Welcome Speech
Inauguration of Orgyen Drub Gyue Ling Gompa in Samar, Upper Mustang, Nepal
26th September 2012
11th day of the 8th Tibetan month in the Water Dragon Year 2139
In the year 2005 the Mother Group Samar, 12 lovely ladies, requested Lhakpa Gyalje Sherpa, Jo Timmermann and Anna Elisabeth Bach during their pilgrimage in Upper Mustang, to support their wish for to reconstruct the ruined and demolished old Gompa of Samar. To this time we said to the Samar ladies, well, we look what we can do, we cant give you now a promise. This incident happened on fullmoon in May, the enlightened day of Buddha Shakyamuni.
Back to Kathmandu we sat together and discussed how we could now go into action. We decided first to travel to Kalimpong, West-Bengal, for to visit 17th Gyalwa Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje and request for his blessing.
We traveled back to Germany and founded with 7 friends the Himalaya Projekt Society, a registered Non Government Organization by the german government. Finaly in springtime 2008 we start with the first preparations for the new Gompa. The people of Samar and the Himalaya Projekt Team decided together to construct an new Gompa, the old place was too difficult to maintain.
The people of Samar, our very skilled craftsmen, contructors, the Buddhist artists and the Himalaya Projekt Team worked together and now we are all realy very happy that our wish became true.
Orgyen Drub Gyue Ling Gompa is finished.
And today our very honorable Shangpa Rinpoche with assistance of very honorable Dupsing Rinpoche can inaugurate the gompa and can bestow their blesssings for the Buddhist activity in Samar and Upper Mustang.
Since the time of the Dharma activity of Guru Rinpoche, Padmasambhava, who brought Buddhism from India over the Kali Gandaki valley and former kingdom of Lo (Mustang) to Tibet, Lo was always a place were Buddhism bloomed and developed. During his last incarnation Shangpa Rinpoche showed a very vast and important dharma activity in Mustang and Dolpo. He gave dharma teachings and empowerments, contructed mani wheels, several choerten and renovated monasteries. The King of Mustang has a very close relationship to Shangpa Rinpoche.
Now we are very happy that Ven. Shangpa Rinpoche accepted our request to become the Head Lama of Orgyen Drub Gyu Ling Gompa. During his past life he was also very active here for the people of Samar.
We, the Himalaya Projekt Team and all our supporters and sponsors, which gave the financial and idealistic support for this Gompa, we all wish the people of Samar and Mustang, that now again hereis a very proper place for your Buddhist activity and for your Buddhist culture.
Dear Venerable Shangpa Rinpoche, dear Venerable Dupsing Rinpoche, dear honorable members of Samar, dear honorable members of the King family of Mustang, dear honorable guests of Mustang, dear Himalaya Projekt Team members, dear gompa construction helpers, dear friends from Germany and Austria,17th Gyalwa Karmapa was very pleased about our wish and said to us, it is always a very benefitful activity to build a Buddhist Gompa for to support the Buddhist culture in the Himalayas.We are very delighted that so many people of Mustang take part in these auspicious days. It is a very important sign for the Dharma activities and cultural affairs here in Mustang.
And we as your guests, we are very glad to join these celebrations with you.
Now please use this blessingful place for your dharma practise. There is nothing better you could do.
May all beings have happiness and the cause of happiness.
May they be free from suffering and the cause of suffering.
May the always experience happiness that is totally free of suffering.
May they remain in the great equanimity that is free from attachment and aversion.
Emaho, the Buddhas are victorious.
Dear friends of the Himalaya project,
In the summer of this year, master confectioner Bruno Volk made it possible for Jamyang Sherpa from Nepal to do a practical training for 3 months in his traditional bakery in Bad Salzig. Jamyang Sherpa has now very successfully concluded this training and can return to Nepal carrying all the newly acquired knowledge with him.
A deep and sincere ‘Thank You’ from us to master baker Bruno Volk and his wife for their generous and warm support and to Engelbert Brager who provided Jamyang Sherpa with family access during his stay in Germany.
Ulf Oetke, master baker from Oldenburg, manages the whole project. At present, the planning phase is at full speed, the local conditions are being evaluated (due to the altitude of 3,600 m, the conditions for a bakery are quite special and the challenges of an environmentally friendly oven firing must also be mastered). A German specialist for oven design has signalled his interest to support this project: the heart of each bakery is and will always be the oven for the pastries!
Venerable Dupsing Rinpoche and Venerable Shangpa Rinpoche jointly head the monastery (Dschang Chub Chö Ling) in Hemza, to which the Tibetan refugee camp Tashi Palkhiel as well as the kindergarten and the monks‘ kindergarten of the monastery are connected.
