LIVE TO LOVE IN ACTION

Cyclone in Burma and Earthquakes in Sichuan
A Message from H.E. Khamtrul Rinpoche (May 15, 2008)

My dear friends,

As many of you already know, eleven days ago, Burma was hit by a tropical cyclone that killed more than 30,000 people and left many homeless.

Source: AP, BBC News and others

Two days ago, no less than 19,000 people were killed in Sichuan's deadly earthquake, which measured up to 7.8 on Richter magnitude. And the death toll is still on the rise.

Source: AP, BBC News and others

Many people lost their husbands, wives, children and beloved ones and this experience will be forever haunting them for the rest of their lives. We can never truly understand the sufferings and the pain they are going through right now, nor can we reverse the laws and effects of Karma, but we as spiritual practitioners can send our moral support in the forms of prayers and different practices, and we can also be doing something practical to help those affected in these natural disasters so that they are able to rebuild their homes and their lives in the shortest time possible. This is the chance for everyone and especially the followers of the Drukpa Lineage to open our hearts to the suffering of others and truly practice "Live to Love".

As the theme of the First Annual Drukpa Council is "Live to Love, Integrating Spirituality with Daily Life", it is a very crucial and testing moment for all of us. We should not be waiting for the ADC in December to start integrating spirituality with our daily life, but we should be starting now, in this tested time of troubles and natural catastrophes where so many beings are suffering.
As per the compassionate wish of His Holiness Gyalwang Drukpaand as my personal appeal, I request my Dharma brothers and sisters as well as anyone who believes in "Live to Love" to join together to offer our support to the victims in Burma and in Sichuan.

Druk Foundation Ltd. in Hong Kong has kindly agreed to help us coordinate receiving donations through deposits into bank accounts or by PayPal. Half of the collections will be channeled towards helping the victims in Burma and half will be for the victims in Sichuan. Rebuilding their homes and their confidence will take a long time, but we hope our little contribution and support will make them feel that they are not alone, and that they are being loved and cared for by so many others who live on this planet that is our common home.

It is unfortunate that we do not have the skills and the manpower to help these victims directly. Therefore, it is my personal wish that one day in the near future, our monks, nuns and lay followers will be able to form professional relief groups with skills and experience, to offer our active help and prayers to those beings suffering every now and then.

On this forthcoming third Sunday of May, I am also making an appeal to everyone who has connection with the Drukpa Lineage to engage whole-heartedly in prayers and practices and to dedicate all the virtues to suffering beings. May their sufferings and pains be eradicated immediately and may all of us, who are connected in one way or the other, be able to support each other on the spiritual path leading to Ultimate Happiness and Freedom.

I wish to thank everyone in advance for their help and support and I pray that we will all be able to develop the unconditional love and compassion that our root teacher His Holiness Gyalwang Drukpaexemplifies in his everyday life and repay all his kindness and love for us.

As Shantideva said, “As Buddhas are my constant friends, boundless in benefit they bring to me, how else may I repay their goodness, except by making living beings happy?” And he also said, “Buddhas are made happy by the joy of beings; they sorrow, they lament when beings suffer, so by bringing joy to beings, then, I please the Buddhas also, and by offending them, the Buddhas I offend.”

Yours in the Dharma,
Do Kham
Writing from Tango, Bhutan

How You Can Help

Please visit the specific ADC webpage on "Live to Love in Action: Cyclone in Burma and Earthquakes in Sichuan" for more information.

An Appeal from H.E. Khamtrul Rinpoche Jigme Pema Nyinjadh

As fellow residents of planet earth, it is important to keep our home safe for living for ourselves and others. One of the Live to Love activities that H.E. Khamtrul Rinpoche, organizing chairperson of the First ADC, wishes to promote is the education of appropriate use of plastics, along with discouraging the inappropriate use of plastics.

Pollution will also cause environmental problems that will aggravate the water shortage situation on Druk Amitabha Mountain. Therefore, Rinpoche would like to take this opportunity to appeal to the organizing and working committee, as well as everyone attending the First ADC in December to be mindful of the use of plastics by:

(1) bringing your own cups, plates, bowls, forks and spoons for use during the ADC and keeping them with you all the time to use them, so that the organizers do not need to prepare disposable cups, plates, bowls, forks and spoons

(2) bringing your own bags to receive Tsok offerings and the like

(3) reusing and recycling those plastics that we cannot dispose of easily, for example the bottles for containing mineral water

The organizing and working committee will prepare cups, plates and bowls (non-disposable) for sale to those who may overlook or may not be aware of this issue.

Information on Plastics & Environment

Plastics are essentially a byproduct of petroleum refining. There are many benefits associated with the use of plastics, such as plastics replace natural materials, including ivory and wood, and the use of plastic materials reduces the weight of cars and airplanes thereby increasing their fuel efficiency. However, due to excessive use of plastics and improper disposal of plastics, the environmental impact is phenomenal. For example, the availability of plastics has resulted in the development of many disposable products which eventually has increased the amount of trash and rubbish. Although paper accounts for most of the trash in landfills by volume, plastics accounts for 25% of all waste in landfills when buried. And those plastics which are not properly disposed in landfills make their way to our living environment. Since plastics do not biodegrade quickly, they remain in the environment for a long time. The compounding effect of accumulating plastics over time results in environmental pollution that kills the only home we have.

