I just concluded the first leg of my pilgrimage of the eight sites associated with Buddha. Needless to say, it was a profound experience. Sitting and walking on the same soil as the Enlightened One was both a moving experience and a very fulfilling one.

However, there was one thing that bothered me – the constant pestering by petty vendors and beggars in every pilgrimage site. There were hundreds of men, women, and children – some old, some disabled, and many totally undernourished.

The suffering and the misery numbed me completely that I was simply overwhelmed and felt helpless. But to unsee such suffering is to undo any merit from the pilgrimage itself. What is the use of praying to Buddha while overlooking the very thing he was trying to bring an end to? So, I kept looking for an answer to my own dilemma.

On the fifth day while driving from Vaishali to Rajgir, I struck up a long conversation with my driver, Indradev, about the development in Bihar – nicer roads, better Internet connectivity than before. And we continued with his life, family, and children. We did a WhatsApp video call with them and I got introduced to his family – especially to his six-year-old son, who always tries to connect to different people from different countries his father drives around.

MY BUDDHA MOMENT.

During one of his subsequent calls, I overheard his son complain that the school wants to know when he will pay the fees. My newfound friend looked perturbed.

“Why is the school bullying your son for the fees?” I asked.

“Sir, I am behind by four months, and so the school is right to ask for it,” he replied.

He then went on to complain how life has been unfair to him since his father passed away and he didn’t get anything and even had to discontinue his school. He works every day for long hours to just feed his family.

He is currently squatting on someone’s land with a token lease. A kind Vietnamese pilgrim gave him some money to put up a proper roof, and a Tibetan Rimpoche from Dharamsala helped build a toilet. Both of them, however, have lost touch with him during covid-19. He added that this season has been low in tips, and his salary was just enough to buy the groceries.

“Sometimes I wonder if God exists and why he keeps me in an earthly hell forever,” he concluded with a sigh.

His voice was heavy, and the pain was real. I empathized with him, felt a deep sorrow because I know how he felt. I have been there too where I felt worthless.

“But I won’t deprive my son of what I missed. In fact I am sending him to a private school although it takes one fourth of my salary,” he said with conviction.

“How much is the monthly fee ?” I asked him.

“It is one thousand per month, sir,” he replied.

“So, that would be twelve thousand a year?”

“Right, Sir.”

“Ok. Call the school right away and tell them you will clear the dues by tomorrow when we get back to Bodhgaya. And tell them you won’t be late here after either, because I will pay the fees for the whole year.”

He went into disbelief but did it right away. When he put the phone away, he seemed relieved.

“You said God has abandoned you. I think he didn’t, whoever he or she is,” I told him.

He was visibly emotional.

“Thank you, Sir,” he said, looking towards the horizon with a teary eyes.

I looked out of the window and saw the mountains of the city of Rajgir getting closer. But it was not the words of the Buddha that came to my mind to describe what I just did. Instead, my favorite line from the movie Schindler’s List – a Hebrew proverb kept ringing:

He who saves one life, saves the world entire.

No! I can’t end all the suffering in the world. But, at least I just saved a child from being harassed for not paying the school fee on time. Maybe I saved him from having to drop out of his school. One never knows.

The next day when we got back to Bodhgaya, I relieved Indal to go and clear the dues with the school. He messaged me an hour later and texted me the receipt and the last exam results.

DID BUDDHA RECIPROCATE?

That evening in Bodhgaya after dinner, I rushed to get a few more rounds of the great Mahabodhi stupa. It was almost closing time.

When I entered the gate, I saw that a group of Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese and Indian devotees were saying their last prayers as the temple was about to close. I entered and joined in. It was a beautiful moment chanting the praises to Buddha in Pali.

Buddham Saranam Gacchami (I take Refuge in Buddha),
Dhammam Saranam Gacchami (I take Refuge in the Dharma),
Sangham Saranam Gacchami (I take Refuge in the Sangha).

Then as the security was ushering us all out at 9 o’clock, I saw the main priest, who was sitting on the altar near the Buddha, distributing scarfs and other flowers offered to the Buddha statue. I approached the priest too and asked him if I could have a white scarf too. He looked into my eyes, thought for a moment, and said,

“Wait!”

