Dorset-born composer Barry Ferguson has agreed to join the Tashi Lhunpo monks during their residency at Dartington Summer School in July, and is writing music specifically for the event. 

The beautiful blessing, “Shijoe”, which the monks use to dedicate their performance for the benefit of all sentient beings, has inspired him to write vocal pieces for participants on the course, using the pentatonic scale on which the melody of the Tibetan prayer is based.  A full day will be devoted to working with Barry during the week-long summer school course, and there will be a performance of the new works that evening.

In the meantime, Barry has again honoured the monks by composing a very beautiful hymn tune.  Called ‘Tashi’, the hymn is to be used especially on the Feast of the Annunciation (25th March).  The words are by Christina Rosetti. 

We hope this will be the beginning of a very interesting partnership, and an interesting joining of the cultures of East and West.

CHRISTMAS MESSAGE 2008

Thank you, as ever, for your continuing support for the Monastery through the work of the UK Trust. 

We remain enormously grateful to all of you who are sponsors of monks.  Your donations contribute to the well-being of the entire monastery, through the food fund, in education, healthcare through the clinic, as well as giving the individual monk a connection with someone from the other side of the world.  Thank you so much for your continuing support.

News from the Monastery is that the project to add a second floor to the school building has now been completed, and that the students are very happy with their new accommodation.  Last year a donor gave funds for the purchase of a photocopier, and we are now looking for a projector for use during lessons, so if anyone has a spare/second-hand one that is no longer needed, it would have a good home in the school!  The construction of the Choera (Debate Hall) will start within the next few months, and this, when completed, will be of immense benefit to the monks.  We have also recently learned that His Holiness the Dalai Lama will be in South India during February and early March 2009, and we hope he will visit the monastery at some stage during his time there and see the improvements which the monks have made.   The major appeal for funds continues for the construction of the much-needed new Assembly Hall, of which the Choera makes the first stage. 

The cultural tour of eight monks during 2008 started auspiciously with a Chenrezig Sand Mandala exhibition in King’s College Chapel, Cambridge as part of the Heart of the World Festival.  This offered the opportunity for a couple of ‘sporting’ activities: a second cricket match with the Britten Symphonia and punting on the Cam, both of which were greatly enjoyed by all involved.

The visit of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to the UK in May again saw the monks in splendid surroundings, making a Mandala in the Upper Waiting Hall of the House of Commons prior to His Holiness’ visit to address the Members of Parliament in the Foreign Affairs Committee. 

 

Photo:  © Georgina Cranston

The monks were also in Nottingham during the five days of teachings organised by Dharma Network, and offered prayers on stage ahead of each session of teachings, as well as completing a vajrasattva Mandala.

We returned to Bournemouth for a sand mandala exhibition in the Library and performance in the BIC, and were invited to tea with the Mayor.  A small contingent drove to the Netherlands for the Mundial Festival near Eindhoven where, in spite of constant rain, Ven Thokmed la managed to make a peace mandala to huge popular acclaim.  Although prevented from taking the whole group due to problems with visas, we have been invited back for the same festival in 2009, and hope that we will manage to get all the monks there this time.  We also worked in Spain with our Agent, who has been finding a lot of good work for us.

The next stage of the tour took us to Suffolk, Exeter, Yorkshire, Newcastle, Chipping Norton, Sandwich and back to Jersey on the Channel Islands for two performances in the Jersey Arts Centre.  We were, as you can imagine, very grateful for our new/secondhand minibus, which made the driving much more comfortable.  More highlights included a week on the Isle of Wight at Quay Arts Centre in Newport, a performance at Womad near Malmesbury, after which Rinpoche gave an interview for Radio 3, and a final four days in Devon and Cornwall.

The monks returned to India at the beginning of August, and came back to the UK for a second mini-tour at the beginning of October, when they spent a week in Bath at the beautiful Museum of East Asian Art.  We drove to Bridlington for a performance at Sewerby Hall for Music Port, which was only marred by a broken clutch on the way home which necessitated an AA relay journey home.  The monks spent a week in the Czech Republic where they had a great VIP reception and were personally entertained by the Mayor, staying in a five star hotel.  We now have rather a lot to live up to!

We have been developing our workshops over this year, and have been invited to a number of very interesting places, including a school in Puddletown, organised by Salisbury Cathedral interfaith organisation, a series of Nottingham schools in the wake of HH the Dalai Lama’s visit, a return visit to Port Regis School in Dorset and three days in HM Prison The Verne, where the monks made a mandala and ran a series of art and performance workshops for the prisoners.

A film crew from Channel 4 followed us around for most of the tour, and we are hoping that we will hear that a short film has been commissioned.  We also brought out are new CD, ‘Dawn till Dusk’, which was reviewed favourably in Songlines, the world music magazine, and brought us quite a lot of good publicity during the year.

The monks will be back in the UK for another series of performances in 2009, and we very much hope to see you at some point during the tour.  The full programme will be here as usual in due course.  We are also planning a visit to Ladakh during the late summer 2009 to visit many of the places where the monks from Tashi Lhunpo Monastery come from.  Please do contact us if you are interested in coming along.

Please do keep in touch with us, and thank you again for your support over the past year. 

With very best wishes for a happy Christmas and a successful and prosperous 2009.