I was really moved to receive so many emails redirected from my office, with many of my friends and students sending in their photos showing that they have joined us through the live webcast of our prayers and activities in Drukpa Plouray. I just put some of them here to share with you. Masters and students need to be encouraging each other, it cannot be a one-way traffic, it has to be a two-way traffic. I am so very encouraged by the responses that I am secretly hoping that from now onwards all the teachings and activities can be webcasted live. Let's see what will happen in London and Paris. So we have to thank all these wonderful friends who made it possible for us to share the prayers and New Year's Eve celebrations together. I was told that more than 1,500 people joined in the prayers and listened to my gossip through the live webcast. Thank you, Alain and your team!

One thing I was very happy about during this trip to Plouray was that there is tremendous interest in Live to Love activities and therefore in order to make sure that these activities will be beneficial and not be abused, there is now a very crucial need to draft constitutions legally and also to set up proper administration centres in the East and West to make sure the activities are properly guided. I think we should try to arrange for professional lawyers and accountants to come together and join the different representatives in a meeting set on 5th April. The European Live to Love team will be led by Drubpon Ngawang and the Drukpa Asia will be represented by their individual organising heads which I have appointed this time. Both sides will write to my office to provide the list of key representatives attending this extra day of discussion and conference. I want to say very clearly that all the humanitarian activities that are planned by my organisations and followers are under the umbrella of Live to Love.

I was just joking to myself that I am starting to sound quite professional talking about my plans for 2009, don't you agree? Unfortunately one of the things that I think we won't be able to do is the pilgrimage to Mount Kailash, that has to be pushed to 2010, due to many different reasons. Of course, the main event for me is the First ADC in April 2009. I am actually quite excited about it because it is a milestone for all of us in the Dragon Lineage and many of my colleagues from all parts of the world have confirmed their attendance, those who are not able to make it must have their reasons. Sadly, most of them who can't attend have visa and passport problems, otherwise they would love to join us. I am sure whoever genuinely care about the Drukpa Lineage definitely will show up one way or the other. Anyway, you will see from the photos and the reports by our different organisations in their webs what's happening and who will be there.

Since more than 300 nuns and about 250 monks from my monastic organisations in the Himalayas will be joining us in the First ADC, I thought that after the First ADC, it would be better to do some activities together that make some sense. So this idea of a walking pilgrimage from Kullu to Hemis through Garsha, Zanskar and Lama Yuru for about 2 months in May and June this year came in my mind. We will be doing practices at many of the holy places during the walking pilgrimage. These holy places have been blessed personally innumerable times by Chakrasamvara, Avalokiteshvara, Naropa, Marpa and many enlightened masters and the blessings is very much alive and active.

For those of you who can spare that much time and who are physically fit, you can join us. It is important that you join the full pilgrimage to get the complete effect. I don't think those of you who can't make it for the full pilgrimage should consider joining us. I will be asking the Young Drukpa Associations (YDA) in the Himalayas meaning YDA Ladakh, Garsha and Kinnaur to be in charge of this walking pilgrimage. They have to include in the registration cost all the expenses of all the 300 over nuns and 250 monks as well, so that all of the pilgrims who are able to join will also be able to accumulate some merit, at the same time while they are able to purify through the difficulties of doing the walking pilgrimage. There is a saying that by supporting those who undertake the genuine spiritual journey leading to enlightenment, you are also able to share their fruits of spiritual attainments, whether they let you share or not, it doesn't matter, you will get it somehow without reducing their own merits. What I am trying to say is that if you cannot be physically joining with the walking pilgrimage due to whatever reasons, you can always support through helping with the food expenses and other expenses of the monks and nuns.

I would like to use this walking pilgrimage to spread the message of "Live to Love" throughout the entire Himalayas. I will ask YDA organisers to find out the details and then put them up in my web for anyone of you interested to join.

Those of you who know how to prepare the walking gear, you would know what to do. If you don't know, those of you in Europe, please learn from Lama Namgyal from France, Philip Senge and Helga Sangye Chodron from Germany. But overall, I don't want you to be suffering, please be aware of your own health, because some passes can be as high as 5,000m. Walking will be a pleasant journey but breathing will be difficult, in addition to that, you need to carry your own gear, you can simply imagine what will be there. If you are old, physically unwell, please don't be tempted to join. You can wait for us in Ladakh and welcome us during the Hemis Festival.

You must register in order to join us, otherwise it is not possible for the organisers to allow you to join due to many reasons, one of them is that security at the different check posts require proper papers. We all have to pay for our own cost  and share the cost of food and all the expenses. I sometimes feel very annoyed when I hear some friends and students saying that they feel so good that they can join without having to pay for registration or for the tickets or without having to register. I don’t like the idea when people happily take advantage of others’ generosity. Even when other people or humanitarian organizations tell us that we don’t have to contribute, I think we better do that, otherwise we are owing big favours to those people and organizations who are raising funds to help the poor people, and at the same time, we become a burden, especially when we can afford to pay for our registration and our tickets. If we cannot afford, then we don’t join, and we can always work hard now so that we can join at another time or make arrangement with the organisers to do something in return of their generosity. Some efforts have to be there so that we will appreciate others and ourselves. In addition, whenever you owe people something, you have to pay back one way or the other, whether you like it or not. This is the law of Karma, you cannot get away with it.