And he got up and took down a large yellow silk robe that was wrapped around the Buddha statue. He bundled it and launched it at me.

I caught it like a good goalkeeper and thanked him several times as I hurried to the door with the policemen screaming at me.

As the giant door closed behind me, I turned around and stood there for a moment to reconfirm the priceless gift I just received, slowly settling in, and absorbing the blessing for one last time.

And in that moment I realised that even my “God” has not abandoned me either. I would like to believe that he reciprocated on behalf of the child I just helped.

😌😌😌

(I decided to sponsor the child all the way till college, as long as he does well. ✌️✌️✌️

May this small act of kindness bring closer to ending suffering and misery on this earth.)

Info: Indradev drives for a tour company. Someday he dreams to own his own car. Right now his priority is buying the land he is on. Good to hire him and do the Buddha Circuit. Car is bit luxurious but better be safe.

I had the fortune of visiting the newly-opened and beautiful Buddha Samyak Darshan Museum in Vaishali. The main building in the shape of a stupa houses the Buddha Relics that were unearthed at Vaishali and kept at Patna Museum for over 70 years.

It is believed that after Buddha’s cremation, the ashes were divided equally into eight parts and distributed to the king and patrons of Buddha. The Licchavi Kings received their share, which they put inside the Vaishali stupa. The stupa was later destroyed and buried during the decline of Buddhism in India in the 12th century — only to be unearthed by British archaeologists in the early 1900s.

Vaishali and Buddha.

Vaishali is located some 30 km north of Patna — the state capital of Bihar in India. Although it often does not get mentioned at par with the other four major sites, it is historically significant in that it was the capital of the Licchavi Kingdom that patronized Buddha and the Sangha.

Vaishali is also believed to be where Buddha met his first teacher, Arada Kalama (yes! Buddha had teachers too). Arada taught him mediation, which Buddha mastered in a few months.

The Monkey Miracle.

It is believed that the Third Turning of the Wheel of Dharma took place in Vaishali, where the Buddha taught the concept of Bodhicitta — the Buddha-nature that is present in all sentient beings, and cittamatra (mind-only), over which later in the 4th century, the Yogacara School was founded by Asanga.

Today one can visit the spot marked by the Ashoka Pillar, and a large water reservoir (dry in winter) called the Monkey Tank, and a large brick mound renains of a stupa.

The reference to monkey comes from a very popular story of Buddha in Vaishali. A monkey is supposed to have stolen the Buddha’s begging bowl, and returned the bowl filled with fresh honey as an offering later. When the Buddha accepted and blessed it, the monkey was so happy. When he was reborn as a human, he attained enlightenment. This legend is the most famous of Vaishali and is told and retold, and even carved as rock and temple art all over Buddhist India.

Historically, Vaishali is remembered for two other important moments in Buddhism.

1. Teaching of Impermanence. Buddha also conducted his last teaching in Vaishali before leaving for Kushinagar. He taught on impermanence and went on to announce his upcoming demise and emphasized the inevitability of change — one of the key Buddhist concepts.
2. Ordination of women and democracy. Upon insistence by Ananda, Buddha ordained the first group of women into the Sangha — starting with his foster mother, Mahaprajapati Gautami (Buddha’s biological mother died soon after his birth). Furthermore, Buddha expressed his satisfaction over how the decisions in the Sangha were made in the most democratic manner.

Special gratitude.

A special thank you to the Indian monk and the security guard who allowed me to take pictures and spend a little more time in the temple. They did that when I told them that I was from Bhutan and was on a serious pilgrimage.

🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

Tadyatha Om Gatey Gatey Paragatey Parasamgatey Bodhi Svaha (ཏདྱ་ཐཱ། ཨོཾ་ག་ཏེ་ག་ཏེ་པཱ་ར་ག་ཏེ་པཱ་ར་སཾ་ག་ཏེ་བོ་དྷི་སྭཱ་ཧཱ།).
😇😇😇

Pilgrimage2026

eightplacesassociatedwithBuddha

• The ruins and the location of the original Vaishali stupa can be seen even today.
  ** With this third of the eight places associated to Buddha, I conclude the first phase of my pilgrimage in India. I will continue with Sarnath, Sravasti, Kapilavastu, Lumbini, and Kushinagar next time.

