Dear Sangha members, friends, and supporters of Yungdrung Bon,
I send you my best wishes for the New Tibetan Year ! I would like to take this opportunity to convey to you my heartfelt gratitude for the support that you have extended for the development of Shenten Dargye Ling and Triten Norbutse Monastery.
Although there are still many more things to do ahead of us, I nevertheless feel the joy of how our community grows in the way it should. I believe – and most of you would agree – that such auspicious progress is due to the incomparable wisdom and kindness of our beloved teacher, H.E. Yongdzin Rinpoche. I also acknowledge that your support and collaboration manifesting from the depths of your heart, and from your understanding of the preciousness of this endangered tradition and its practice, is an important contribution for this development.
As many of you already know, Triten Norbutse Monastery is one of the two main Bon monasteries and seats of learning outside Tibet providing complete training in Bon religious philosophy and meditation.
|
 |
|
This thought longing after the abolition
Of the torments of sentient beings
Is what we call "great compassion"
Which, no doubt, is the king of medicines.
|
There are now nearly 170 monk-students while twenty-seven Geshes and twenty meditation monks have graduated to date.
With the unsurpassed aspiration and guidance of Yongdzin Rinpoche, Triten Norbutse strives for further improvements to sustain the monastery and its community, along with various other projects.
Shenten Dargye Ling is growing, with improvements to the main temple, rooms, kitchen, and garden as well as the shrine room. We are looking forward to Shenten Dargye Ling’s continuing advancement as a hub for the teaching, practice, preservation and research of Yungdrung Bon. In this way Shenten Dargye Ling can become an important sanctuary for the tradition, and home for Bonpo communities in the West.
|
I have some important news to share with you:
- As one of the main objectives of Shenten Dargye Ling is to provide a base for academic research and scientific experiments on the Bon tradition, we are organizing an International Conference on Bon to be held here in June 2008. As speakers at this important conference, we have invited eminent scholars from various countries who have contributed remarkable works on the Bon tradition.
- The second piece of good news is about the teaching topic of Summer Retreat 2008.
Yongdzin Rinpoche has graciously accepted to transmit to us the cycle of Dzogchen Yongtse Longchen, The Peak of All, Great Expanse. This text was written by the great ancient master Nyachen Lishu Tagring as a commentary on Dzogchen Dragpa Korsum, the Cycle of Three Proclamation, one of the four major Dzogchen Cycles. Having been concealed during the persecution of Bon in the eighth century, it was later discovered by Zhoeton Ngoedup Dragpa in 1088, from the temple of Khomthing in Lodrak, south Tibet. This would be the first time this Cycle of teaching has been transmitted in the West directly by Yongdzin Rinpoche. Therefore, I would like to recommend that particularly those of you who feel a deep connection to and genuinely follow this tradition avail yourselves of this opportunity to receive such precious teaching.
- Thirdly, plans are moving forward on the long-term Dzogchen meditation program. This is to be an important, on-going program in Shenten Dargye Ling, so everyone wishing to deepen their meditation and advance their practice is welcome to participate.
Last but not least, I would like to encourage you all to join us in building the beautiful mandala of Shenten Dargye Ling to reveal the unconditional knowledge of Yungdrung Bon within ourselves.
With warmest regards and thanks,
Khenpo Tenpa Yungdrung
|
française