I think, if my health permits, I would like to have this sort of walking pilgrimage once every two years. This is in fact a very beneficial and effective practice for renunciation, meditation, purification and accumulation of merit. I lately realise that I am getting older and my health seems to be deteriorating very quickly, so before I get too old and won't be able to do this kind of pilgrimage, I have to try my best to take any opportunity that comes my way. Those of you who are in the same boat as me should consider joining.

Yesterday when we were in car going from Plouray to Paris, we had to stop 5 times because my back was very painful and I couldn't sit for too long, so we had to stop for me to walk around and stretch myself. This is really an indication of impermanence. Therefore I decided last minute that this walking pilgrimage will have to materialise for the sake of physical and spiritual well-being.

For those of you who are able to make it for the First ADC as well as the walking pilgrimage, you are the most fortunate ones. Those of you who have registered for the First ADC, you shouldn't cancel so that this will be fulfilling my wish, and there will always be another walking pilgrimage, like the Mount Kailash pilgrimage when we get the approval.

In fact those of you who really wish to fulfill my wishes should try your best to come for the First ADC no matter what. It is very important that these lineage activities are supported very firmly because as I said, people are attached to me as a person, therefore they have the strong tendency to support me and yet they don’t know that supporting my lineage is equally important, or if not, more important. I have come into this world for the sake of this lineage which has been helping beings for more than 800 years, and if lineage is not there, my existence here doesn’t make any sense, the same goes with my colleagues, especially those colleagues of mine who are working so hard to make sure that our lineage is protected and not drowned in lineage politics. Therefore the First ADC is very important for the Drukpa Lineage and everyone of us who is involved in this and who believes that this genuine lineage of the yogis is able to continue helping many beings.

For example, when you are weak, everyone bullies you. I want to share a gossip with you, recently one nunnery just below Druk Amitabha Mountain sent a few invitation cards to our nuns' office there, in the address instead of putting Druk Amitabha Mountain, they clearly put our name as "Amitabha Centre of their lineage" without the "Druk", instead of "Druk" they replaced "Druk" with their lineage, but with our address below it, which I have asked my nuns to email a copy to me just now. This makes us look like we are under their lineage. I was very shocked and I asked my office to keep all the copies of the invitation cards. One of them was even given to me, clearly and precisely. They did not send only one, but they sent a number of copies, maybe just to irritate us. This is very dirty job because small and young nuns who are supposed to be so pure and one-pointedly practising spirituality are involved in politics. I am feeling very sad for them, very disappointed with this kind of attitude. Monks and nuns have renounced their mundane lay life to join the ordained Sangha so that they will commit their entire life to practise genuine spirituality to benefit all sentient beings. One of the most important motivation for spiritual practice is not to harm others. It is therefore very shocking for all of us to receive such rude invitation cards from a nunnery that is just newly opened and that is also our neighbour.

There are many more proofs on the websites, we can easily find them. At one time our monasteries become others' monasteries and some of our monasteries are still listed as their monasteries in a very tricky way. It is very sad that spiritual masters and organisations have to be involved in such kind of activities, it's no wonder that there is a degeneration of spirituality generally in the world.

This is why it is important for those masters, students and followers of the Drukpa Lineage to come together and support each other genuinely and sincerely. This is also why I keep saying that attending the First ADC is one of the most important ways to support the lineage and to fulfill my wish. 

I also want to share a sad news with you over here, which is really a great teaching of impermanence. This beautiful Koi that was sick passed away a few weeks ago. My mom and I were crying for more than one hour, out of sadness looking at the body of the beloved fish. She was so loving for all of us but we had no luck to have her in our family for so long. Some people may say that I am too emotional and that we should be crying for bigger tragedies and catastrophes. I think that every suffering, big or small, should be seen as a teaching. We shouldn't be waiting for big bombs to come, then we start to appreciate life, to appreciate our beloved ones and to even appreciate our enemies. In fact, our enemies are the ones who really give us the opportunity to sharpen our wisdom, our love and our compassion, and our Bodhicitta. Sometimes, some people think that I can be very emotional to talk about the difficulties of the lineage and the sadness that some of our own masters don't realize the risks and threats that we are facing, and that most of the media are distorting facts. Well, in the practice of love and compassion, we also need to be wise and skillful in making sure that this spiritual legacy will indeed continue to live on for many generations, at least people like me have this sort of responsibility to alarm everyone.

While we are still alive, let us support each other and encourage each other in this world of endless turmoil and sufferings.