The sacred text known as the Satasahasrika Prajñaparamita, which is translated as the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra in One Hundred Thousand Lines (Skt. Śata-sāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā; Tib. ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་སྟོང་ཕྲག་བརྒྱ་པ།) is one of the principal texts in Buddhism. In Dzongkha it is simply referred to as bum (འབུམ་)—meaning ‘The Hundred ’Thousand’—referring to the 100,000 lines of the scripture.

Story has it that it is based on the teachings of Buddha that were delivered at the Vulture Park in Rajgir (India). Manjushri is supposed to have attended the teaching and dictated it to his disciple, who wrote it down. The sacred manuscript is attributed to Jinashri Jnana, a disciple of Manjushri, with Manjushri himself, the legend goes, writing the first three pages with his own index finger and dictating the rest.

The complete set of texts was believed to have been delivered for safekeeping to the Nagas in Kathmandu Valley by Manjushri with an instruction that a man would come in the distant future to retrieve them. That man would happen to be Nagarjuna—a brilliant second-century scholar from South India.

The Temple and the Ser Bum:

I had heard that the manuscripts were in a family temple in Kathmandu and that it was possible to see them. Or at least that was what my Nepali friends told me. Having written the essence of the Prajanaparamita in my PhD dissertation, I was fascinated by the prospects of even getting a glimpse of the original copy.

So, I decided to make a trip to Nepal.

After asking around, and based on a book by Keith Dowman, I traced the family temple to Vikramshila Mahavihar (aka Bhagwan Bahal or Tham Bahil) in Thamel. The local Newari people refer to the volumes as Ser Bum, while the proper Sanskrit name is Śata-sāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā.

Tracing it in Kathmandu.

The Volume is taken out only on certain days – as deemed auspicious by the Newari calendar. There are no fixed days.

As instructed by another source, I went to the office to introduce myself and make a request. Having a local reference helps, but in my case, I was able to convince them that I was a serious scholar, and most importantly, I had to convince them that I was a devout Buddhist—and not part of any sinister group. You have to make the appointment at least a day in advance for them to probably do some background checks on us.

The Scriptures Appear:

I got back to Tham Bahil on the day of the appointment and was led to a closed room, where I joined some 20 Ladakhi monks, lamas, and pilgrims, who had probably made the same request. After some 30 minutes of waiting, the four volumes of the scriptures were brought in and then solemnly opened by the Chief Custodian from behind a glass wall. He spoke and explained everything in Hindi since he assumed that we were all from Ladakh. He showed the first three pages, written by Manjushri with his own finger, and the rest of the pages written by his disciple, Jinashri Jnana. The noise from the courtyard outside was muffling his voice, and I felt sorry for the Ladakhis since they were mostly illiterate pilgrims and probably didn’t know much of the legend that was shared.

Tracing the Entrance to the Subterranean World:

According to another legend, Kathmandu was a huge lake surrounded by mountains. Eons before Shakyamuni Buddha, the Bodhisattva Kanakmuni is believed to have thrown a lotus seed in the lake. A big lotus with a thousand leaves and flowers blossomed out of that seed. On one of the flowers, a self-arising butter lamp burned miraculously.

Manjushri is believed to have visited the place, and after meditating on Phulchoki mountain, he struck one end of the valley with his divine sword and drained the water from the lake. And as for that Eternal Butter Lamp, a hill rose on which now stands Soyambhunath (Phagpa Shingkun) Chorten. Just below the summit of Soyambhunath, I was told by the Chief Custodian of Tham Bahil that there is a place called Shantipur, where Nagarjuna is supposed to have entered and returned from the subterranean world of the Nagas with the scriptures.

