APPEALS

Kunsang Dechen Lingpa's Zangdokpalri/Arunachal Pradesh Project

View letter from the Office of HH the Dalai Lama about this project

Arunachal Pradesh and Assam are two insulated states in the northeastern region of India. Today, among the numerous indigenous peoples that live there, the Mon, Sherdukpen and Tibetan refugees are the only people who practice the Tibetan form of Buddhism. The entire area is strictly out of bounds to foreigners because of its sensitive status as a geo-political buffer zone between India and the Chinese occupied Pema Kod region of Tibet.

Ven. Kunsang Detchen Rinpoche who resides at Rupa Gompa in West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh was born in 1929, in Lhodak Dakhar, Tibet. From 1946 through 1949, while he was studying with HH Dudjom Rinpoche at Kongpo Buchu Detchen Teng in central Tibet, the Master addressed Kunsang Detchen as Lodhak Terton because Kunsang Detchen Rinpoche was the reincarnation of Terton Longsel Nyingpo, of the Drubchen Melong Dorje lineage. In 1972 after spending 9 years in Pema Kod, Tibet, when the political conditions there became too hostile, he was forced to migrate to the Changlang district of erstwhile NEFA, India, and then onto Rangapara, a few miles from Tezpur, Assam, where he built a monastery. Rinpoche moved to West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh with an aim to construct a monastery at Chillipam village near Rupa.

From precincts of the old Rupa Gompa Rinpoche has been discharging his spiritual duties to the community in addition to running a Nyingmapa religious school where he guides about 100 monks and nuns, including orphans. Presently, with his own limited resources, he has started work on building two monasteries. One called Zangdok Palri is in Chillipam village, and the other, an Ani (nun) monastery, in Nykmadong village. These buildings will replace the bamboo thatch huts that presently serve the purpose.

There are several holy places connected with Padmasambhava's activities in Kameng District (western Arunachal pradesh), as well as Assam (Kamarupa in ancient times.) Among the most important are known as Urgyenling in Tawang, and Bagajang near Sela Pass at 14,000 feet. The Indian Government maintains the policy of protecting the indigenous cultures of the area from missionary intrustion, but its ability to aid them financially is severly limited. Following the 1959 Sino-India conflict, Arunachal has been out of bounds to foreigners as wll as to Indians who don't have special permits.

Buddhists now living in the region are essentially disconnected from the global networks of support that have emerged in the past 15 years and in part have benefited some of the Tibetan diaspora.

Ironcially, this area also happens to be on the escape route of Tibetan refugees (including HH the Dalai Lama), who brought the precious dharma into India, and later into the western world.

Kunsang Detchen Rinpoche is asking for help to complete these projects. Under Rinpoche's guidance all contributions will be used to realize these projects. The goal is non other than to ensure that the ancient Dharma lineage seed Rinpoche brought from Tibet less than 23 years ago and planted in this community may grow to be a resilient and many branched tree on these far easter slopes of the Himalayas.

This appeal comes in the wake of Kunsang Dechen Rinpoche's recent recovery from a serious heart condition. It signals an extremely important opportunity for him to build long term support for his community of over 150 young nuns and monks that he has been housing, feeding and teaching with limited help from an alrady impoverished community. Unlike Nepal, which hosts Buddhist pilgrims and travellers from all over the world, Rinpoche's home, though beautiful, is both remote and difficult to access for political reasons.

Your support will go towards nurturing a community of young people, and future leaders, who are upholding a sacred tradition while facing the realities of a rapidly changing world. Our specific goals are to complete the construction of their monastery (long delayed because of financial shortages) and to improve their living quarters (insulation, weather-proofing, and roofing.) Kunsang Dechen Rinpoche has devoted his life and energy to nurturing his spiritual children and his community. Your contributions will establish an endowment so that this good Lama's life work of teaching and spritual transmissions can continue. Thank you.

To inquire about making a contribution, contact:

Tej Hazarika
Zangdokpalri Project
512 Argyle Rd
Brooklyn, NY 11218
Tel: 718-703-2614
Fax: 718-287-7221
thaza@rcn.com
or
Zangdokpalri Foundation
130 7th Avenue, Suite #221
New York City, NY 10011
http://www.zangdokpalri.org