UPDATES

You can still contribute to the maintenance of the Stupa by sponsoring:

The Stupa to be repainted and repaired which happens on an annual basis.

Replace Prayer flags (which are replaced at Losar - Tibetan New year)

More information on Sponsorship...

All donations of £10.00 or more will be acknowledged and recorded in the Book of Peace which is updated annually and kept in the Stupa Shrine Room.

Prayer Wheel House Update

The Prayer Wheel House is now completed. An unexpected response to it has been received from The Royal Museum of Scotland in Chambers Street, Edinburgh which has commissioned a wall of fixed conscrated prayer wheels to be built by Samye Ling as a central feature of their 'Exhibition of Buddhism' which will be the centre piece of the Museum when it is reopened in 2010!

In and around Eskdalemuir...

The very positive outcome of the logging disaster in 2006, has been a beautiful foot path built from Garwald water foot past Samye Ling and the Purelands retreat center all the way down to Eskdalemuir village. Together with a massive bypass project that means lorries can now avoid driving through Eskdalemuir altogether. This has made the valley a much safer and more pleasant place for the community, walkers and cyclists.

Further links of interest ...

The Mani Wall at Simdzi

Wood-block printing at Dege

The Victory Stupa and Prayer Wheel House at Kagyu Samye Ling in the Scottish Borders see

The first authentic Stupa in Britain was consecrated in Scotland on August 3rd 2000 on Dharmachakra Day by Sangye Tenzin Rinpoche. It had been planned to mark the New Millenium and to celebrate the 60th Birthday of Akong Tulku Rinpoche, the founder and Tulku of Samye Ling Monastery on the Scottish Borders. Constructed, filled and decorated according to ancient lineage instructions, it was dedicated to Healing the Environment and overcoming obstacles to World Peace.

A Stupa (or 'Cho-ten' - Tibetan for 'basis of offerings') is a 2,500 year old spiritual technology introduced and taught by Buddha Sakyamuni to help transform and purify pollution and imbalance. The measurements of the outer form have to be extremely precise and the inner contents specific and properly placed and consecrated. Much of the building process demands that those involved if not ordained should maintain vows of ethical conduct and for some parts of the process repeat prayers continuously. All the specific instructions were observed.

Fulfilling the instructions creates an energy field that purifies and balances the internal and external five elements that compose the universe. These are Earth, Fire, Air, Water and Space.

A BRIDGE FOR UNDERSTANDING

The Stupa Project is inspired by and run under the guidance of Choje Akong Tulku Rinpoche, the founder of Kagyu Samye Ling Monastery and Tibetan Centre in Scotland. Akong Rinpoche is a Doctor of Tibetan medicine and a meditation master and tulku of the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. He is one of the few Tibetan teachers who has permission from the Chinese government to travel within areas of China where, through ROKPA charity, he helps with the education and living conditions of some of the least materially well-off people on this planet. Choje Akong Tulku Rinpoche is also a founder of many dharma centres and charity projects throughout Europe and Africa as well as the Holy Island Interfaith Centre just off the West coast of Scotland. He has worked closely for many years with Western psychologists and therapists so he is well placed to act as a bridge for the understanding of diverse groups.

PROJECTS

It is said that because stupas generate loving kindness and compassion, they benefit the places where they are built. While those who sponsor the stupas also benefit by the accumulation of merit. The Stupa Project For World Peace originally came into being to co-ordinate the building of the Stupas at Kagyu Samye Ling Buddhist Monastery & Tibetan Centre, situated in the Scottish Borders.

More projects are in progress and planned for the future such as:

THE STUPAS AT HOLY ISLAND

Although the Samye Ling Stupa itself is completed The Stupa project is part of a wider vision. Many smaller Stupas have already been built at Samye Ling and on Holy Isle , situated just off Arran on the West Coast of Scotland, here another large Stupa is planned for the future.

THE HERITAGE PROJECT PRESERVING AND RESTORING THE TIBETAN ENVIRONMENT, LOCAL ECONOMIES , HISTORY AND TRADITION

Choje Akong Rinpoche wishes to build around 108 Stupas that will mark historically and culturally important places that might otherwise be forgotten. The stupas will serve as memorials to great spiritual teachers, the sites 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 help safeguard the spiritual and cultural heritage of Tibet 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. A shelter will also be provided for tourists, and pilgrims. 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.