The Background to Rinpoche's visit to Thailand
In August 2007 I had the good fortune to meet a Thai professor of
linguistics here in Bangkok Dr Krisadawan [Kris]. She told me about her
audacious plans to build a 30 metre high Tibetan Buddhist Stupa, retreat
centre [for lay people], a Tibetan medicine clinic, a Tibetan Temple and an
out reach project for the poor and elderly. The project is based 30
miles inland from the Thai coastal resort town of Hua Hin in Thailand.
Hua Hin is some 200 miles south west of Bangkok. Kris is a most
remarkable lady professionally, personally and spiritually. She is
fluent not only in Tibetan but also in several dialects of Tibetan especially
in the Kham dialect. For several years Kris has been a professor of
linguistics at Thailand's most prestigious university Chula University in
Bangkok. During her research into the lives of Tibetan nomads in Eastern
Tibet she became enchanted with Tibetan Buddhism and she learnt to speak
fluently the Kham dialect. Later on she became quite famous in Thailand
when she was asked by the King of Thailand's eldest daughter HH the Princess
Maha Chakri Sirindhorn to be her guide on a private trip to Tibet. Kris
has been to Tibet many times since then. It is quite easy to get to
Tibet from Bangkok. You fly to Chengdu from Bangkok which is a two hour
150US$ return flight then onwards either by jeep, bus or direct flight to
Lhasa. On one of these trips she decided to make a pilgrimage by
prostrating all the way from Lhasa to Samye monastery. A feat few
non-Tibetans have ever attempted. The Thai media heard about Kris's exploits
and she was interviewed by Thai TV. On one of her many travels through
Chengdu Kris met a Tibetan Lama who wants to help her build a large Tibetan
style Stupa in Thailand. This Lama is called Kundrol Mangyal Lhasray
Rinpoche and is from Kham. A 30 acre plot of land of became available 30
miles inland from the coastal town of Hua Hin and was purchased by the 1,000
Stars Foundation [a registered charity founded by Kris]. The site is now
called Khadirvana and has great geomancy. It is about 1,000 feet above
sea level and is protected on three sides by mountains of 2,000 feet high.
The location is quite near the Myanmar border and is on the edge of the
jungle. There are wild elephants and even the occasional tiger living in
the area. The unprotected part of the land has wonderful vistas looking
south east towards the gulf of Thailand.
Here are some photos of the Khadiravana:
Currently there are two Kham style stupa tents made of thousands of
prayer flags.
Below is a photo of me and Kris inside the 10 metre high stupa
tent:
The idea came to me that perhaps Ringu Tulku could come to Thailand to
give the project a boost and he could also bless the land whilst he was here.
I contacted Rinpoche and Innes in Brussels and asked them if it was at
all possible that Ringu Tulku would be able to come to Thailand in November
this year. I realized that normally in November Rinpoche needed the time
to rest after his long trips to Europe and the US. Anyway Rinpoche
agreed to come and a date was set. Quite fortuitously there was an
international conference in Bangkok at the same time called "The 3rd
International Conference on Gross National Happiness" and they were looking
for a key note speaker since the one they had booked and backed out at the
last minute. So Rinpoche agreed to be the keynote speaker and that meant
that all the travel cost would be born by the conference rather than by the
1,000 Stars Foundation. Details of the project can been seen at these
two websites:
Rinpoche's first visit to Thailand
Although Rinpoche had landed at Bangkok airport to change planes before
he had never before stepped foot out side the airport. He arrived at
Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport on Monday 26th November at 05.40. He was
accompanied by his younger brother Dorje Kalsang. I took them by car to
the 1,000 Stars foundation house in Bangkok where he was to stay. I left
them with their hosts Kris and her husband Soraj. After a good rest
Rinpoche, Kalsang and several members of the 1,000 stars foundation arrived by
car at my home in central Bangkok. After a Thai meal in my apartment
Rinpoche prepared for his first teaching in Bangkok. I live in a 30
storey condo and it is well equipped with good public spaces. One of
these spaces is the yoga room. Every Monday evening it is used by the
Bangkok Shambala meditation group. The group leader Jamie Rheinholt
[from Colorado US] and I provide weekly meditation instruction to those who
are interested. Normally there is only a handful of people who
participate but on this day 50 people turned up. Here is a photo of our
meditation space at Monterey Place Bangkok where I live in Bangkok:
Here is Rinpoche giving his teaching:
This as well as all the other teachings whilst in Thailand are available
in a podcast by clicking here:
On Tuesday 27th November Rinpoche arrived at the Chula University in
Bangkok in time to deliver his keynote speech on "Happiness" . There
were around 700 delegates from all over the world and he wowed the audience
and later gave several interviews with to media. Later on he
participated in a workshop where global cultural difference were discussed.