I thanked him for this piece of information, got out of the temple, and got to the street, where I stopped a taxi. “Monkey temple, my friend,” I told the driver in Nepali. We dribbled through the traffic of Kathmandu and got to Soyambhu in 15 minutes.

After a tough climb up the long stairs to Soyambhu Chroten, I asked around and found the place called Shantipur. Here Nagarjuna (in the second century) is supposed to have entered the subterranean world on the invitation of the Naga King to come and teach the nagas the Buddha Dharma. And to reciprocate for the precious teaching, the Naga King offered the four volumes containing the Satasahasrika Prajnaparamita (the Ser Poti) to Nagarjuna.

What stands there today is a one-story building with a large, dark, ornamented door. That door is supposed to lead to another golden door, one priest told me, and to another door, with a total of five golden doors. That is the entrance to the World of the Nagas.

According to the same legend, the Naga King is still holding on to one more volume and waiting for Nagarjuna to come and give more teachings and offer him that last volume.

Leaving Soyambhu with a prayer:

I made a small offering through the door, rang the bell thrice as per the tradition, and made a silent prayer and a Moelam: that this story and the legend, whether true or not, never die and instead inspire thousands more like me, seeking both the knowledge and enlightenment—and that everyone who seeks them work towards the goodness of humanity and for the benefit of all sentient beings.

I climbed back to the Chorten and made 13 rounds of the Phagpa Shingkun (Soyambhu) and thanked the divinities, especially Manjushri, for this beautiful journey that I have undertaken—and requested him that I never get to my destination—and that there may be more of this wonderful mission.

✌️

✌️

#EightPlacesAssociatedWithBuddha
70 km north of Bodhgaya is the town of Rajgir. It literally means “King’s House” and probably refers to King Bimbisara who had this place as the capital of his ancient kingdom of Magadha. King Bimbisara, and his son Ajatasatru were the first patrons of Gautama Buddha.

Rajgir is mentioned in Buddhist texts and stories as the place where the Buddha gave certain sermons such as the Heart Sutra, and the Lotus Sutra. In particular, the sacred site mentioned is the Vulture Peak, nicknamed since the rocks look like a vulture.

Of the various teachings, the Heart Sutra (Dzo: Sherub Nyingpo) is of prime importance to us – the Mahayana and the Vajrayana schools because it introduces the concept of Emptiness. The text is included within the larger volume of Prajnaparamita sutras (bum in Dzongkha).

The most famous line from the short scripture is:
Form is emptiness. Emptiness is form (གཟུགས་སྟོང་པའོ། །སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་གཟུགས་སོ།)

My experience.

It would be an understatement to say that it was a feeling of extreme satisfaction, reverence and a sense of fulfilment that I could sit and read the sacred texts of Heart Sutra, which I commissioned in gold script and subsequently got it blessed and thumbprinted by my lama Dorje Phagmo Rimpoche.

While Bodhgaya is the site of Buddha’s enlightenment, Rajgir is the site of Buddha’s activities. To visit the Bamboo Groove (Venuvana Park), which was the venue of Buddha’s first Sangha, felt emotional. To be standing and walking on the same soil as the Buddha and Sariputra (he was born here and attained enlightenment as per some sources) was a great feeling of being fortunate.

I also sat and said a few mantras at Saptaparni Cave, where the First Buddhist Council was held after Buddha’s paranirvana. I dedicated my prayers for all sentient beings to find peace and happiness and free from suffering.

I recited the mantra:
Tadyatha Om Gatey Gatey Paragatey Parasamgatey Bodhi Svaha (ཏདྱ་ཐཱ། ཨོཾ་ག་ཏེ་ག་ཏེ་པཱ་ར་ག་ཏེ་པཱ་ར་སཾ་ག་ཏེ་བོ་དྷི་སྭཱ་ཧཱ།).

It is translated as:
Oṃ, Gone, Gone, Gone Beyond, Gone Altogether Beyond, Awakening, So Be It”
✌️✌️✌️

As an aficionado of history and academia, sitting under an Ashoka tree among the ruins of Nalanda is an awe-inspiring, and humbling experience. To think that this place gave rise to all the knowledge, understanding and elaboration of Buddhist thoughts and teachings sent a moving feeling of reverence, admiration and gratitude. I hope the place is restored to its former glory.

