Following His Holiness’ wishes we have now found and moved into the new Drukpa Kunga Peljor Centre in London. Last Sunday, on 14th June, Drubpon Ngawang came to London and very kindly inaugurated the centre. We were all so happy to celebrate and dedicate the centre to His Holiness as we chanted mantras for His Long Life

It would not have been possible to have this centre without the financial support and dedicated help of many people, who gave in diverse ways to ensure that the centre opened. All the sangha in the UK sincerely and humbly thank His Holiness for having enough faith in us to find and sustain a centre. From the depths of our hearts, with love, we dedicate the centre to His Holiness and the Drukpa Lineage. We make wishes to do the very best to further activities that will benefit all beings, and that all who enter the centre will feel their hearts open in love, compassion and wisdom – qualities embodied by His Holiness, our great and precious Master.

With the new centre now in place, we will be announcing a new programme which will hopefully include something for everyone - from an introduction to Buddhism for those curious to find out more, the five per month regular practices [Yangti, Sengey Tsewa, Vajrayogini, Sengye Menla, Amitabha] as per the last centre, regular visits from Drubpön Nawang - His Holiness's representative in Europe, and a place to find out more about Live to Love. Make sure to subscribe to the email list [or RSS updates] to receive the latest updates.

 We are very happy to announce that Drukpa Kunga Peljor (as the Drukpa London centre is known) has a new location in Primrose Hill. We received the keys on Friday, by happy coincidence Drubpön Nawang was coming to London for a brief visit on Monday and so was able to host the first practice session. In the next couple of weeks, we will paint and carpet the centre, then announce the new practice schedule. If you would like to help with the redecorating, please contact us.

His Holiness the 12th Gyalwang Drukpa will be leading a walking pilgrimage between 23rd May and the 3rd July 2009, starting from Manali, Himachal Pradesh, and finishing in Hemis, Ladakh. It will cover a total journey of approximately 400km, crossing about five Himalayan passes, the highest of which are Shikunla and Singgela, both measuring approximately 5,200m above sea level. There is a website at http://walking.drukpa.com Full details on the pilgrimage are available there, including how to take part physically (for the whole pilgrimage or in smaller sections), or by way of sponsoring the walk. Download the yatra-sponsorship-form here.

Today, the Annual Drukpa Council (“ADC”) committee welcomed over 40 Rinpoches, Tulkus and Khenpos to Druk Amitabha Mountain, home of 300 Drukpa nuns. Despite the strikes in Kathmandu which prevented cars from reaching Druk Amitabha Mountain, hundreds of monks, nuns and lay people lined up with khatas to welcome these precious masters. The ADC committee introduced the visiting masters to the premises where the nuns run and maintain a coffee shop, gift shop, guesthouse, temple, stupa and educational halls.

Here are some audio recordings of Drubpön Nawang's recent teachings based on a text by Kunkhyen Pema Karpo, a commentary on Shantideva's Bodhicaryavatara - Guide to the Bodhisattva's way of life. Listen/download part 1 (Tuesday) here Listen/download part 2 (Wednesday) here Listen/download part 3 (Thursday) here Note - these recordings are approx 2.5hrs long and 110 Mb each in size, so will take a while to download. You may be best to right click the link and select a "save to disk" option.

We are pleased to announce the release of the dvd of His Holiness's recent public talk in London - "Wisdom, Love and Action". It is also worth noting that the online shop is now taking credit card payments via Paypal.