Dear Drukpa friends Some of you may have heard already that we have to leave our premises in Audley Square at short notice. The reason is that the building owners have increased the rent so the current leaseholder has no option but to surrender the lease. We always knew that our stay at Audley Square would be temporary (we were told between 6 months and 2 years) but, as usual with these situations, we all assumed it would go on a bit longer. Following His Holiness's instructions we have already started the search for new premises to rent and we will keep everybody informed of the progress on this. If anyone hears of anything that may be suitable please let us know. In the meantime we would like to invite everybody to celebrate the last tsok in Audley Square (Chenrezig & Amitabha practice) this coming Wednesday June 18th, starting at 7 pm. This day is especially auspicious as it is also the anniversary of Buddha Shakyamuni's enlightenment and so we hope that many of you will be able to attend on this occasion and make wishes together for the swift manifestation of the next premises. The actual packing up and moving out will take place on the following weekend, on the 21st and 22nd June, and we would appreciate as much help as possible with this task. This will mainly involve lifting and carrying so please come prepared for this, but the less able bodied amongst us are also welcome to help with jobs like cleaning and tea making etc ! Email us here to join in.

 Dear Friends We are planning a new activity for this month's Live to Love group activity. There is a ward at St Mary's hospital in Paddington where many of the elderly patients receive few or no visits. We have been given permission by the hospital administrators to go along as a group this Sunday to keep these patients company during the afternoon visiting hours. We are meeting at Starbucks in Paddington Rail Station at 14:45 on Sunday. If you would like to come along, please email here if you need a contact mobile telephone number to ensure you meet up with the group.

 We are happy to announce that Drubpon (Lama) Nawang will be coming to London again to give teachings, from May 30th to June 1st. The main topic this time will be Green Tara, building on the teaching and initiation that we received from His Holiness in January of this year. The details are as follows: Venue: Drukpa Kunga Peljor, 5 Audley Square, London W1K 1DS Times: Friday May 30th, 7.30 - 9.30 pm. Since this is Dakini day we will be doing Sengye Tsewa tsok practice Saturday May 31st, 10.30 am - 6 pm - Green Tara teaching and practice Sunday June 1st, 10.30 am - 6 pm - Green Tara teaching and practice Cost (to cover travel and other expenses): £10 per day, £25 for the whole weekend (= £5 per individual session) Texts: Green Tara, Guru Yoga and Rosary of Jewels, plus Sengey Tsewa for Friday evening (copies of all texts will be available at the venue). Looking forward to seeing you there. with best wishes Drukpa UK

 To all Drukpa Centres; I pray that all is well and harmonious with your Dharma activities. As most of you are aware, the Annual Drukpa Council created by the enlightened mind of H.H. Gyalwang Drukpa is to be held this December in Nepal. As per the wishes of H.H., I am trying to raise the awareness of this sacred event to others and would like to encourage you all to raise awareness among other Drukpa followers as well as the general public of the upcoming ADC event. Being followers and with great faith in the Drukpa Lineage, I have great hopes that we will all strive to work harmoniously together in raising awareness of this event as well as spreading the sacredness of the Drukpa Lineage to others in every way possible in order to benefit as many sentient beings. We have recently sent out invitations to other Rinpoches of the Drukpa Lineage to attend and participate in the ADC. We are still progressing on the organization of the ADC event and have not currently set up the registration site; however we will update everyone as soon as it is ready but the website is still available to all. My prayers and good wishes to everyone in the Drukpa centres. Yours sincerely in the Dharma, H.E. Khamtrul Rinpoche Tango: Bhutan --- Note: The first Annual Drukpa Council is scheduled to take place 27th Dec 2008 to 5th Jan 2009 at Druk Amitabha Mountain in Kathmandu. More information will appear here as it becomes available, or you can visit the www.drukpa-council.org website.

Dear Friends At the request of His Holiness Gyalwang Drukpa I am offering to accompany you on a pilgrimage to Bhutan and Nepal, from September 2nd to the 27th 2008. His Holiness wishes that a pilgrimage of this type takes place every two or three years. We will have the opportunity in Bhutan to take part in a short retreat in the presence of Kyabje Thuksay Rinpoche and Kyabje Khamtrul Rinpoche. Nestled in the heart of the Eastern Himalayas the profoundly spiritual kingdom of Bhutan has been able to preserve its highly original identity for centuries. Participation in a pilgrimage such as this is very beneficial and the source of great blessings. It is said that three days of practice in a sacred place is equal to three months in a place that has not been blessed. It is my wish that as many of you as possible undertake this pilgrimage and share its benefits. Lama Nawang Tenzin The pilgrimage is being organised by the Plouray Centre and Drukpa UK will be accepting bookings on their behalf from now on. Full price details and booking form are attached. Please note that the deadline for bookings is July 15th, which means that we will need to have your confirmed flight details by then. Full details of the programme can be found on the Plouray website www.drukpa.eu. If you would like to receive a printed brochure please provide your postal address. with best wishes Drukpa UK Download pricing information & booking form in pdf format. NB Option 1 is only available for those wishing to fly on the group flight from Paris. If you are interested in this option please apply to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Options 2 and 3 only can be booked through Drukpa UK.

