I have just returned to Delhi, after a very joyful gathering in Lahaul or Garsha. I am so happy about the Drukpa Youth Association (DYA) in Garsha. It has grown quite a bit in terms of having more members, and I am definitely pleased that they are finally accepting more women as their members, following my request. Many women such as Ngawang Norbu's daughter, Dawa Drolma, are now joining DYA, they are working together with the men harmoniously and peacefully. Things seem to be improving. I have given these young people lots of responsibilities, including looking after their fellow villagers, introducing and promoting their own culture and spiritual belief in their local community, which is necessary to maintain stability and a sense of belonging. I guess, this can be considered as part of the "Live to Love" activities.

We are now even thinking of setting up a school for the boys and girls in Garsha valley. That was a topic raised in our meeting. Meanwhile, for the time being, we will start helping the local community of nuns and monks first, because this seems to be the most urgent on our list. I have proposed to construct two buildings, one for nuns and one for monks. Both of them will act as educational centres. Generally, my visit to Garsha seemed to be very successful. I enjoyed very much.

Garsha is also known as "Khandro Ling" or the Land of Dakinis. This was said clearly by Gyalwa Gotsangpa Gonpo Dorje, who was one of the most renowned enlightened masters in our lineage, and a disciple of the first Drukpa Tsangpa Gyare, the founder of Drukpa lineage. I guess because of that, I really enjoyed the company of people there, their love and warmth touched me a great deal.

People in Garsha are very helpful for our lineage. I want to thank Norbu Tsering who has given so much financial support in terms of constructing our forthcoming monastery and nunnery. Many of them such as Lama Sonam are also helping with a lot of eagerness and devotion. I have never thought that people in Garsha can be that helpful for our lineage. In that case, I consider myself very lucky. This kind of luck will definitely help the lineage and Buddhist teaching to grow for the future generation.

As you know, because of my stupidity, I can't speak the local language. Even though Garsha is very small, not a very crowded district, in fact it looks like one small valley, it has more than 4 to 5 languages, they can't even communicate among themselves. So obviously I had a very hard time to communicate with the different groups of people. Luckily, Sey Rinpoche was with me. He was full-heartedly translating my teaching and my advices to the individuals and associations. I would definitely like to have him with me whenever I go to Garsha.

And before Garsha, we had such an unexpectedly grand celebration in Ladakh. Many people came and told me different amazing stories afterwards. Maybe you might have heard from the local people or witnessed with your own eyes or heard with your own ears. I may not be the first person telling you these stories.

I was told by many people that when we went to plant the trees, which is the biggest and most wish-fulfilling project in my mind for more than 10 years, they heard 3 times of thunder sound just the minute when I was putting the roots of one tree in the hole on the ground. Everyone there heard that and thought it was very auspicious. Now that I think of it, maybe it can be interpreted as something to do with the future of the lineage, the tree planting will help the whole Ladakh and all the beings that are connected with the lineage.

And then, there is also an amazing story about the sky lanterns. It was actually my first time seeing this kind of lanterns. Among the hundreds of sky lanterns sent by the Chinese Mahayana master, Venerable Hui Chin, who was one of our guests and an expert in offering sky lanterns, I was told that 5 of them went to the top of the Timogang mountain, where the very holy Avalokiteshvara statue is located. But it is something that is very difficult to believe, because Timogang is almost 150km from Shey, where we offered the lanterns. I still can't believe it, but many people told me this was true. In this case, I think that the "5 sky lanterns" represent the 5 wisdoms or the 5 Buddha families which fly to Avalokiteshvara, and maybe this has something to do with compassion and the 5 lanterns may be carrying the message of compassion and love pervading the space. Hopefully, this is going to be true, so that everybody will get the blessings of compassion and love through this celebration of 800 years of our legacy.

So all these stories tell me that this was in fact not a common celebration or festival, it was an uncommon way of sharing compassion and love. Overall, I want to thank everybody who provided all these wonderful performances, in terms of helping financially and helping with their expertise and efforts. One person I was told was completely stressed out by the organising of logistic of all the fireworks, lanterns and balloons, that was Rigzin Namgyal, a small guy with a big heart. I did not have a chance to thank him, but I want to let him know that it wouldn't have been possible if he was not there to help. Thank you, Rigzin, from me and everyone!

I know all these things are very expensive, they are not only expensive, but also wonderful. To think that over 180 thousand people who came from different religious, cultural and educational backgrounds enjoyed, I came to know that it's very worthwhile to spend that much money and efforts to organise this sort of colourful performances for everybody. I appreciate what all my friends and students have done for me and my lineage through all kinds of means, all kind of methods. Because of their kindness and generosity, we managed to share happiness and joy, with so many people, beyond religions, nationalities and cultural backgrounds. We really need to keep and appreciate this happiness and joy, genuine happiness truly comes from making others happy, I hope all of us came to understand this experientially through the celebration in Ladakh.

Of course there are hundreds of happy things I can talk about regarding this celebration. One of the happiest moments for me was to see all my colleagues coming all the way from hundreds of km away to join and share the joy of our celebration of the 800th anniversary with me. They came with such an open mind and such a supportive attitude. Many of them even sent thank you letters to my office after they went back to their monasteries, which is not necessary at all. But I appreciate and respect their support and love, from the depth of my heart, and this encourages me and of course everyone, all the masters, followers and supporters of our Dragon Lineage to work harder, with a common direction, to help the lineage go beyond 800 years. To all my colleagues, the heroes of the Drukpa Lineage, thank you for your love and support!

I also want to thank His Majesty the King of Bhutan, Jigme Sengey Wangchuk, and H.H. Jigme Choedrak, the head of religious affairs in Bhutan, to send key representatives and give us such a joyful company. At the same time, I am very moved that Bhutanese government also celebrated 800 years of legacy of our common spiritual lineage. I was very moved by their participation. As Mr. Sangay Wangchug, representing Bhutan, said in his speech that "Drukpa" is not a place or a religion, but a representation of Great Compassion, Great Love, it represents the blessing and the lineage of Chenrezig and it is universal love. There is nothing more I can say, he had said everything on my behalf.

I have not been so encouraged for a long time. I pray that this short moment of happiness, joy and appreciation will stay in each of our heart, and grow in all directions to benefit every being.

Then a shocking news came shortly after the celebration in Ladakh. Kyabje Adeu Rinpoche suddenly decided to leave us. This unfortunate incident definitely means that we lost one very important pillar of our lineage. We should therefore all pray that he will return soon, swiftly, to hold the activities as he did in this life.

This is all I have to say. I hope this long message hasn't bored you to sleep.