Karmapa launches new website on environmental protection
Peter Terpstra
Phayul[Thursday, December 24, 2009 17:33]
By Phurbu Thinley
Dharamsala, December 24: His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa Ogyen Trinely
Dorje on Tuesday launched a new website dedicated to environmental protection
in the Himalayan region.
http://www.khoryug.com/ is a bilingual website in Tibetan and English run by
the newly formed association of Tibetan Buddhist monasteries for carrying out
environmental projects under Karmapa’s leadership.
Khoryug, Tibetan word for environment, is being used to refer in short to
Rangjung Khoryug Sungkyob Tsokpa, the newly formed association that have taken
Karmapa’s vision to heart and are committed to developing environmental
protection projects in their own locales.
Khoryug is a network of 36 Kagyu Buddhist monasteries across India, Nepal and
Bhutan that are working together to help create an environmental awakening in
the Himalayas on the importance of forest protection, water conservation,
wildlife preservation, climate change adaptation and waste management.
Accordingly, the website intends to offer educational resources on different
environmental issues and a forum for people interested in the environment. The
network of monasteries will manage much of the information availabale on the
website that will include updates by monasteries on progress made in their
respective environmental projects.
From time to time, the respective monasteries will also update their progress
on the website and will manage much of the information available there, a
statement on the website said.
Launching the website at Tergar Monastery in Bodhgaya, the Gyalwang Karmapa
underlined the need to work for the environment as a “logical extension of our
Dharma practice, connecting it to our Mahayana commitment to benefit others,
and to live in a way that is consistent with the basic fact of
interdependence.”
Karmapa also urged the audience to ask themselves whether the beautiful
aspirations and prayers they make in the morning are carried out in their
actions throughout the day. “Often when opportunities arise to work to benefit
others, we do not seize them, and if we ask ourselves why this is so, it is
usually because we are simply working for our own egocentric concerns,”
Karmapa said, adding “Too often we behave as if others existed for us, and as
if the Earth was ours alone to use as we wish.
“Our actions based on such attitudes have had cumulative effects that are
devastating for the Earth itself."
Emphasising humans are but one of the immense number of species of life on
this planet, Karmapa said: “We, nevertheless, dominate the planet as if it
were ours alone, and we are responsible for virtually all the damage done to
it.”
Using a Powerpoint presentation to underscore his points with images, Karmapa
took the audience on a dazzling tour of the galaxy, pointing out along the way
that we humans have nowhere else to go if we destroy the earth’s natural
environment.
"Yet unlike humans, the earth is endlessly forgiving," Karmapa said.
"When someone commits heinous crimes, such as murder, he is shunned and
expelled from human society. Yet however much harm we do to her, the Earth
never banishes us. Despite all the damage we have done thus far, she has never
given up on us, but continues to yield her resources to us with great
generosity. We, therefore, all have a responsibility to consider what
practical steps we can do to respond in kind to this great kindness that we
receive from the Earth."
Dekila Chungyalpa, Director of the Greater Mekong area for the World Wildlife
Foundation (WWF) and Khenpo Kelsang Nyima from Rumtek spoke on the
significance of environmental protection.
The event concluded with a moving rendition of the song 'Aspiration for the
World', composed by the Karmapa himself and sung by a chorus of students from
the Tibetan Children’s Village School.
Although the primary audience for the presentation were Tibetan monks and
nuns, translators were on hand to deliver the message to the international
audience in nine different languages.
Many devotees, including foreign students who are currently in Bodhgaya to
attend the upcoming Kagyu Monlam and the annual winter teachings, attended the
event.
In recent years, Karmapa, one of the most influential Tibetan spirtual
figures, has called for special environmental commitments from Kagyu
monasteries, nunneries and centers and has undertaken plantation activities by
monasteries.
Last year Karmapa chaired two conferences on environmental protection for
Kagyu monasteries and nunneries, with a goal of building environmental
management capacity within the Kagyu Sangha.
He believes that ultimately Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and nunneries should
become leaders on environmental issues, working within their community to
address threats stemming from environmental problems.
http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=26277&article=Karmapa
+launches+new+website+on+environmental+protection&t=1&c=1
--
Dhammapada number 300:
The disciples of Gotama are always well awake, and their mind day and
night always delights in compassion. 300
[vrijdag 25 december 2009 19:39:07]
Jakub A. Krzewicki
<pe...@dharma.dyn-o-saur.com> contaminated soc.culture.china with the
following letter:
> Karmapa launches new website on environmental protection
> Phayul[Thursday, December 24, 2009 17:33]
> By Phurbu Thinley
>
> Dharamsala, December 24: His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa Ogyen
> Trinely Dorje
What? The legitimate 17th Gyalwang Karmapa is Trinley Thaye Dorjee
recognized by Shamar Rinpoche, the keeper of the Red Crown. And where the
heck you took the Black Crown?
--
tois egregorosin hena kai koinon kosmon einai
ton de koimomenon hekaston eis idion apostrephesthai