Some days ago, Venerable Dupsing Rinpoche asked us to find a sponsor for 15 year-old Tenzin in order to ensure his school education. Tenzin is the youngest son of a family of 5 children. His father is in charge of the Dharma shop at the monastery. The family is no longer able to pay for Tensin’s school education.
If you would like to ensure Tenzin’s future with 25,00 € per month (partial amounts are also very welcome), please contact Anna Elisabeth Bach: anna.elisabeth.bach@himalayaprojekt.org
Project 5 Godfatherships for children of the Himalayan Region Welfare English School:
Head of the project: Sandra Biegert: info@praxis-biegert.de
We are very happy that further support for the team „Establishing a hospital ward“ has been given by private collections of donations. Many thanks to Monika and Roma!
Your
Himalaya Projekt Team
August 2012
Last but not least: Please feel free to forward the newsletter to your friends; however, please do not forward to any of the diamondway centers. Thanks a lot.
Dear Himalaya Project friends,
Please be informed that the opening of BuddhaGarten 2014 will be postponed to 2015.
During the construction works on the site of the State Garden Show in Landau, five bombs from World War II have been found until today. For security reason, the government safety organisation ordered to stop all works immediately and to have the area (35 hectares) checked for more explosive ordnance. Several experts have developed a concept for this procedure. It will take 108 days to complete the check for EO. In view of these circumstances, both the Ministry of the Environment and the city of Landay have decided that the former opening date on 17/04/2014 can no longer be kept.
Therefore, the state of Rhineland-Palatinate and the city of Landau have decided to postpone the State Garden Show by one year (17/04 – 18/10/2015).
We will use this excess of time to further perfect our project and make it grow. In doing so, we are still depending on your support in the form of donations.
Please contact:
Diyap Oezdüzenciler, buddhagarten.landau.2014@gmail.com
and Anna Elisabeth Bach, anna.elisabeth.bach@himalayaprojekt.org
www.buddhaheilpflanzen.org
Project 7 „ The Mustang Restauration Project“:
Review: After the successful construction of the monastery in Samar we have started a new project in Mustang. The task of our project No. 7 "Mustang Restauration Project" is the restauration of old stupas and prayer wheels that have been constructed by 1st Shangpa Rinpoche. This is currently our most important project and we need people who are willing to support us financially. In December 2012, the "Mustang Restauration Project" was officially presented and launched during the Kagyü Mönlam in Bodghaya; we were lucky enough to collect first donations, the starting capital so to speak. Meanwhile, the project has gathered way. Right now, a large old prayer wheel from a village Phuwa in Upper Mustang in the Kathmandu valley is being restaured.
(Samten Lama visiting the project and the workers)
First, this prayer wheel had to be transported from Upper Mustang to Patan, a town in the Kathmandu valley. Patan is an old king’s town and quite famous for ist handicraft. The prayer wheel has been disassembled and the parts are either restaured or replaced. The restauration has been finished early May, 2013. The parts now have to be transported to Upper Mustang where they will be assembled so that this old prayer wheel can be activated, showing its former glamour.
Preview:
As we have already described in our latest newsletter, the mani prayer wheel has been produced as a jigsaw puzzle in Pathan and was then transported to Phuwa, where it was finally assembled.
During the restauration we had to find that the insides of the prayer wheel, the Mantras (large paper sheets printed with holy Buddhist verses), had been eaten by insects. This is why these paper sheets had to be reprinted in a print shop in Swoyambhu-Kathmandu. The paper sheets will later be rolled in a certain way and fill the Mani prayer wheel.
The building for the Mani prayer wheel was in such a miserable condition that we had to completely tear it down and rebuild it. Meanwhile, it is built, but the wall paintings inside are still missing. Shangpa Rinpoche wishes that the 8 Buddhist symbols of joy be depicted here.
(the eaten mantra scrolls)
This project made good progress. However, in order to complete the restauration, we still need another 3,000.00 €. We would be very happy if we could realize this with the help and support of friends and sponsors so that the Mani prayer wheel can soon spin again for the benefit of all beings.
(reconstruction of the building for the Mani prayer wheel)
For a donation of at least 150.00 € to project 7, every donor receives a hand-made picture with the Tibetan characters for “Karmapa Chenno”.
For further information: Dr. Eberhard Steinbauer, esteinbauer@yahoo.de
When donating to the Himalaya Projekt e. V., please indicate "Project 7 Mustang Restauration Project". Thank you.
I have created a blog for all information and news concerning this project:
http://mustang-restauration-project.org
Project 1/8 Samar Gompa:
We are looking for long-term sponsorships to ensure the maintenance of the gompa and the supplies for the lama and the monks in Samar Gompa in Samar (Upper Mustang). Samar Gompa and its activities are very important to strenghten the area of Upper Mustang and to maintain Buddhist culture and Buddhist teachings.
