Dang Zang

I mentioned Chime Rinpoche recently, for instance here. His students are organising a celebration for his 70th birthday, which will be held on Saturday 17 October (2009). Unfortunately I am too far away to be able to get there. I did attend his 50th birthday party in Ashdon, and still feel grateful to Piet (who was once on the staff at Marpa House) for making sure that I was aware of it.

So if any of his old students are not in touch with Marpa House but feel they would like to go, you might like to get in touch with them sharpish to get on the list!

Best wishes to Rinpoche, and I hope you all have a good time!

The Tibetan New year is sometimes the same as the Chinese, but sometimes a month apart. This year, the Chinese day was the 26th January, and the Tibetan will be around 25 February. Usually, of course, it’s a time of merriment, visiting, chang-drinking, fire-crackers and so on, but this year the exile community is generally not celebrating; according to the Central Administration, the official celebrations will only comprise the customary religious programmes to mark the Tibetan New Year, “taking into consideration the continuing repression in Tibet and the ruthless crackdown last year which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Tibetans and thousands imprisoned.” See, for example articles archived at the Canada Tibet Committee or at Phayul.

PS: Here’s another relevant link, at the International Campaign for Tibet.

Thanks to Lu for spotting this one!