Biodegradable Plastic Bags
It takes about 5 to 6 months to biodegrade if disposed in landfills, but the production process is highly toxic in nature 1

Polystyrene Container
Polystyrene is a petroleum by-product, a non-renewable resource, composed of the chemicals styrene and benzene. Benzene is classified as a human carcinogen. Styrene is a neurotoxin and is also suspected to cause cancer. Additionally, polystyrene foam is non-biodegradable, not easily recyclable, cannot be reused, and takes hundreds of years to decompose 2

Recycled Polystyrene Foam(also known as "Styrofoam")
They do not biodegrade, instead they photodegrade, i.e. breaking down into smaller and smaller particles that will eventually wind up in human bodies. 3 It can be used to build marine docks but not to make a new polystyrene foam cup. New plastic will have to be produced from non-renewable oil stocks to make new foam cups and eventually these will have to be disposed of in the environment. Not only that, when consuming food and drinks in these containers, there is a chance of genetic mutation, cancer and hormone disruption, because polystyrene is extremely reactive to fat and heat. The styrene used in the manufacture of food containers can migrate into food during use. The quantities of migrating chemicals will depend largely on the nature of food, the contact temperature and the contact time.

Glass
It takes more than 1 million years to decompose, but it is recyclable and when recycled, it reduces pollution by 20% 3

Paper cups
Paper can be recycled, but most paper cups are coated with plastic or wax and cannot be recycled. Even coated paper will biodegrade in five years, while uncoated and unbleached paper will be gone in a few days according to Worldwise.com 3

Source:
1. Natural Environment Blog
2. Regulating Styrofoam in Hawaii. State of Hawaii
3. Sustainable Living: There is no such thing as disposable. Shawn Dell Joyce. Sedona News.

A Message from the Organizing Chairperson

To all Drukpa Centers and friends:

I pray that all is well and harmonious with your Dharma activities.
As most of you are aware, the Annual Drukpa Council (ADC) created by the enlightened mind of His Holiness Gyalwang Drukpa is to be held this December in Nepal.

As per the wishes of His Holiness, I am trying to raise the awareness of this sacred event to others and would like to encourage you all to raise awareness among other Drukpa Lineage followers as well as the general public of the upcoming ADC event.

Being followers and with great faith in the Drukpa Lineage, I have great hopes that we will all strive to work harmoniously together in raising awareness of this event as well as spreading the sacredness of the Drukpa Lineage to others in every way possible in order to benefit as many sentient beings.

We have recently sent out invitations to other Rinpoches of the Drukpa Lineage to attend and participate in the ADC. We are still progressing on the organization of the ADC event and have not currently set up the registration site; however we will update everyone as soon as it is ready but the website is still available to all.

My prayers and good wishes to everyone in the Drukpa centers.

Yours sincerely in the Dharma,
H.E. Khamtrul Rinpoche
Organizing Chairperson
Written in Tango, Bhutan

The First ADC to be held in Kathmandu, Nepal

It is with great pleasure for the ADC Organizing and Working Committee to announce that the first of the much awaited annual event for the Drukpa Lineage will be taking place between 27th December 2008 and 5th January 2009 on Druk Amitabha Mountain in Kathmandu, Nepal. More details in www.drukpacouncil.org.

A brainchild of His Holiness the Twelfth Gyalwang Drukpa, the spiritual head of the Drukpa Lineage, ADC aims to provide a platform for building and nourishing of multi-lateral and inter-group relationships within the Drukpa Lineage. It will provide an annual gathering for the followers of the Drukpa Lineage to meet once a year, thus nourishing a firm bond and strengthening the relationship among the individuals and groups within the Drukpa Sangha.

The Annual Drukpa Council (ADC) would be an event for the Masters and followers of the Drukpa Lineage to come together and exchange views on ways and means to restore the past glory of the Lineage. Both the experienced and young Rinpoches of the Drukpa Lineage will be requested to give teachings and share their wisdom and experience during the ADC.

ADC aims to provide a platform for building and nourishing of multi-lateral and inter-group relationships within the Drukpa Lineage. It will provide an annual gathering for the followers of the Drukpa Lineage to meet once a year, thus nourishing a firm bond and strengthening the relationship among the individuals and groups within the Drukpa Sangha.

ADC will include not only traditional rituals and practices, but also open discussions and exchange of views regarding the practical use of spirituality to resolve today’s crisis. It should also function as a forum to increase our ability to work more productively together in a harmonious way.

One of the key driving forces of the ADC is to promote Live to Love which is the practical aspect of inculcating loving-kindness and compassion in the world today.

His Holiness said that besides sitting on the cushions and meditating, we should also be thinking about practicing Live to Love. Compassion has to be cultivated and developed, but love is the action that needs to be carried out as a support to our daily practice.

Live to Love activities in different corners of the world will help to promote the spiritual idealism of the 800-year-old Drukpa Lineage and make it a living tradition that suits the rhythm of contemporary life-style. Followers and practitioners who are taking responsibility in a Live to Love project as an individual or group should get all the support needed to run their projects in their own responsibility for the benefit of all beings.