2009: URGENT APPEAL FOR HELP

Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Jamyang and the monks of Sera Mey Monastic University (Mysore, Karnataka, India) wish to thank all our generous benefactors for your help and donations over the past year. After four months of dire crisis when the monastery was shut down and the 1,320 monks were dispersed to fend for themselves, your overwhelming response dramatically reversed the situation and spared them a lasting famine crisis. At present the whole Sangha has resumed their normal practice and studies. We wish to pay homage to all Buddhists practitioners and friends for your support of Sera Mey Monastic University, one historical pillar of Tibetan Buddhism whose dedication to educating, preserving and perpetuating the traditions of Buddhism has contributed to the continued practice of the ideals of compassion and wisdom for generations.

For now the immediate preoccupation for food is relieved for the next few months. However the long-term future is most uncertain and after a temporary relief the danger of food shortage is still very ominous. The convergence of changes in the world scene and the lasting internal difficulties forecast inescapably the grave perspective of a bleak future. The monks cannot find enough sustenance from farming a poor land and to compound that, their farming land has been greatly diminished due to the need for new housing for new refugees. Moreover with the influx of new children escaping from Tibet the number of monks at Sera Mey Monastic University has grown to 1,465. With the responsibility to assure their survival and their education, the resources of Sera Mey are stretched to its limits affording no more than 1$/day per monk. This bare minimum allows the monks to subsist on the most frugal diet made up uniquely of rice, dahl and tea day after day.

Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Jamyang at 76 years of age is older and weaker by the day unable to carry on his shoulders the whole burden of supporting Sera Mey by himself any longer. But he spared no effort to nurture concrete projects gathering people of good will to help plan for a longer and more sustainable future. He hopes to be able to break in the near future the circle of precariousness and deprivation that has undermined Sera Mey. However, the temporary relief brought on by your generous aid is about to end, even their frugal meals will soon be difficult to maintain for much longer. Therefore Khensur Rinpoche in spite of his age and failing health is about to take the road again looking for ways to support Sera Mey monastery.
Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Jamyang and the monks of Sera Mey ardently wish to appeal to your generosity and your support for this year 2009 so to allow the 1,465 monks of Sera Mey to be spared the very real danger of a food crisis like the one in the past year and to be able to keep on practicing Dharma and building an ever more compassionate world for all sentient beings.

To all our compassionate Dharma friends, fellows and practitioners, Khensur Rinpoche and the entire Sangha at Sera Mey wish to convey their deepest heart-felt gratitude for your understanding, help and support at this very challenging time in their history.

Tashi Delek! Thank you and may you be blessed

Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Jamyang

THÔNG BÁO XIN GIÚP ĐỞ TĂNG ĐOÀN SERA MEY NĂM 2010