At 19.00 on the same day he then gave another teaching at Chula
university where around 60 people attended.
On Wednesday 28th November I went to Kris's house some 6 miles >>from where
I live to collect Rinpoche. Due to the manic Bangkok gridlock this car
journey of six miles took 1 hour 40 minutes! Then Rinpoche Kalsang and I
drove another 15 miles to the Bank Kwang prison in another part of Bangkok.
Earlier I asked Rinpoche if he would visit a prisoner I have been
visiting [as a volunteer prison visitor on behalf of the British Embassy here
in Bangkok] for the past year. He is a UK citizen and has served 15
years of a 50 year sentence [which was last year commuted to 30 years].
Conditions in this prison are rather notorious. 17 people all
share the same cell which is without both pillows or sleeping pads. The
prisoner [John] was very pleased to see Rinpoche and they had one hour
together talking with each other. Next Rinpoche went with Jamie
Rheineholt to meet a Nepalese prisoner he visits. After the prison we
then drove around 200 miles to the retreat site near Hua Hin called
Khadiravana. We arrived around 17.00 and Rinpoche had an hours rest and
then he invited all those others who had travelled to Khadriavana to take part
in the White Tara empowerment which had been requested by Kris. The
location of the empowerment was very special because it was inside the 10
metre high stupa tent made of prayer flags. As the evening sun was
fading it gave the proceedings an amazing rainbow effect inside the tent.
The full account of this White Tara Empowerment [including photos] is to
found by clicking here on Kris's blog of the event:
After the empowerment which was very special we all slept over night on a
ranch owned by Areeratna. Here is Rinpoche the next morning relaxing on
the veranda of his retreat hut after a good nights sleep.
After a delicious Thai breakfast on Thursday 29th November Rinpoche then
walked around the Khadiravana site showering it with rice and chanting prayers
of blessings. In the middle of the site is a very old and large Banyan
tree which somehow is growing out of a large rock. The rock provides a
perfect meditation spot with fantastic protection from the tropical sun:
Here is Rinpoche next to a Tibetan tent:
Then Rinpoche planted rare trees in different parts of the site:
Finally we had the group photo:
Mid-morning we drove back to Bangkok in time for a late lunch at Kris and
Soraj's house. Later that evening Rinpoche gave his final teaching at
the 1,000 Stars foundation house. This group of Thais were transfixed by
Rinpoche teachings and it started at 19.00 and finally finished at 23.00.
[The full teaching is available on the web link show above].
On Friday 30th November Rinpoche had time to relax and do some sight
seeing and a little shopping. A group of us went to visit the main
Buddhist sights of Bangkok[The Emerald Buddha, The Royal Palace, Wat Po and
the Temple of Dawn]. The photos of this day were taken by a Thai guy who
will forward them to me shortly. The shopping trip took place in a
massive mall called MBK. It has a daily footfall of 500K people!
On Friday evening Rinpoche met with the 1,000 Stars foundation and I so
that we could strategize about how the raise the very large sums of money
which will be require to complete the ambitious project. Rinpoche
reminded us all that we had to be very skillful and not let the "fund-raising"
activities deflect our attention to the main concern of the project. We
should have plans but they must be very flexible and we must not be too
attached to them.
Saturday 1st December was Rinpoche's final day in Thailand. In the
morning he visited some more Buddhist sights in Bangkok with Kris and Soraj.
In the afternoon he went shopping to Bangkok's famous Chatuchat market.
After a meal in Bangkok I and Areeratna took Rinpoche and Kalsang to the
airport. The Thais were blown away by Rinpoche's visit and are already
looking forward to another visit from him when time allows.
Best wishes to all
Andy Lowe
