The Dolpo Project Cultural Survival

 The Dolpo Project was founded in 1997 to aid and support the cultural survival of the Tibetan people.

ACTION:

The first action of The Dolpo Project is to assist the Tibetan Buddhist lamas of Shey, a monastery cluster in Inner Dolpo. Shey is known in the West from Peter Matthiessen's account in The Snow Leopard. The Shey tulku (incarnate lama) is the best-authenticated of the Dolpo tulkus.

   In 1990 the last Shey tulku died. Before his death, he gave his monasteries to H. E. Jamgon Kontrul Rinpoche III, and the Shey monasteries entered the sphere of Jamgon Rinpoche's activity.

WILL YOU HELP?

In Inner Dolpo where populations are thin and most family groups live outside the money economy, the monasteries are unlikely to survive without some outside support.
   In anticipation of the incarnation of the next Shey tulku, local villagers will prepare Shey gompa (monastery). For the past 30 years the wooden floor of Shey gompa has been unfinished. There is no wood in the area, as Shey was built in high desert above the treeline. The wood for flooring needs to be purchased in Juphal and carried over a 17,500-foot pass to Shey.
   A precious collection of sacred texts from all lineages of Tibetan Buddhism is being eaten by field mice. Monastery buildings are crumbling. The lamas of Shey need food supplies for the winter, warm clothing and medical attention.
   At the heart of Tibetan Buddism is profound respect for the ascetic and contemplative nature of the individual. Some of the great lamas in recent years have spent more than a third of their lives in reatreat. A remote cave or hermitage provides the ideal location for the process of deep retreat. However, the very remoteness of the Shey monasteries acts against their survival.

BENEFITS:

Your gift to The Dolpo Project will help to fill these needs. The Tibetans believe that we accumulate merit from positive action. This merit is continually dedicated to the benefit of all beings.

Tibetan thangka painting of Tsakang Monastery: Tsering Lama