Saturday, May 23, 2009
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Saturday, April 4, 2009
Penor Rinpoche passes awayPosted on Wednesday,
2 April, 2009 - His Holiness Drubwang Pema Norbu Rinpoche, 77, one of the most profound Buddhist spiritual teachers, passed away on March 27 in India following a chronic illness. Rinpoche was the third Drubwang Pema Norbu Rinpoche, the eleventh throne-holder of the Palyul lineage and a former supreme head of the Nyingma school in Mysore, India. He was born in 1932 in the Powo region of Kham in Tibet.
Ugyen Wangchuk, a Bhutanese monk in Mysore, via a telephone interview, said that all the trulkus, khenpos and sangha of Namdroling monastery were mourning the loss of a great teacher, who guided and nurtured all monks like his own children.
He said that, at present, Rinpoche’s body was in a meditative state and might be displayed for public blessing on the 10th and 15th day of the 2nd month in the lunar calendar. He also said that his followers worldwide are performing prayers. Rinpoche has thousands of devotees in India, Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan and in the west.
Before Rinpoche’s demise, Bhutan’s Ambassador to India, V Namgyal, represented His Majesty the King, the government and the people of Bhutan at a special prayer ceremony on March 21. Ugyen Wangchuk added that the devotees had actually arranged the ceremonial prayer for Rinpoche’s long life.
The gathering at Sogyal Rinpoche’s teaching in Thimphu on March 28 also dedicated a moment of thought for late Penor Rinpoche. Meanwhile, special prayer ceremonies are being conducted across Bhutan.
The prime minister, Lyonchhoen Jigmi Y Thinley, told media that Bhutan would always remember Penor Rinpoche as a great master and teacher. He said that Rinpoche had made special contributions to the promotion and advancement of Buddhadharma in Bhutan.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Master Artist-Pema Namdol thaye
Pema Namdol Thaye is one of those rare individuals possessing the ability to master every artistic medium he explores. He is fully accomplished in traditional Buddhist icon painting, sculpting, traditional wood carving, architectural design and three-dimensional celestial model (mandala) construction. Put simply, he is an artistic genius and as acknowledgement of this was the recipient of “Alien of Extraordinary Ability in his Field of Expertise” by the U.S. Government in December 2008. Something he sees as a great honor for his years of dedication.
Greater love has no woman …Indigent mother and ‘demonic’ daughter at the mercy of a mix of superstition and compassi[Copied from Bhutanese news Paper]
13 February,2009-People are scared of her.
Some say she is a witch. Others that she’s unnatural.
Tall and emaciated, her hair hanging loose, kira worn rough and ready, Tshering Lhadon is generally seen chasing away children, often boxing their ears when she catches them, and throwing stones at passers-by her house. They say she haunts the village’s ‘ngep’ (local guardian) - a dark rock fast by an old chorten - at night. Tshering Lhadon has been ostracised by her village since she was 16. She is 41 years old today. The onus of looking after her is shouldered by her 66-year-old mother, Pema Yuden. Her father had died five years ago. They live in Korphu, in Trongsa dzongkhag. No matter what people say about her daughter, Pema Yuden’s love for her only child is unconditional. She breaks into tears whenever she talks about her daughter. The grief has grown into a deep concern now that Pema Yuden is very old.
Things weren’t always like this. When Pema Yuden gave birth to her daughter, the parents, who were in their 20s, derived “immense happiness watching our child grow into a young, beautiful woman”. Her daughter’s pleasing personality was enhanced by her mellifluous singing voice and dancing skills. Indeed, the girl was the toast of her village. She was her parent’s pride and joy.
When Tshering Lhadon turned 16, she suddenly became ill. She has not recovered since. Prayers and rituals did not work. “She sometimes cried then laughed at others, or did both at once,” the mother said. After the father died, Tshering Lhadon started assaulting her mother, sometimes biting her, at other times pulling her hair. “But that’s all right, Pema Yuden said, she’s sick.
To support her daughter and herself, Pema Yuden works and begs from her neighbours. She has a small plot of land, about an hour’s walk from the village, where she grows rice, which lasts about three months. The rest of the years she works in other people’s fields in return for basic essentials like oil and salt.
A resident of Korphu village, Tshewang, 58, told Kuensel that they employed Pema Yuden out of sympathy. “Because of her age her productivity is less than what we pay her, but we employ her anyway so that she and her daughter do not go hungry.”
Pema Yuden is not happy at the way the village have treated her and her daughter for so many years. Looking at a picture Kuensel took of her daughter, she said: “Does she look like a witch? You tell me.” Their house also bears the marks of stones flung at them by villagers. Some farmers even connect the death of a cow or horse in the village to the presence of Tshering Lhadon.
But Pema Yuden’s biggest worry is that,with her old age, no one will want her labour and that she and her daughter will have to go hungry one day.
“I sleep every night worrying what tomorrow has in store for me and my daughter,” said Pema Yuden. Their only close relative is her 80-year-old brother, who is too old to help. Pema Yuden has also transferred her land to her cousin’s name after he promised to take care of her and her daughter. Nobody knows for sure if the cousin is keeping his promise
. Pema Yuden would not say. Korphu gup Wangda told Kuensel that Pema Yuden could not be listed as a kidu recipient because she gave away her land to her cousin, who promised to look after her. “She should surrender her land to the government if she wants to be listed as a kidu recipient,” he said. He added that Pema Yuden should make a personal complaint for the gewog to intervene.
