The Buddha Bedurya Center help projects

THE KHAHUDRAGZONG YOGI HOUSE PROJECT The Khahudragzong retreat monastery is located in the Sakya region, upper part of Tibet, at an altitude of around 4200m. Such a high altitude place, naturally quiet and serene, is perfect for the yogis who seek eternal peace, clear vision and realization. Several ancient black colored yogi caves curved in the rock surround the monastery, nestled in the mountain. On its right side are five holy and secret rock caves of five famous Sakyapa great masters. A small river runs in the front and one can continuously hear the whispering fresh cold winds. Fragrant herbs grow in summer and the monastery is covered with snow in winter. Nature is silent and peaceful. This is a blessed place for yogis and monks. The sky gazing yogi monks are simple and jolly. They sit on sheepskin cushions and, despite the harsh life conditions meditate with all their heart. They don’t have any heating system or any other facilities to protect themselves from the cold, they only depend on the psychic heat generated by their yogic practice. For the success of their peaceful spiritual practice, and to welcome the numerous young monks and nuns who look for a sanctuary to study and meditate in this remote area, they need some temporary help. The most urgent is to provide a shelter to live in and practice. In the past, there were a hundred caves in this area, but time and natural calamities swept them away. The thousand years old monastic buildings and roofs are broken, and the hermit houses ruined. At present, only thirthy-three monks still live there. The Sakyapa School of Buddhism
The Sakyapa school is one of the four main schools of Traditional Tibetan Buddhism. His head is H.H. Sakya Trizin, now living in Sakya center, Dehradun, in India. The main Sakya center in Tibet is located in Sakya city, in the upper part of Tibet, and has two main schools.
The biggest school in Sakya tradition is the Sakya Monastery, which is the main monastery where monks study sutra and tantric philosophies. The monastery has a great collection in Buddhist culture gathering ancient Buddhist manuscripts, thousands of statues and thangkas, old mural paintings, etc. that have been well preserved from the 11th century A.D. until now. During some time in the past the maintenance was poor, but now the Chinese government supports the whole monastery renovation. The second school is the retreat monastery center called Khahudragzong. Lama Khahupa (around 10th century) meditated at this place and reached illumination. The retreat monastery, built later, holds his name. Located 20 km to the mountain in the west side of the Sakya city, it was in fact erected much earlier than the main city monastery. Badly damaged, it remained empty and without renovation for many years. A decade ago, some monks went there to meditate and began to re-establish this retreat monastery. Presently, the monastery has a main teaching hall, a temple, a kitchen, an abbot’s room and a few yogi caves. Yogis, hermits, and sky gazing monks searching for liberation, as well as some ordinary people, have come here for meditation and practice. Generally, monks come to this center only after their graduation in Buddhist philosophy study from the Sakya main city monastery. The retreat monastery, principally dedicated to teaching and practice in meditation, spiritual yoga and tantric practices, provides further study through a six-year course. Spiritual yoga is an important part of this tradition. Few elder masters are still alive and able to pass their tradition on to the younger generation. Especially their yoga tradition is very secret and to show its practice to common people is forbidden. Yogis are also trained in jumping and healing yogas. When we visited the place in 2004, the retreat monastery didn’t have any support from anyone. Since then, some lamas have built a few new yogi caves but the work has remained incomplete. The head of the monastery requested our help as there is an urgent need for more yogi caves, a yoga practice hall, and books for the study of tantra. Through our two visits for a pilgrimage within three years, we can testify that there is an urgent and great need to help preserve the ancient tantric teachings. Otherwise, these teachings and practices could easily be lost already in this generation. There is indeed a young generation of devoted monks with a keen interest in learning and practicing. It is then our responsibility to help them and give them the opportunity to follow this wonderful spiritual path and practice. Therefore, we have set up these three projects: • Yogi hall project To practice in group, yogis need a hall sufficiently protected from wind and cold. The hall would become the Sakyapa tantric school center for spiritual yoga learning. The hall must have four pillars, be wide enough to hold 20-25 persons and have glass windows, and a wooden floor with yogis cushions. Illustrations of yoga postures will be painted on the inside walls.
• 25 Yogi cave houses project All yogi houses are small, and equipped with a wooden yogi bed. They are designed to allow one person to meditate. Donations are needed to build 25 new yogi houses. Ten yogi houses are currently under construction.
• Study book and library project The monastery has already collected some books but the quantity is not sufficient for the monks, and the bookshelves are mostly empty. The Tibetan sutra and tantra books will be bought in Sichuan and Kansu provinces of China. Anyone interested in that project can make donation to the Buddha Bedurya bank account, with mentioning “Yogi caves project”.

NUNS AID PROJECT About one kilometer below the retreat monastery, there is a beautiful river side monastery where nuns live and meditate. It was the birthplace of Sakya Pandita, the famous master of Tibetan people and especially of the Sakyapa school of Buddhism. Many of these nuns cannot stay long in the monastery because of the lack of food and daily necessities. Therefore, many of them have to interrupt their practice due to the life difficulties at the monastery. The Buddha Bedurya Center would like to help this nunnery by supporting them for study, food and shelter. Anyone interested in that project can make donation to the Buddha Bedurya bank account, with mentioning “Nuns aid”.

Donations All donations are most welcome for these projects but kind and loving generosity motivation is more important than the size of the donation. By bank Your donations may be sent to: Buddha Bedurya Buddhist Meditation Center mention: "yogi project" or "Nuns aid project" Banca Popolare di Sondrio Agenzia. n. 13 - Repubblica Viale Monte Santo 8 - ang. Via Galilei CAP: 20124 Milano, Italy Account number 07497/85 IBAN 1T73 P056 9601 6120 0000 7497 X85 SWIFT POSOIT 22 MIL Donate using PayPal or Credit card

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