Rinpoche asked his student, Kirsty, to help build two schools in his native home area that had no access to education, one in the Sangshung valley, Nangchen, and the other one in Brongsar-Dokshok. Kirsty was able to sponsor only one school, so Rinpoche chose the Sangshung valley - the area in most need of a school. He selected a site for the school in a lovely area of open grassland and consecrated the land with his brother. That day, many local people performed dances, and Rinpoche gave each of them a photo of the Sixteenth Karmapa as a blessing and a white scarf. |
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Sangshung school, Nangchen Photo of the first stages of construction, before the school had grown to its present size |
Soon after, Kirsty built a big school building there which Rinpoche named Jamyang Lobdra (Manjushri School). It is known locally as Sangshung Lobdra, and now has over one hundred students. In both 2004 and 2005, the local Chinese education office said that Sangshung School rated first in exams among the local Nangchen schools, doing especially well in dance. Rinpoche is very happy to bring this benefit to his homeland.
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Rinpoche giving advice and presents on a visit to the school |
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Sangshung students dancing (2005) |
Sangshung students in 2005 |
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