At its peak, Nalanda hosted 10,000 students and teachers. Between the 4th and the 10th century, supported by Dharma Raja like Ashoka and Harsha, Nalanda was perhaps the world’s first university where extensive Buddhist studies, logic, medicine (Ayurveda), mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, and literature were taught.

Every thinkable master and scholar taught or studied here. Guru Padmasambhava, Nagarjuna, Shantarakshita, Asanga, Vasubandu, Chadrakirti, Shantideva among other mahasiddhas. Their subsequent contributions not only kept the words of Buddha alive, but gave new meaning and relevance to everyday life. Their works dispersed into all the eight directions of the universe and created several schools and traditions that are all practiced and lived to this day.

Of all the teachings the Way of Bodhisattva (Choenjuk in Dzongkha) is an 8th-century by Shantideva stands out for me. It is a comprehensive guide to cultivating compassion, wisdom, and the altruistic mind of enlightenment (bodhichitta) through logic and rationalism.

Coming to Shantideva, a paragraph from him inspired me all my life. It goes:

For as long as space endures
And for as long as living beings remain,
Until then may I too abide
To dispel the misery of the world.

(Shantideva)

To the north of Bodhgaya, some 10 kilometres away, is Dungeshwari Hills — named after the Hindu goddess Dungeshwari (a form of Maa Durga). To the Tibetans and the Bhutanese, the place is known as Mahakala Cave, after the Mahasiddha Shrawarigpa (Ritro Wangchuk in Dzongkha) is supposed to have had the vision of the Six-Armed Mahakala.

Here there is a cave where Siddhartha Gautama almost died after practicing extreme austerity. An image of a self-mortified Buddha can be seen in the cave.

As the light of life was deeming away from him, Buddha heard a sitar player tuning the instrument. When the musician tightened the string too much, the string broke. When the string was too loose, the sound was terrible. It was only when the string was somewhere between being too tight and too loose that the sitar sounded perfect.

It then dawned on the Buddha that enlightenment can neither be found in the hedonistic princely life, nor in the extreme self-mortification of one’s body. He needed to find a middle way — a path between the two extremes.

He then got up and went looking for something to eat. Descending to the village, a milkmaid named Sujata offered some kheer — a traditional Indian dish of rice and milk pudding. Another farmer offered him a kusha grass mat to Buddha. He then got the strength to continue his search for enlightenment, which he achieved under a Bodhi tree in present day Bodhgaya.

Both the Mahakala Cave and Sujata’s house have become destinations of Buddhist pilgrims today.

The Middle Path

The Middle Path philosophy was later expounded by Nagarjuna in the first century and became the main foundation for the Mahayana, and later Vajrayana, schools of Buddhism. Nagajuna, and his student Shavaripa, visited the cave, which perhaps provided him with the inspiration and motivation.

For me, the middle path philosophy is one of the most important teachings of the Buddha. While the Four Noble Truths and Eight-folds Paths are indisputable, the middle path philosophy is practical and of greater use in life, where we are reminded to avoid the extremes and also find a moderation – a limit in whatever we do. Traditionally it is called Tsham tshey and it is a popular value we teach.

Is it relevant today? You bet!

As children grow up with all sorts of imported values and beliefs, they will increasingly be wary of parents and elders telling them not to do this or that. This is where middle path philosophy comes in, whereby we can advise them to know the limit (tsham tsey) in anything they do or pursue — money, materials, social media. To tell them not to do this or that would be futile.

Furthermore, the world is burning. There is so much hate and division – all because we can’t find a middle ground, no compromise, no acceptance of the other. Those of us, and those nations and communities that practice it are in a way fortunate.

My pilgrimage in 2026 continues for a week in India starting from the spot where Prince Siddarta attained enlightenment and became Gautama Buddha 2500 years ago.

The dust and air is stifling but I guess this is the price we pay for seeking something greater.

