UPDATES

The Prayer Wheel House
Update October 2007
The First Tibetan Prayer Wheel House in Britain , now completed, was consecrated in a traditional ceremony by Akong Tulku Rinpoche in the Summer of 2007. It stands on the three sides of the beautiful Samye Ling Victory Stupa. Each Prayer Wheel contains
millions of prayers. The energy and blessing of these prayers is activated and sent into the environment by the wheels turning. Electric Motors turn the wheels very slowly so that the prayers are continuously transmitted day and night, but individual pilgrims can turn the wheels by hand as each one has a beautifully turned wooden handle. They then gain the merit of saying these millions of prayers for all beings and the planet itself.

The Samye Ling Victory Stupa and Prayer Wheel House still needs your Support
You can still share in the Merit of Building the Stupa and made dedications to your loved ones by sponsoring
* A Brick £10.00
* 200 Mantras inside the Prayer Wheels £10.00
( Chenrezig, Karmapa, Guru Rinpoche and Tara)
*A Statue £100
* A small gold Stupa for the inner Shrine £300

OR YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE TO ITS MAINTENANCE
Each year the Stupa is repainted and repaired
Prayer flags are replaced at Losar (Tibetan New year)
One string of Prayer flags £30
All donations of £10.00 or more will be acknowledged and recorded in the Book of Peace which is updated annually and kept in the Stupa Shrine Room.
More information

The Heritage Project for World Peace

• Click here for current Heritage leaflet in PDF format.
  
  
• New Article: Tibet's Geographic Importance to the Global Environment
  
  
• June 2007 Update - a letter from Marian Dreyfus, coordinator of Rokpa Heritage Project:

"The greatest challenge facing us in the New Millennium is to identify and heal the causes of our global environmental crisis – the overheating of the planet. There is much evidence that the polar ice caps and glaciers providing the melt water for the world’s rivers and food supply are shrinking. Their destruction would be an irreversible tragedy.

Research shows that Tibet’s 60,000 square miles of glacier, the largest ice mass outside the two poles, are shrinking at a rate of 7% a year. This has already caused widespread flooding in India and China and as these glaciers shrink further will soon be followed by drought and famine since many of Asia’s great rivers depend on these melt waters.

Tibetan culture is based on living in harmony with nature. It has much to offer the future of this planet and there is an urgent need to preserve it. During the last fifty years Tibet’s traditional culture has been overthrown in favour of global commercial interests. The Tibetan plateau is now being extensively mined and developed to provide fuel and transport for Asia’s growing industrial complexes and urban populations. Although some positive efforts are now being made, mining for fossil fuels and minerals, deforestation and the damming of rivers and lakes in Tibet is causing a dangerous imbalance, destructive to the environment of the whole world. A harmonious and balanced way of life is being destroyed and in the process sites that are of great importance to Tibetan history and culture are also vanishing.

The Heritage Project aims to preserve these sites and to heal environmental damage. Building a Stupa at each site will raise awareness in Tibetans who recognise a Stupa as a symbol of harmony between Man and Nature with the power to radiate healing energy to the whole Planet. The site will also preserve historical records of the area and Rangers will be employed to supervise its use and protect the local flora and fauna. By attracting academic research and tourism these unique sites will benefit local economies and encouraged the use of eco- friendly sources of energy such as wind and solar power."

PLEASE SUPPORT THE HERITAGE PROJECT AND HELP TO HEAL THE PLANET Click here to download Heritage leaflet

The Victory Stupa and Prayer Wheel House at Kagyu Samye Ling in the Scottish Borders see

The Samye Ling Victory Stupa for World Peace

In August 2000 the first authentic Tibetan Stupa in the British Isles was consecrated at Kagyu Samye Ling Tibetan Monastery and Centre to celebrate the New Millennium. It is dedicated to World Peace and Healing the Planet and has since become a focus of pilgrimage and inspiration for thousands of people from all over the world.

The Tibetan Stupa is a precise traditional structure that transforms and harmonizes imbalances in elements and energies.It is a symbol of the enlightened mind of the Buddha and of our own potential as human beings. The form and contents of the stupa expresses the balance and purification of the five basic building blocks of the universe: earth, water, fire, air and space and also the wisdom and compassion of Buddha nature, the true nature of all living beings.
more about stupas

Increasingly the inner shrine room is being used for as a place of vigil for the dead. The sangha and community of Samye Ling will on request fulfil on a 24 hour prayer vigil around the coffins of the deceased before cremation. Evening Prayers can also be dedicated at any time for the sick and for those who have recently died. For prayers please contact Samye Ling Reception 013873 73232. For further information about funeral ceremonies and the placing of ashes inside the Stupa contact Marilyn Harris email : marilyn@sashworks.co.uk or Tel 103873 73238

A BRIDGE FOR UNDERSTANDING

The Stupa Project is inspired by and run under the guidance of Choje Akong Tulku Rinpoche, the founder of Kagyu Samye Ling Monastery and Tibetan Centre in Scotland. Akong Rinpoche is a doctor of Tibetan medicine and a meditation master and tulku of the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. He is one of the few Tibetan teachers who has permission from the Chinese government to travel within areas of China where, through Rokpa charity, he helps with the education and living conditions of some of the least materially well-off people on this planet. Choje Akong Tulku Rinpoche is also a founder of many dharma centres and charity projects throughout Europe and Africa as well as the Holy Island Interfaith Centre just off the West coast of Scotland. He has worked closely for many years with Western psychologists and therapists so he is well placed to act as a bridge for the understanding of diverse groups.

PROJECTS

Because stupas generate loving kindness and compassion they benefit the places where they are built while those who sponsor the stupas also benefit by the accumulation of merit. The Stupa Project For World Peace originally came into being to co-ordinate the building of the Stupas at Kagyu Samye Ling Buddhist Monastery and Tibetan Centre in the Scottish Borders. More projects are in progress and planned for the future such as:

THE STUPAS AT HOLY ISLAND
Although the Samye Ling Stupa itself will soon be completed the Stupa project is part of a wider vision. Many smaller Stupas have already been built at Samye Ling and on Holy Island, just off Arran on the West Coast of Scotland where a large Stupa is planned for the future.

THE HERITAGE PROJECT
PRESERVING AND RESTORING THE TIBETAN ENVIRONMENT, LOCAL ECONOMIES , HISTORY AND TRADITION

Choje Akong Rinpoche said "When someone has been separated by exile or emigration from their homeland for one or two generations they may change completely. We all adapt to our immediate culture and environment, but in an increasingly materialistic world that often means cultural poverty and spiritual ignorance. After three or four generations we feel a need to rediscover our roots in the same way that an adopted child will one day wish to know their biological parents. Everyone has a physical and spiritual need to connect with their heritage and understand their historical roots."

Choje Akong Rinpoche wishes to build around 108 Stupas that will mark historically and culturally important places that might otherwise be forgotten. The stupas will serve as memorials to great spiritual teachers, the sites recognised as holy and the history of the masters' achievements and important national and local events recorded for generations to come. This will generate a source of income for local people through attracting pilgrims and tourists and consequently protect the environment and local resources from over exploitation, such as deforestation. It will help safeguard the spiritual and cultural heritage of Tibet in that area as the life story of that particular saint, all they offered and achieved, will be carved in stone on the Stupa itself. A shelter will also be provided for tourists, and pilgrims. These Stupas will also help those who wish to understand and research Tibetan history both inside and outside Tibet, providing accurate records which cannot easily be lost or destroyed. more about heritage projects in Tibet

THE MANI WALL AT SIMDZI link

WOODBLOCK PRINTING AT DEGE link