Institute of Contemporary Arts London (ICA) presents BLINDSIGHT, a documentary that “follows the gripping adventure of six Tibetan teenagers who set out to climb the 23,000 foot Lhakpa Ri on the north side of Mount Everest. A dangerous journey soon becomes a seemingly impossible challenge made all the more remarkable by the fact that the teenagers are blind” (Blindsight). The film has received 4 international awards and has claimed praising reviews. The screening will begin on the 8TH of August, and will continue to run throughout the Olympics, until the 28TH of this month.

Interview with director Lucy Walker

Interview with BLINDSIGHT protagonists

For screening schedule and tickets, please visit http://www.ica.org.uk/

Related links http://www.blindsightthemovie.com/film.html

Buddhism has become a most embraced religion, especially in Europe and on the North American continent. It is available to you and me in light forms. But few of us have the priviledge to gain insight into the world of those keeping its philosophy sacred. Photographer Zang Chaoyin has been granted access. Please take a look at the Buddhist monastic lifee.

Tibetan monks durin an outdoors assembly

Gelug-pa, or the Yellow Hat sect, is a Buddhism school founded at Ganden. Its founder was Tsongkhapa (1357 – 1491), a Tibetan leader and a philosopher

Monks praying at the altar of the founder of the Tibetan Empire, Songtsan Gampo

Waiting for the po cha (butter tea) to be served

Studying the sacred teachings

Soccer is extremely popular with young Tibetan monks. They often improvise a ball and forget themselves in the game.

Relaxing after dinner

Preparing Kapsey is a good excuse for monks to have a good time. The crispy dessert is made out of dough, which is rolled in different shapes for good luck.

Official matters

Many Buddhist rituals are connected with nature and the monks are educated in respecting and cherishing it

Photography with the Courtesy of Zang Chaochyin

Alternative sources: www.wikipedia.org

Please contact the administration for bigger resolution images

There remains an urgent need for long term rehabilitation work particularly in schools.
Our second stage target is to raise £50,000 for rehabilitation and relief work in the Tibetan areas in which we have been working since 1993 through our Aid to Tibet programme.
Our current identified priorities remain for community level interventions where we can make a real difference through local action.

Donate Now:
http://www.justgiving.com/tibetearthquake
Other Ways to Donate:
http://www.tibet-foundation.org/tf/donate.php
One of the best ways of helping is to set up a standing order:
http://www.tibet-foundation.org/tf/forms/generic_tf_boform.pdf

Money Distributed so Far

We have supported schools with food and blankets to a total of £9,000.
We have committed £13,000 to furniture and equipment for schools.

We have supported an orphanage with an immediate grant of £2,000 for children with special needs. This has doubled its numbers to over 100 needy children and we will make a series of small grants to schools and longer term education sponsorships for children in the earthquake areas.

The Ark – Longkang Orphanage has 43 children aged 3-12. They are of Tibetan background, with mental and physical special needs. Some minor, some more serious.
They have one doctor and rely on their own resources, with a lot of volunteer, labour, materials and benefit in kind support from local communities. It is located 2 miles north of Jiuzhaigou National Park. The plan is to take in another 60 young people with special needs from the Quake area in the next weeks.
However there isn’t the capacity long term to house and feed over 100 children, especially given the extra needs of these young people.
Therefore this is likely to be for the short term (less than 1 year). Although there is currently a great deal of uncertainty in the aftermath of this huge disaster.

Contributions have come in from our supporters and many Tibetans from across the world.

We are very grateful for this and are committed to working to help the vulnerable who will bear the consequences of this terrible natural disaster.

My sincere appreciation for your generosity,
Karma Hardy

Director
karma.hardy@tibet-foundation.org
Switchboard +44 207 930 6001

One of the best ways of helping is to set up a standing order to Tibet Foundation, please contact the office to find out the best way to do this or click on the link below and print out the form and return it to us.

http://www.tibet-foundation.org/tf/forms/generic_tf_boform.pdf

Tibet Foundation is a registered UK charity founded and managed by Tibetans to work both in exile and inside ethnic Tibetan areas in China.
The area in which we have been working is Kandze is all within 300km of the epicentre of the earthquake near Yingxiu.
Kandze is the name given both to the region (Kandze Autonomous Prefecture) and a county (Kandze County) in the north west of Sichuan Tibet Foundation is continuing to approach other funders and we welcome the opportunity to discuss our appeal and would like to make the offer of being available by email, telephone and meeting in person.
The 12th May 7.9 earthquake hit the Sichuan Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in Wenchuan County and affected more than half of China and beyond to neighbouring countries.
The epicentre was in Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture.
Aba is also known as the Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture.
Aba Tibetan Prefecture has been affected mainly in terms of infrastructure, roads, bridges and transport hubs in the region.
Tibetan areas adjacent to Wenchuan (which in Tibetan language is called “Lung Kuo”) were badly affected by the quake. But Wenchuan and the surrounding towns and cities are mainly Han Chinese. The Tibetan areas lie further afield. For that reason, the damage may prove to be less extensive there than closer to the epicentre. As Tibetan homes tend to be traditionally made of wood, they are better able to withstand quake damage. Although the effects of the quake were felt very powerfully above 3000m, the damage was greatest in the zone of 500m to 1000m with the higher population.