There is a Nyingma Moelam going on. What a beautiful coincidence. I hadn’t planned for that but happy to contribute and pray on everyone’s behalf.

I just realised it has been 30 years when I was the first time in 1996. Time flies, as they say.

Dorje Dhen: the meaning

The literal meaning of Dorje Dhen, to refer to Bodhgaya , means Vajra Seat (Vajra Sana in Sanskrit). It refers to the seat on which Buddha sat as he achieved enlightenment. While the Mahabodhi temple is famous and revered, it is the seat one should not miss to get a blessing. It is near the Bodhi tree.

The seat is believed to have been found and restored by King Ashoka.

Tshe-bumpa

There are four very sacred tshe-bumpa that were put on four miniature stupas by a Tibetan rimpoche and consecrated by late Dudjom. Look out for them. They are towards the right as you enter the main gate. You will meet them only if you do the middle circle.

#EightPlacesAssociatedToBuddha

#Pilgrimage2026

My earlier post on the works of Bhutan Stroke Foundation garnered some interest. Thank you all for your responses and wishes.

One frequent comment our people get at the foundation is why we need to exist because we have free medical service in the country.

Yes, that’s true. However, stroke is not just a medical case. It is a traumatic personal, social and financial situation. It leaves a person debilitated for months or for years and requires constant care and attention. It disrupts the life of the whole family. The recovery, where possible, takes time. It requires skills and patience, and it requires lots of resources.

The free medical service more or less stops once the patient is discharged from the hospital and is told to go home, and to return to continue the physiotherapy and in many cases speech therapy. For the urban poor and for people from rural areas it is marked by a huge economic strain.

Furthermore, people are often rushed to Thimphu in an ambulance in a medical emergency. And because it is an emergency the patient and the accompanying person go from a district hospital to Thimphu – without any preparation for the journey – no food, money, or extra clothes.

And once the patient is discharged and shown the Exit door, many don’t know where to go. They don’t know where to stay to continue with physiotherapy sessions and follow-up treatment.

This post-stroke care is one area where we are trying to expand our services, besides the massive awareness campaigns and health screening we have conducted so far.

We are taking small steps. Some of our volunteers are visiting patients lying at home to clean them of sweats and bed sores, help them do physio exercises, and cheer them up. There is a lot we can do, and a lot of work and ways we can help.

The foundation is struggling in terms of resources, but it is doing well in volunteerism and goodwill. As a communication practitioner I know I can write the story of each successful case we have handled, or the misery that someone is going through. If we do that millions will be raised in a matter of days.

But we continue to resist the temptation, and respect the privacy of our beneficiaries. We don’t splash them on Facebook. We won’t take selfies when we rescue the patients from the hospital doors. We mustn’t show off feeding the sick. We will not update delivering food and clothes to the affected families.

Hence, for some time we will go about with the face value of the foundation team. Besides the faces of the foDawa Tsheringhering, our new ED Rinchen Khandu, and of our goodwill ambassadors and the medicals professionals supporting us silently, my face will be what you will see for some time – seeking alms. 😎😎😎

(By the way I am on a month-long pilgrimage – starting and ending with sacred sites in Bhutan. Do you like my monk bag? 😁😁😁)

On the eve of the Sharchop Losar (New Year), I convened the first Board Meeting of the year for Bhutan Stroke Foundation where we welcomed the new Executive Director, Rinchen Khandu — who was formerly a teacher and university lecturer, and the Project Manager, Tandin Chogyel.

We also created a space in the foundation for the founder and former Executive Director, Dawa Tshering. He will continue as Advisor and Goodwill Ambassador on pro-bono. In the organizations I lead, I have begun to honour those who have come before us by assigning emeritus and advisory roles. And not to simply write them off. Besides, Dawa’s story is the story of the Foundation. After his wife got a stroke, he decided that no one should go through what he went through. Isn’t this inspiring?

What does the Foundation do?

The Bhutan Stroke Foundation fills the gap between the clinical services provided by the state and the time people make a full recovery. From the day they are declared out of danger till they are fully reintegrated to the society it takes between six months to two years.

