SCOTTISH PROJECTS
Samye Ling Stupa
Holy Island Stupas

THE HERITAGE PROJECT IN TIBET
Mani Wall at Simdzi
Holy Mountain of Drakar
Woodblock Printing at Dege

TIBETAN HERITAGE
Introduction
Medicine
Painting
Crafts
Structures and Settlements
Costume
Language
Printing
Dancing

Helping to Protect and Preserve Tradition and Culture in Tibet
When someone has been separated by exile or emigration from their homeland for one or two generations they may change completely. We all adapt to our immediate culture and environment, but in an increasingly materialistic world that often means cultural poverty and spiritual ignorance. After three or four generations we feel a need to rediscover our roots in the same way that an adopted child will one day wish to know their biological parents. Everyone has a physical and spiritual need to connect with their heritage and understand their historical roots.

In Tibet a Stupa is immediately recognised as the embodiment of the Body Speech and Mind of all the Buddhas. Tourists or those from other cultures and religions also experience the blessing of a connection with a stupa. First they will look, they will comment, curiosity aroused they will walk around it and then they will be drawn to the study and practise of compassion and wisdom. In this way a stupa has an inconceivably positive effect on everyone who sees it and also balances the whole environment.

Akong Tulku Rinpoche is the founder of ROKPA INTERNATIONAL, a charitable Trust that has been working to benefit Tibet for 16 years, funding schools, orphanages, healthcare, medical colleges, environmental projects and projects to protect and preserve Tibetan culture. As a result of this experience Akong Rinpoche and his Trustees feel that in order to benefit Tibet in the long term it is now very necessary to build around 108 Stupas that will mark historically and culturally important places that might otherwise be forgotten.

These stupas will also be memorials to great spiritual teachers. These sites will be recognised as holy and the history of the masters' achievements and important national and local events recorded for generations to come. This will generate a source of income for local people through attracting pilgrims and tourists and consequently protect the environment and local resources from over exploitation, such as deforestation. It will ensure that the spiritual and cultural heritage of Tibet is preserved in that area as the life story of that particular saint, all they offered and achieved, will be carved in stone on the Stupa itself. These Stupas will also help those who wish to understand and research Tibetan history both inside and outside Tibet, providing accurate records which cannot easily be lost or destroyed.

Because stupas generate loving kindness and compassion they will benefit the places where they are built while those who sponsor the stupas will also benefit by the accumulating a great store of merit.

Each Stupa will be on average between 3 and 4 storeys high (i.e. between 9 and 13 metres) and will cost £40 - 50 thousand pounds to build, fill consecrate, carve and decorate,. We are hoping to begin the project this year and thereafter build a few more each year.

Helping to make this possible will also be preserving and protecting the essence of the Buddha's teachings and a culture that is a great force for World Peace. This is an immeasurably positive way to provide a transforming and healing energy not only for Tibet but, through the power of interdependence, for the whole world.

If you would like to help sponsor a Heritage project click here