SURMANG UPDATE 2008

“This year, as everyone knows, there have been demonstrations in Lhasa and elsewhere; but in the Surmang and Jyekundo area, there have been no demonstrations. The lives of the people there have not been affected much by these situations.  The shedra project is still going on but slowly.  So please continue to give us your support.”

--Khenpo Tsering Gyurme of Surmang

Please go to Surmang Update 2008 to read the latest news.

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche to lead THE PEACE RUN AT THE GREAT STUPA on July 20

1 m  raining in Boulder, winter 2008)

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche is holding this new and special running event on the morning of July 20, Shambhala Peace Day at the Great Stupa, for the benefit of the Surmang shedra and Konchok Foundation.   A number of runners will be participating in either the 5K or 15K distances at Shambhala Mountain Center. To find out more about the SMC Peace Run, how to participate as a runner, or to make a donation in conjunction with the Peace Run, please go to: http://www.konchok.org/PeaceRunattheGreatStupa.html

WELCOME!

The Surmang region and monasteries in eastern Tibet have, for many centuries, been the home of the Trungpa tulkus (incarnate lamas) and a major place of practice for Tibetan Buddhism.   When the Communist Party' took control of  Tibet ,  the 11th Trungpa Rinpoche escaped from Surmang (his spiritual home)  in the late 1950s.   The practice of Buddhism was forbidden for many years and the Surmang monasteries were razed to the ground during the Cultural Revolution.  

During this period, the abbot of Surmang, Chögyam Trungpa XI Rinpoche, after escaping into exile, became one of the first and most influential teachers of Tibetan Buddhism in the West, founding the Shambhala network of contemplative centers.

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, successor to his father as the head of the international Shambhala community, has now accepted major responsibility for the rebuilding of Surmang, working closely with the people of Surmang. A crucial element is the shedra (school) for monastic and lay students. At present, there is no school in the Surmang Dutsi Til valley.

The Konchok Foundation, founded in 2001 by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche together with Lady Diana Mukpo (widow of Trungpa XI Rinpoche), provides financial and other support for the rebuilding of Surmang, especially the Surmang shedra. Support is also provided to the Trungpa XII Tulku and to a number of monks who are undertaking extended group meditation retreats in the area. The foundation also provides some resources to other monasteries closely associated with Surmang or with Mipham Rinpoche.

Beyond the specifics of these efforts, the Konchok Foundation is helping to initiate a remarkable coming together between two communities of people, Tibetan and Western, who share a common dharma lineage tradition but are distant from each other geographically and culturally. Exchange visits have now included travel by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche to Surmang in 2001 and 2004 and by Surmang Khenpo Tsering Gyurme to North America every year since 1999. Commencing in 2004, the two communities began working jointly together on the rebuilding of Surmang. In the next several years, we will also be working together on educational programming in Tibet, and on teaching visits to the West.

Please contact us for more information.

Khenpo Tsering helped us to revise this introduction to our website.