English - The Official Tenzin Palmo Website

Dear friends, continuedcontributed by translating, giving usaccommodation, meals, transportetc. throughout all my past tours.Everywhere people have been so kindand I am deeply grateful to all themany people involved in these tours.I would also like to thank all thosewho have donated funding or itemsto the nunnery, and those who havewritten to the office offering their helptranslating and transcribing Newslettersand Teachings. The support we havereceived for the nunnery has been mostgratifying.The temple continues to rise andour team of young Nepali craftsmenare busy on the cement embellishmentsfor the friezes and columns. At presentthey are at work on the dragons that coilaround the pillars - facing outwards toinvoke peace and ward off obstacles -in accordance with our tradition. Thisnunnery belongs to the Drukpa Kagyulineage and the word “Druk” meansdragon. Meanwhile in the shrine roomof the Study Centre a team of youngartists from Tashi Jong are painting thecarved wooden shrine in commendablysubdued colours (by Tibetan standards).The statues for the Study and the RetreatCentres have been beautifully gildedand painted and look both resplendentand refined. Gen Lodro has been closelyinvolved in filling the statues with /zung/(rolls of printed mantras) and precioussubstances. This is a highly skilled joband we are deeply grateful to LamaLodro for his continued assistance withthese arcane technical matters.As I write the monsoon rains arecoming down and it is the season formagnificent storms where thunder andlightening bounce off the mountainsfor hours at a time. (Then of course wehave the inevitable power and internetfailures!!) It is a great relief that the dryriver beds are now full of water and thatthe country side is lush and green again.The local farmers are planting the ricecrops that will sustain their families forthe coming year.Lama Sonam LodroAn AppreciationLama Lodro has been associatedwith the DGL Nunnery from the verybeginning. In those days he taughtTibetan writing to our first batchof nuns at Tashi Jong. He is a monkof many practical accomplishmentsincluding painting, filling statues andstupas. He has an extremely goodeye for detail and on many occasionshas pointed out seemingly smalldiscrepancies which have been a greathelp.When the statues were being filledLama Lodro was at the Nunnery formany consecutive days, conductingPujas as the mantras were placed insidethe statues. It is important to have ahighly trained monk of pure disciplineand devotion to carry out these duties.Lama Lodro has been an invaluableand reliable help to us throughout theyears and he seems to very much enjoyhelping us. The nuns enjoy workingwith him as he is always smiling andlaughingLama Sonam Lodro was born onthe 10 September 1980 and receivedhis initial monastic ordination in thepresence of the great Khenpo Leksheyat Nubgon Monastery, which is abranch-monastery of Khampagar, inEast Tibet. He continued studyingat the monastery for 15 years duringwhich he undertook the basic monasticeducation including the study ofBuddhist philosophy under thedirection of Ratrul Rinpoche, KhenpoTalo, and other scholars.On leaving Tibet Lama Lodro cameunder the guidance of His EminenceDorzong Rinpoche from whom hereceived the novice ordination as wellas much teaching. Lama Lodro receivedhis Bhikshu (full ordination) vowsfrom His Holiness Penor Rinpoche.In recent times, Lama Lodroworked as Tibetan language teacherat the Young Monks School of theKhampagar Monastery in Tashi Jongand of course also taught our nunsof the Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery.Lama Lodro also played a leading rolein the construction of the Stupa at theDGL Nunnery and is now the advisorguiding the decoration of our mainTemple and the puja hall of the StudyCentre.OCTOBER 2009 GATSAL 3