as ‘Sparkling Meadow of Primal Iridescence’ - this may seem rather grand to some people. What inspired it and what does it imply?
NCR: The ‘grand’ sound of the name stems from Vajrayana spiritual culture. If a name is given for any endeavour, then—according to Vajrayana—it needs to be inspirational. This name accords with that style. Drala Jong could also be translated in many different ways – because there is no English equivalent for drala. Jong simply means meadow – but meadow has certain connotations in Tibetan that might be lacking in English – so I made it ‘sparkling meadow’. Then drala . . . well . . . drala relates to the fact that the world is not inanimate, insensate, or uncommunicative. Drala is the living ambience of the world in terms of the personality of a place. If you take a walk in a wood—and you’re not entirely preoccupied with thought—you may well have a sense of connectivity. You may feel that the trees reciprocate within the sense fields. We’re not exactly speaking of Ents here—you understand—but maybe Tolkien did have some sense of what is meant by drala. I don’t want to make this as flowery as ‘being in harmony with nature’ – and anyway, that would only be part of the story. In terms of drala the harmony would be a two way process . . . it might even be three dimensionally contrapuntal. Oh dear . . . I think I’ve made it sound grand again.
Wednesday, 16 April 2008
The Art of Living - Part II
"The mind is the greatest artist, painting various relative truths with the brush of conception."Thinley Norbu Rinpoche, Magic Dance 1981:135
"At the highest levels of meditation and art there are no longer any set rules, just the spontaneous flow of creativity"
Dugu Choegyal Rinpoche, The Dalai Lamas' Secret Temple, 2000:39
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