135 students hailing from Ladakh and other parts of India studying in various colleges and universities of Jammu, Chandigarh and Delhi were provided with an opportunity to attend three-day talk on The Four Noble Truth and Rice Seedling Sutra by HH the Dalai Lama and one-day excursion tour to Rajgir and Nalanda, on scholarship.
The talk was organized for the Indians by the Nalanda Shiksha Committee from 5th January to 7th January in Bodh Gaya, Bihar and the tour was conducted by the Flowering Dharma Centre. The students also had the chance to be a part of the review sessions in the evening at the Root Institute for Wisdom Culture with Geshe Tenzin Namdak, who is the first westerner to recive a Geshe Degree.
In the course of these four-day event the students were introduced to the meaning of various Nalanda Philosophical views and concepts including the concept of Emptiness of Objective Existence, Interdependence among others. On the fourth day the students visited the World Peace Pagoda and the Vulture Peak at the Rajgir and site of ancient Nalanda University where they were briefed about the history, importance and relevance of the place by Ven Sonam Rigzen, a professor at the Nava Nalanda University.
The students for the tour were selected on the basis of their interest and reason which they filled out through an online registration form available at the website of Flowering Dharma. Various student bodies were connected in coordinating with the participants including All Ladakh Students Union (Jammu), Ladakh Student Association(LSA) and Ladakh Student Welfare Society Delhi (LSWSD).
In his three-day talk HH the Dalai Lama encouraged the participants and students to learn and study the philosophy that rooted in ancient Nalanda University. He also spoke how this tradition of Nalanda is Indian Tradition, which was born and flourished in the Indian soil and later spread to other parts of the world including Tibet, China, Mongolia, Japan and others. He spoke of the contributions of the various Nalanda Pandits (Masters) towards development of the tradition which can benefit not only a particular community or group but the whole of humanity.
The students also felt deeply enriched by this tour and has raised interest towards learning and studying of this wisdom tradition in many.
“We really enjoyed and for me these four days was one of the most productive and memorable days of my life. Coz, I have learnt many new things, got many experiences, visited many holy places, made many new friends and most importantly many doubts has been cleared…
So, we r very Thankful to Followering Dhamma for all these things and hope in future as well, we all will keep in touch and together try to preserve and promote the Nalanda Tradition- Tsewang Gailson.”
“We just started with our dharma,with our level of understanding,thus this is not the end.So keep exploring and develop enthusiasm towards the reality,share experience,about the concepts we been introduce to.-Sonam Gurmath”
“My heartfelt gratitude and deep love and respect to Nalanda Shiksha Committee, Organisers, Donors, Supporters and all the representative of LSA Chandigarh, ALSAJ Jammu, LSWSD Delhi and our team and representatives of Flowering Dharma, Mr Achuk (one man army) and Chosdon from Jammu for all the coordination and hard work. My respect and honor to Khando lay, Tashi Dawa lay, No Thinles (Tony lay of LSA), Angmo (president of ALSAJ) and all students who contributed to this tour directly or indirectly, mentally or physically.. Thanks to all the 135 students for making the tour a memorable one and fun. Wish you all a great success There are many faces in my mind and many names to be put in the list but in order to maintain the equanimity of the collective efforts of all the 135 students and many others who are not on the list but have immense contribution to make this journey to EMPTINESS Possible, I would rather not mention those names one by one.
Thanks to all- Tashi Namgyal, Director Flowering Dharma”🙏
Are some of the thoughts shared by the participants after the program.
