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| siddhartha school project newsletter |
issue #9 |
February 2005 |
| Founding
Day 2004:
When Siddhartha School celebrated the 9th anniversary of its founding this year, there was much cause for joy. The campus boasted a new science lab, art studio and open theater, evidence of the unprecedented support the school received this year. Two school buses were parked beside the entrance gate. Many distinguished visitors, including the president of the Hill Council, could see in the school a dream nearing its fulfillment, the fruition of many years of efforts by Siddhartha School’s supporters. Special Guests and Visitors On August 23rd, Skyabje Locho Rimpoche, visited Siddhartha School. Locho Rimpoche, one of the Gelugpa’s lineage’s greatest scholars and practitioners, is the retired abbot of Namgyal Monastery (the Dalai Lama’s monastery in Dharamsala), and has served as principal (dean) of the Central Buddhist Studies Institute, Ladakh’s only university. He is also one of Geshe-la’s teachers. New Swiss Organization When Nicolas Combe and Severine Pont visited Siddhartha School in the summer of 2003, they knew they had found a cause they wanted to support. A Growing School
Although 2004 has been a banner year, we must not lose sight of the task still to be done. This year we hope to complete the second story of the new building, which will house the remaining two classrooms, the principal’s office and the administrative offices. |
Dear Friends, February 9 was Losar, the Tibetan New Year. I want to wish you all the best of health and prosperity for this coming New Year. Thank you for your continued support of the Siddhartha School. Blessings for you in the New Year. With warm regards.
Visitor Becomes Teacher
The views from the window were almost surreal as we skimmed over the tops of the mountains into Ladakh. mountaintops extended under the plane as far as I could see, bare and rocky, snow-covered, until we descended into the valley to land at Leh.
Geshe Lobzang Tsetan |
Unexpected
Magic My husband Brian and I went to Ladakh in August 2004 to trek the Himalayas. The first several days of our journey were spent in Leh acclimatizing before the actual trek. Before leaving on our trip to India, a co-worker of mine mentioned a school located near Leh in which she sponsored a child. Dalai Lama Still
Cares When I went to the Kalachakra teachings in Canada last April, I sat with the monks on the platform where His Holiness was teaching. One day during a break, His Holiness asked me to come speak with him. School Update
2004 was truly a banner year for Siddhartha School. Thanks to an unprecedented level of support both from foundations and from individual donors, and to generous help from our new Swiss friends, three major projects were completed. Hill Council Many of our readers are aware that Ladakh is part of the troubled state of Jammu and Kashmir. It was the dispute over this state that recently brought India and Pakistan to the brink of nuclear war. Ladakh, which was an independent nation until 1834, comprises 70% of the territory of J&K State. |