Dear Friends We are happy to announce that Drubpon (Lama) Nawang will be coming to London again to give teachings, from March 7th to the 9th. The topic this time will be Preliminary Practice, which will be particularly useful for newcomers as well as providing a welcome opportunity for older students to reacquaint themselves with the Four Foundations, the basis of all the practices. If you would like to know more about Drubpon Nawang, read the Gyalwang Drukpa's account of him here. His recent New Year (Losar) message is also to be found on the Drukpa Plouray site here. Although Lama speaks a small amount of english, he prefers to use an interpreter for teaching. Over the course of the weekend, one can expect to recite several rounds of the practice text (sadhana) plus receive a commentary or explanation of some of the points relating to its practice and philosophical base. The details are as follows: Venue: Drukpa Kunga Peljor, 5 Audley Square, London W1K 1DS (** instructions on how to get there are here **) Times: Friday March 7th, 7.30 - 9.30 pm Saturday March 8th, 10.30 am - 6 pm Sunday March 9th, 10.30 am - 6 pm Cost (to cover travel and other expenses): £10 per day, £25 for the whole weekend (= £5 per individual session) Texts: Guru Yoga and Rosary of Jewels, if you have them. Its probably worth bringing Sengey Tsewa and Vajrayogini as well. During the weekend we will be doing some practice of prostrations, so please dress appropriately for this. Looking forward to seeing you there. with best wishes Drukpa UK

With His Holiness due to visit the UK soon, it has been full steam ahead at Drukpa Kunga Peljor. The Shrine Room has been repainted a second time - now a glorious yellow. Drubpon Nawang has bought over intricately carved items for His Holiness's throne. One of our Sangha, Jigme Norbu Dawa (David Cranswick) is a professional artist who, as luck or karma would have it, specialises in painting using traditional materials. So he and Jigme Pelmo (Sandrine Blanc) have been working around the clock adding a dash of colour to these pieces using techniques that would have been used in Tibet traditionally.

 David says: Here's a short explanation of what we have so far done: Pigments: Lapis lazuli, Malachite, Azurite, red Lead, Vermilion, red earth, Naples yellow and Crimson. Malachite , azurite and lappis lazuli are all prepare from rocks. They are first ground to a powder using a mortar and pestle, then repeatedly washed in water until purified. They are then ground more finely on a stone or glass slab; after this they are then mixed with their medium and become 'paint'. All the pigments we use are traditional and prepared by hand. The first stage of the work is to seal the wood. After this an under painting is applied in a mix of white and red earth. This is especially beneficial for the gold, giving it more warmth and adding to its luminosity. Beneath all the areas where vermilion or crimson is applied one first paints a ground colour of red lead, this gives depth and heightened luminosity to the reds. Beneath the areas which receive the green malachite and blue azurite and lappis lazuli we first applied a layer of red lead and Naples yellow (an alchemical pigment which dates back to 7000 years ago) While grinding the azurite I noticed some impurities in the paint. This often happens during the grinding processes; I therefore had to repeatedly wash the blue in clean water, floating off the impurities. The azurite is a copper blue and, being more opaque, is an ideal base for the lappis lazuli (the most precious of all the blues). It was wonderful to see the afect of painting the lappis over the azurite, it gave the blue of the dragon such a richness and radiance. Pigments such as lappis which are ground from the rock are less fine than other pigments, they therefore need more care in the application and often require 7 to 10 layers. The under painting in red earth and other mixes took us almost two weeks, but the effort was worth it; a good foundation for the pure colours gives a luminosity and richness of colour that cannot be achieved by painting directly. It was wonderful to finally be able to apply these pure pigments, they seem to glow as if lit from within.

Drubpon Lama Nawang will be visiting London again at the end of this month specifically to give a programme of teaching and practice in the new London Centre, prior to His Holiness's visit in January. Drubpon Lama Nawang appreciates that being mid-week these times are difficult for people who have to work but requested us to make a special effort. If it is at all possible to take a few hours off from our work by using holiday or flexi hours then we should do this but if it is not possible then of course you can just join the evening programme, which will start around 6.30 pm. Here are the details: Dates - Tuesday November 27th and Wednesday November 28th Times - 3 pm to 9.30 pm Venue - Drukpa Kunga Peljor, 5 Audley Square, London W1K 1DS Cost - £10 per day (£5 per session) The programme will be similar to last time and will inlude some Shine meditation as well as the usual practices and prayers. Please bring your Guru Yoga, Rosary of Jewels, Sengey Tsewa and Vajrayogini texts.

will be visiting the UK in January 2008. He will be holding a public talk on "Live to Love", and giving teachings and initiation on Green Tara. Some details are as yet unconfirmed, but check the "Events with his Holiness" category for the fullest current information.