Fax +44 207 930 6002
office@tibet-foundation.org
Tibet Foundation (Charity No. 292400).
2 St. James’s Market. London SW1Y 4SB

Photography with the courtesy of Zang Chaoyin

Tibetan prayer wheels are mechanical devices called Mani wheels. A Mani is made up by a wheel or ‘khor (Tibetan) on a spindle made from metal, wood, leather or coarse cotton, and a tiny swinging counterweight. Inside the wheel, one can find rolls of thin paper imprinted with mantras, sutras and Buddha’s teachings, written in Tibetan or Indian script. The scroll is protected by a box, which is spun around an axis. The wheel is carved with mantras on exterior as well.

The idea of a prayer wheel is a physical manifestation of the phrase ‘turn the wheel of the dharma’, a metaphor refering to Buddha’s teaching methods. Tibetan Buddhists envoke the embodyment of compassion – Chenrezig, by reciting the Om Mani Padme Hum mantra. The same effect is believed to be achieved with the viewing of a written mantra or with the spinning of the prayer wheel.

   

        

                        

Photography by Zang Chaoyin

Sources:

http://www.dharma-haven.org/tibetan/prayer-wheel.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer_wheel

For more related images, please refer to

http://flickr.com/search/?q=prayer+wheel

NOTE: The images were taken in Tibet.                                                                                                         
Silver and copper prayer wheels can be purchased from Tibet Foundation.                                                   

 

 

Saga Dawa Festival: The Buddha Day

Tibet Foundation is hosting a Tsok Puja (Feast Offering) to mark Saga Dawa, the most holy day of the year according to the Tibetan Buddhist calendar. The full moon day of the fourth lunar month marks three important anniversaries: the birth, enlightenment and passing away of the Buddha. Tibetans regard this as very special and devote the day to prayers and good works for the benefit of others. Merit from good works on this day is multiplied many millions of times. Join us for our feast to mark the occasion.

Venue: Tibet Foundation, 2 St. James’s Market, London, SW1Y 4SB Tel: 0207930 6001

A 5-minute interview with Tenzing Nio, young Tibetan Film maker, on Saga Dawa 

How would you describe Saga Dawa?

 

Saga Dawa is an extremely auspicious day for the Buddhists. It is a holy day presumably because Buddha was born and escaped to Nirvana on this very specific day. It is a day of kindness, it’s a day of thought and celebration all joined together. People normally go vegetarian on Saga Dawa to try accumulate their merits by three or four folds, rather than just seeing this day as an ordinary day, because it isn’t.

And people do a lot of good on this day to accumulate their karmas. In the evening, people normally tend to put out a lot of butter lamps, a lot of candles to celebrate this special occasion. As you know light, in Buddhist context, is associated with wisdom and knowledge and peace. As a kid I remember going around Baylakupee with my friends and stealing candles and butter lamps throughout the full moon night, which you should not do because it contradicts the whole celebration of Saga Dawa. Stealing is not permitted. But as a kid you would not know. It is a beautiful day when everyone gathers together for the good will of Sage Dawa.

 

 

Why would you need to acquire those merits?

Buddhists think there is this selfless act which I still try to come to terms with. Basically you try to accumulate these merits for the benefit of your own future, for the benefit of your coming rebirth.

 

You come from Bylakupee. How does it look like there on Saga Dawa?

It is really stunning. At night, you see galaxies of butter lamps everywhere. It’s mesmerizing the sight in itself because of the amount of butter lamps placed everywhere: down the streets, on the walls, on people’s gardens… Especially in the old camp, the part where I’ from, whereas the houses in the new camps are so much more disperse, whilst in the old camps the homes are clutched together. In that sense, it creates this extremely beautiful vision.

 

How big is the Tibetan community in Bylakupee?

Bylakupee supposedly hosts the biggest Tibetan Diaspora, bigger than anywhere else in the world, except than in Tibet itself.  It is a rural area. There has been a lot of development going on, which I personally can understand but I cannot fully agree with because it affected the wild life in a big way and nature has basically played an intricate part in the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism.

 

Is Saga Dawa a family celebration or a community celebration?

It’s definitely both. It is a family celebration in the fact that, at night, everybody would come together after meal and started praying, with offers made at the altar. The butter lamps are kept burning all through the night. And it’s also a community festivity because, as I told you, it’s a close community. You get to hear everyone else praying, and see what everybody else is doing. In that sense, it is a joined celebration.

 

Do you have to prepare for this day in a certain way?

Not that I know of. You have to bare in mind that I left the place when I was nine years old, so I haven’t had any palpable experience in that place for about twelve – thirteen years. I’m sure that they have to prepare beforehand.

 

Will you celebrate it tonight?

I will, in my own little way: I will light a few candles and make an offering.

 

Sources:

www.tibet-foundation.org

Image

http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m81/namobuddhas/SagaDawaICON.jpg

 

Many thanks to Tenzing Nio

 

For more information and images, please visit our related links and:

Melange Magazine

http://melange.enigmatic.org/

Issue no.1 – Seven Days In Tibet

and

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ingiro/2077781423/

 

 

 

 

 

Tibet Foundation Blog Admin