Rigul update

The charity launch www.rigultrust.org I mentioned recently is, in fact, intended for the UK zone especially.

As we in Ireland are still part of the Euro-zone [at least for the time being LOL!], I wish to clarify things a little and let you know that we fall within the mainland European Rigul charity's scope, run by Ines Wooters.

Their website is www.rigul.org

On it, you will find lots of inspiring photos such as these and details of the various projects RTR has set up such as the lay school, the shedra and the clinic.

Above you can see Rinpoche, wearing the Gampopa Hat, during a ceremony on his return to Rigul, Kham in 2005 - his first visit to his homeland Tibet since his forced exile as a child.

This is the lay school they built

And these are some of the children enjoying lunch!

This is the Tibetan herbal store-shelf at the clinic.

If you look at their site www.rigul.org
you will notice there is a way for you to contribute financially directly, by yourself.

However, if you wish to be part of Bodhicharya Ireland's first group donation, then please contact me asap on 087 686 7062 as I intend doing this the first week in July.

Rigul Trust

Dear Friends,

Rinpoche's charitable activity in Tibet is no called the RIGUL TRUST.

Please enjoy www.rigultrust.org
This is the new charity's website.

Shortly, I will be donating on behalf of Bodhicharya Ireland [B.I.] in early july.

You remember we had that wonderful plant sale at our inaugural meeting? Well, thanks to Pat Little, her green fingers, and her kind smile, we very quickly raised 120 euro!

If you have any ideas about how you could quickly raise some funds for Rigul, then please do that asap - and simply [if you trust me, that is, of course] get the donation to me and I will send it all together in one sterling draft to the UK where the charity is based.


As i was saying, i will send the grand total of whatever we gather in the first week in july.

So take a good look at their site and if you are inspired to make a one-off donation through B.I. please please contact me asap

Bruno [087 686 7062]

Hi Ho... Hi Ho... It's off to work we go!

Dear Friends,

It is time to follow up with you and put some of our aspirations into action.

Rinpoche mentioned to us before that he was very pleased and excited to see that we had identified the following areas of dharma work for Bodhicharya Ireland:





you may recall we said-

1. study and practice
2. publishing and archiving RTR's teachings
3. film-making
4. organising and promoting RTR's teachings in Ireland
5. exploring dialogue with other faiths and the sciences

Now I propose we break this list down into more manageable parts :

1. practice [maybe organising a regular informal group meditation in your own area]

2. study [maybe exploring what RTR materials exist for individuals/small groups to study together]

3. transcribing RTR's Irish teachings

4. archiving those teachings

5. publishing various dharma materials and teachings [especially RTR's]

6. film-making

7. recording RTR's teachings in Ireland

8. organising RTR's teachings in Ireland [holding the overview, planning and co-ordinating]

9. promoting those teachings [PR especially for public programme]

10. organising opportunities for RTR to dialogue when in Ireland with those of other faiths [and none] and the sciences

Please take this opportunity to examine your aspiration to assist Rinpoche with his dharma work.

Really bring it into your practice, if you wish - hold the aspiration clearly in your heart.

Then, identify one or more areas from the above list of 10 that you feel inspired to engage in.

Please let me know what you wish to devote your energy to.


For starters, please could you consider sharing some of your personal practice time and space with others in your area?

You might like to welcome others to join you once a week/month etc for group meditation.

This session could be done in silence without any leading/instruction whatsoever, thus enabling each person to do whatever is their particular practice [but with the added dimension of sangha around them]
All you would have to decide now is how regularly you would host a session, when, and for how long [1hr etc].

if you live in a region where other Bodhicharya students live [but not in your immediate area] you might consider inviting the others to visit you to practise together however infrequently
if you live in an area where there are no other Bodhicharya students, you could consider inviting practitioners from any tradition to come sit with you


Finally, Rinpoche mentioned there were other students of his not on our email list.
Please encourage any people you know may be interested to email us and to subscribe to the blog.

So, lots to digest and consider.
For now, let's establish some shared practice time wherever we live.
Once you've had some time, please then let me know what dharma work you may like to give some energy to.

Never underestimate your abilities and how much spare time you'd have for the right project.
Never assume that someone else will volunteer [so you don't have to bother replying]

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Love and Best Wishes,

Bruno

latest news and good wishes from Rinpoche

Just had another email from Rinpoche...

He was saying how happy he is that Bodhicharya Ireland has formed and that we have established a 'good connection' with eachother.

In my email report to him about how our first meeting and dinner went, i told him who was present and the names of everyone interested throughout ireland.
He also mentioned that there were many others in ireland who he knows consider themselves to be his students - although he doesn't himself know their names for certain

so we may take that as a hint to do some discreet detective work and inform anyone we know who would like to be in the loop... just tell them to email the official address for ireland, and to subscribe to the blog for further updates [most important!]

Rinpoche was also very interested and excited in the areas of dharma work we identified as our initial focus [see previous blog post and emails]

I had asked RTR to elaborate on his original direction for the sangha to be 'Rimé' [ecumenical]
This most recent reply addressed that point by saying, as well as being open in our sangha to people from every tradition, we might also become a core group within the emerging Buddhist Network Ireland www.buddha.ie - which, as you may know, i have set up and to which i am offering most of my dharma work energy these days

Margaret Ford, who runs Bodhicharya International for Rinpoche, also sends her love and best wishes for this new sangha and offers her support in whatever way we may need it

So, Bodhi-Buddies, we are off to a very auspicious, clear and heart-warming start

Love, Bruno