The website www.thestar.com shared with us a very beautiful article in their August 12, 2007 edition in which they begin by saying that personal enlightenment through solitary retreats and mantra recitations has always been the cornerstone of Buddhism, but one prominent guru has been challenging his followers to expand their spiritual horizons by being spiritual and physical “Messengers of Love”. Born Jigme Pema Wangchen in 1963, the spiritual head of the Drukpa lineage tells his devotees: “We do not live in this world independently on our own, and the practice of Bodhicitta essentially requires us to interact with other people and other beings in this universe. While we develop our Boddicitta, we should also get ourselves ready to face the world we live in with the love that we have developed through these practices.”
Launching the spiritual program “Live to Love” at their 800th anniversary celebration of the lineage, the 12th reincarnated Gyalwang Drukpa noted that Tibetan Buddhist masters and followers have always been perceived as a closed community that is uninvolved with communal happenings. “Some people find formal and serious practices very easy to carry out but when it comes to interacting with others, they are lost and frustrated,” related the Tibetan master. “‘Live to Love’ is an idea which has been in my mind for many years and I hope it will help at least those connected with me and my lineage to open up and share their love with everyone in their respective communities, irrespective of faith, nationality, cultural background and other conditions. When natural disasters strike our communities, where are we? When our living environment increasingly faces all kinds of threats, what are we doing to help?” the Tibetan Master asked his followers.
Given the restricted financial resources of the lineage, the spiritual leader outlined five key areas for humanitarian work: education, medical facilities, disaster relief and aid, heritage preservation and environmental protection.
The Tibetan Master also added very humbly in saying, “I do not know if I will be successful. I want my followers to love unconditionally and selflessly. Others people should do this too, and they don’t have to be my followers”. He also acknowledged that the philosophy of unconditional love is already widely practiced by other Buddhist traditions and that the Christians are most notable for their humanitarian work.
Under the leadership of this Tibetan Master, and with financial assistance from many overseas sanghas (congregations), the master’s sect is restoring and upgrading existing monasteries. At the top on his list is the Namdruk monastery in Tibet, which was completely destroyed during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) waged by the Chinese communist party. Reconstruction of the monastery began in 1986 on a small part of the original centre and spiritual retreats are being revived, slowly.
To keep the practices at the monastery and nunnery alive, there are sponsorship programs for orphaned young monks, Tibetan refugees and those from poor nomadic families in the remotest parts of the Himalayan. The status of female practitioners, especially the nuns, has been given a boost, too. The most celebrated nun of the lineage is possibly the English woman Tenzin Palmo (formerly Diane Perry), who spent 12 years in solitary retreat in a cave high up in the Himalayan mountains. She challenged the institutionalized belief that only males could attain spiritual enlightenment.
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