The Gyalwang Drukpa

My good friend, Venerable Master Minh Tri from Vietnam also came to join me in the birthday celebration and I was very moved that despite his busy schedule and that he had to rush to Poland after Kathmandu, he made such a great effort to come and join me. I felt so warm with this wonderful gesture of friendship and support. I am praying constantly for his good health and success in everything that he does. Due to the sincerity and devotion of Vietnamese followers, I have decided to spend more time there when I visit the next time, maybe a 10-day program will be arranged.

I was also amazed at how well the LIVE TO LOVE activities were organised by the nuns and my followers. I overheard that they have visited more than 40 families based on the household survey done by the nuns earlier and there are about 100 more villagers waiting to be helped. Anyway, I am sure my nuns will continue to carry out the Live to Love activities consistently and enthusiastically. It is very easy to start something good, but to follow through is really difficult. Let's see what will happen one year down the road, whether my friends and students are still working hard to benefit their communities of human and other beings through LIVE TO LOVE.

By the way, I want to tell you all something that I was really excited about. I have used some of my pocket money to construct a coffee shop for the nuns to run on Druk Amitabha Mountain. I hope that the coffee shop and the guesthouse will help them to slowly become financially independent and that they don't have to beg for their monthly expenses. I don't know whether my wish will come through, but if we never try, we never know. Now the guesthouse has about 40 over beds and slowly we will make it more and more attractive with solar heating system. I think my nuns need some advices on how to run these things.

Another exciting news to share is that a few very long-life fish will be coming from Japan to stay on Druk Amitabha Mountain, in the pond that is built for me by Jigme Phende. I think it's a very good omen that he is offering such a special kind of fish for my longevity. But I am not expecting myself to live over 300 years' old, I was told that this kind of fish will live for more than 400 years. It would be so sad for me to see all of my friends and students gone, one by one, leaving me alone with those long-life fish. Anyway, I appreciate all these small gestures that students such as Jigme Phende show as an expression of their love and care for me. I will try my best to stay healthy and live longer, but definitely not 400 years' old.

You might have heard that we have done 13 koras at Swayambhunath Stupa. Due to a lack of time and encouragement, I normally do 6 rounds in one go, but never 13 rounds in one go until this time. I had no problem of any sort this time to walk for that many hours and none of my friends and students had any problem too. Many of them told me that they did not feel that they were walking, it felt like someone had walked on their behalf. They thought that this had to do with me, but I wouldn't necessarily believe so because it was very much their devotion that led them complete 13 rounds of kora. I think that final enlightenment is also that way. Devotion makes everything possible in this life and lives to come.

I want to thank all of you from the depth of my heart for being there to support me and I think this is the main reason why we need very badly to take refuge in the Sangha for our practice. Not only kora, the 8-day Drubchen conducted by the nuns was also a great spiritual event, for all of us. Even for those who did not know how to join in the pooja or Drubchen properly due to language problems, they obviously could share the warmth and happiness of being together with the Sangha.

Well, I don't know when I will be writing again. If there is anything else that I can share with you all, I will try to say something, from time to time. Until next time, best wishes to all!