Pema Yuden not only worries about where their next meal will come from but also for the safety of her daughter and who will look after her once she dies.
Korphu resident Karma, 28, said Tshering Lhadon could not live without her mother. “She’ll cry and shout and look for her mother.”
By Tashi Dema t_dyel@kuensel.com.bt
Some say she is a witch. Others that she’s unnatural.
Tall and emaciated, her hair hanging loose, kira worn rough and ready, Tshering Lhadon is generally seen chasing away children, often boxing their ears when she catches them, and throwing stones at passers-by her house. They say she haunts the village’s ‘ngep’ (local guardian) - a dark rock fast by an old chorten - at night. Tshering Lhadon has been ostracised by her village since she was 16. She is 41 years old today. The onus of looking after her is shouldered by her 66-year-old mother, Pema Yuden. Her father had died five years ago. They live in Korphu, in Trongsa dzongkhag. No matter what people say about her daughter, Pema Yuden’s love for her only child is unconditional. She breaks into tears whenever she talks about her daughter. The grief has grown into a deep concern now that Pema Yuden is very old.
Things weren’t always like this. When Pema Yuden gave birth to her daughter, the parents, who were in their 20s, derived “immense happiness watching our child grow into a young, beautiful woman”. Her daughter’s pleasing personality was enhanced by her mellifluous singing voice and dancing skills. Indeed, the girl was the toast of her village. She was her parent’s pride and joy.
When Tshering Lhadon turned 16, she suddenly became ill. She has not recovered since. Prayers and rituals did not work. “She sometimes cried then laughed at others, or did both at once,” the mother said. After the father died, Tshering Lhadon started assaulting her mother, sometimes biting her, at other times pulling her hair. “But that’s all right, Pema Yuden said, she’s sick.
To support her daughter and herself, Pema Yuden works and begs from her neighbours. She has a small plot of land, about an hour’s walk from the village, where she grows rice, which lasts about three months. The rest of the years she works in other people’s fields in return for basic essentials like oil and salt.
A resident of Korphu village, Tshewang, 58, told Kuensel that they employed Pema Yuden out of sympathy. “Because of her age her productivity is less than what we pay her, but we employ her anyway so that she and her daughter do not go hungry.”
Pema Yuden is not happy at the way the village have treated her and her daughter for so many years. Looking at a picture Kuensel took of her daughter, she said: “Does she look like a witch? You tell me.” Their house also bears the marks of stones flung at them by villagers. Some farmers even connect the death of a cow or horse in the village to the presence of Tshering Lhadon.
But Pema Yuden’s biggest worry is that,with her old age, no one will want her labour and that she and her daughter will have to go hungry one day.
“I sleep every night worrying what tomorrow has in store for me and my daughter,” said Pema Yuden. Their only close relative is her 80-year-old brother, who is too old to help. Pema Yuden has also transferred her land to her cousin’s name after he promised to take care of her and her daughter. Nobody knows for sure if the cousin is keeping his promise
. Pema Yuden would not say. Korphu gup Wangda told Kuensel that Pema Yuden could not be listed as a kidu recipient because she gave away her land to her cousin, who promised to look after her. “She should surrender her land to the government if she wants to be listed as a kidu recipient,” he said. He added that Pema Yuden should make a personal complaint for the gewog to intervene.
Pema Yuden not only worries about where their next meal will come from but also for the safety of her daughter and who will look after her once she dies.
Korphu resident Karma, 28, said Tshering Lhadon could not live without her mother. “She’ll cry and shout and look for her mother.”
By Tashi Dema t_dyel@kuensel.com.bt
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Our School
The Tsering Art School is part of the Dilgo Khyentse Fellowship which is a non-profit organisation with projects for cultural preservation and humanitarian aid in Nepal, Tibet, India and Bhutan.The primary concern of the Shechen Institute of Traditional Tibetan Art, ‘Tsering Art School’ is the thangka painting school. It was established by Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche in 1996 in response to the urgent need for young artists to be able to receive a complete and thorough training in a pure and authentic lineage of thangka painting (thangkas are Tibetan Buddhist pictorial scrolls, either painted or made of fabric).
Previously in Tibet the main form of painting was Buddhist sacred art. During the Chinese Cultural Revolution the ancient traditional arts in Tibet suffered irreparable damage when over 6,000 monasteries and the art works they contained were destroyed. In addition to this tragic loss, the degeneration of the authentic Buddhist painting traditions from the whole Himalayan region still continues today, largely because of the commercialisation of thangka production for a tourist market. This means that people without proper training are producing poorly executed thangkas with incorrect iconography. The overall result is that the sacred meaning and purpose of this precious art form is in danger of being lost.
The lineage of thangka painting the students are trained in is called ‘Karma Gadri’, which originated in Eastern Tibet and is famous its spacious landscapes and transparent treatment of colour.
The goal of the school is thus to provide the opportunity for young men and women from the Himalayan region and abroad to acquire the knowledge and skill to keep alive this sacred tradition from within its proper context of genuine Buddhist practice.
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