(Samar Gompa) (Samar Gompa on the left, the small grey house next to it is where the lama and the monks live, with a view of Samar village)
(inside Samar Gompa) (Lhakpa Gyalje Sherpa and women from Samar)
For further information: Anna Elisabeth Bach, anna.elisabeth.bach@himalayaprojekt.org
Project 6 Procuration of sponsorhips for the monk students of Jangchub Choeling Monastery:
In early June we were lucky and honoured to welcome Dupsing Rinpoche and Khenpo Tashi Woser in our house which gave us the opportunity to conduct an interview about the life of the monk students in Jangchub Choeling Monastery.
(left to right: Dupsing Rinpoche, Sonja Radix, Khenpo Tashi Woser)
Most of the monk students‘ families are without financial means and cannot afford to pay for their children’s adequate education. In Nepal, kindergarten and school are with costs. School fees are too hight for the parents to pay. Most parents are barely able to procure clothes for their children so that the sponsorships also take care of this matter and enable the monasteries to clothe the students adequately. This is especially important during the winter because the buildings are without heating and it is moist and cold. Furthermore, the Buddhist teachings (dharma) is very important to the families and they want to enable at least one of their children to study them. However, it sometimes also happens that the children themselves have the wish to join the monastery.
The heads of the monastery want the children to join after their 11th birthday only since the monk education is not easy and requires a lot of discipline and inner strength. The parents do not always adhere to that and try to send their children earlier to the monastery because of their lack of means. In the end, a committee (composed of Shangpa Rinpoche, Dupsing Rinpoche and 7 elected members of the Tibetan refugee camp and monastery) decides whether or not a child will be accepted into the monastery. This committee has been introduced into the monastery system last year.
The young monks are taught in mathematics, English, Nepali, Tibetan, Tibetan history and poetry. The regular subjects are taught by 5 teachers from outside the monastery. After 3 years, Buddhist philosophy is added to their schedule, taught by lamas from the monastery. This basic education takes 9 years.
On Sundays, there is no class and the children are free to have visitors or go home. Most children, however, live in the mountains and their families are very poor. Thus, it is way too far to go home and the transportation fees are too high. Therefore, most children stay in the monastery and have no family visits. It is very popular to play soccer or watch TV. All children whose parents have money or live in the camp and close by go home on Sundays.
In view of the lack of toys we would like to install a playroom next year so that they have more alternatives and ways to spend their free time with joy and meaning. The situation is similar during the one month of holidays, many children stay in the monastery. Especially for this period it would be desirable to offer more choices for the children how to spend their time.
The children are assigned to 2 monks; 2 of them sleep with 2 adult monks who take care of the little monks.
This is what a regular monastery day looks like for the monk students: meditation at 6 AM (Puja, recitation of special texts), breakfast at 7 AM, school starts at 8 AM until 12 AM. After lunch, school resumes at 1:30 PM until 3 PM (tea time). Meditation (Puja) at 3:30 PM for the Buddhist protector Mahakala, dinner at 6 PM and after 6:30 PM there is time for own studies.
(Khenpo Tashi Woser during teaching) (English class)
(Dorda la studying with one of his charges) (Lunch)
(Puja in the monastery)
Dupsing Rinpoche and Khenpo Tashi are very grateful for the support and the attention you all give to the project. For the monastery, it is a great relief to be able to care for the children adequately by means of your sponsorships. Khenpo Tashi Woser took all the letters and small gifts with him and gave them to the children in the monastery and also to sponsored children in the refugee camp.
Many thanks for that! You can clearly see the joy and excitement of the children!
For more information and support for the playroom: Sonja Radix, sonja.radix@himalayaprojekt.org
Project 5 HREWS School Bigu:
We have received beautiful pictures from Bigu showing happy children’s faces during lunch. In addition to just supporting the school, we were meanwhile able to hire a cook who prepares hot milk tea and a warm meal for the children on a daily basis - thanks to all the donations. When we first visited the school, there were no warm beverages or meals for the children. However, due to the rough climate in the mountains it is most important in order to stay healthy that there are warm beverages and meals. Many thanks to all donors whose support ensured a daily warm meal for the children! We still need your donations so that this one warm daily meal for the children can be assured on a long-term basis.
Further information: Sandra Biegert, info@praxis-biegert.de
Thank you all for your support! Thanks to the donations and active support all projects can continue to grow and be of great use!
With our best wishes,
Your
Himalaya Projekt Team
August 2013
www.himalayaprojekt.org