For those in the higher socio-economic status, things are okay. They manage. But for economically distressed families and rural folks, having a stroke patient at home suddenly turns life into hell. Their livelihood is hampered, career is disrupted, and their full recovery is not guaranteed. Only those who face this know the gravity. The government cannot reach everywhere and to everyone. We must do our bit.

We pride ourselves as a Buddhist nation, and make happiness our brand. But Buddhism is not about seeking happiness. It is about removing or helping remove the causes of suffering. In the words of His Eminence Zuri Rinpoche, there is no greater Dharma than helping someone in distress and living a life of hell. As a pop song goes, heaven is a place on earth. So is hell. What the foundation is doing is putting Buddhism into practice.

For me, with two spiritual projects at GMC on my shoulders, I am hard-pressed for time and energy. But, thinking of all the suffering, I just decided that I need to find both and keep going with this.

In gratitude.

As we welcome the new year, we would like to thank Zuri Rinpoche for keeping us afloat by granting us the Endowment Fund of Nu. 4 million. We thank our two other spiritual patrons – His Highness and Eminence Kathok Situ Rimpoche of Kathok Yoesel Samtenling Monastery ཀཿཐོག་འོད་གསལ་བསམ་གཏན་གླིང་དགོན་སྡེ། and Her Eminence Dorje Phagmo Rimpoche, whose donations and blessings keep us all safe and strong.

We thank the Government of India for supporting projects for the CSOs, including the BSF, and all the individual donors and friends in Japan, Italy, Australia and in the US.

2025 has been a fairly successful year for BSF where we consolidated a small young foundation and made our presence by reaching out to 10,000 people in 13 Dzongkhags through advocacy programs. For the first time, the foundation didn’t close the year in red.

Looking ahead.

ADVOCACY. We will continue to create awareness about stroke and cardiac arrest, which is no longer a disease of the elderly. Incidences of stroke now affect people as young as 12. Cases have skyrocketed after Covid-19. Everyday there is one or more people admitted in Thimphu hospital from stroke. Noticing the signs and symptoms is crucial. Prevention is the key. Check the health advice in the footnotes.

POST-STROKE CARE. Our centre in Thimphu continues to host some 20–30 people who are recovering and slowly reintegrating back to the society. People from rural areas are often rushed to Thimphu in an ambulance in a medical emergency. And once they are declared out of danger, they are discharged and shown the Exit door. Many don’t know where to go. They don’t know where to stay to continue with physiotherapy sessions and treatment that can go on for months. Some don’t even have extra clothes or money. We try to help all the cases. To respect their privacy, we don’t splash them on Facebook. We don’t take selfies when we rescue patients from the hospital doors. We don’t show off feeding the sick.

NEW CENTRES. In the coming years, we look forward to creating three more such centres for post-stroke care and information — in Gelephu, Mongar and Trashigang. We are aware of many stroke patients in villages without proper care – lying in bed for years – some with bad bedsores. Hopefully we can reach out to them.

Furthermore, the need for such centres will only increase with one fifth of the population living overseas and ageing parents left on their own here.

Looking forward to all your goodwill and support.

I am ending the Year of the Snake on a high note. A few more temples and statues built here, a few more differences I could make in other people’s lives there, and a couple of big deals I could broker elsewhere (at pro bono, though).

One thing that I continue to do is not to differentiate between things, occasions, moments, experiences or people, and to embrace everything and cherish everything that comes my way. I have learnt that there is no absolute, although life as seen by us the mortals and the unenlightened is still relative, imperfect, and dualistic. However, we make every effort at every moment to see the impermanence, emptiness and perfection of nature that really is.

In a few days time, those of us who are from the East will welcome the New Year.

To all who have walked with me, thank you for the company. Let’s keep going.
To all who have supported me, thank you for fueling me up. Please keep it coming.
To all those who were unkind to me, I thank you too for, it made me more stubborn – more committed, while really my compassion.
To all those who sought my help and benefited in some ways, I thank you because you made me come alive. You made me feel that I mattered.

Wishing everyone a Happy and a Harmonious Year of the Horse.