Jan 20-21, 2016
Sponsored by Kun Kyong Charitable Trust

Fifteen representatives from eight different monasteries in West Bengal and Sikkim gathered at Bokar Monastery in Mirik on January 20th and 21st for a two day workshop on environmental planning. The workshop was organized and hosted by Bokar Monastery and facilitated by Lhakpa Tsering, Programme Manager of Kun Kyong Charitable Trust and Damaris Miller. The primary goals of the workshop were to offer some basic and relevant environmental education, assist each monastery in creating a clear one-year plan for environmental work and for monasteries to share experiences, resources and ideas on how to best organize and implement environmental projects.

The workshop began with an address from Ven. Bokar Khenchen Lodoe Donyo Rinpoche expressing his support for the workshop and emphasizing the importance of the environment.

Most Ven. Kyabje Bokar Chungsi Rinpoche also participated in the opening ceremony. Participants then heard presentations from Damaris Miller and representatives from WWF-Darjeeling and the Darjeeling-based NGO DLR Prerna, in which they learned about introductory environmental science in the Himalayas and specifically about waste management.

Representatives then delved into a series of brainstorming and planning sessions in which they discussed environmental issues facing their monasteries and projects they could implement to address these issues. This brainstorming culminated in the development of monastery-specific environmental plans with a clear timeline for the implementation of environmental projects as well as the specific steps and support each project requires. Participants agreed that by creating and sharing these timelines they will be better able to hold each other accountable to the plans, although it was emphasized throughout the workshop that the plans are only a collection of words until the projects they outline are actually implemented and realized.

Representatives also agreed that they will develop report on all Khoryug activities and projects implemented in their respective monasteries in last five years and will submit it to the Khoryug central office. Country coordinator Mirik Monastery will then collate the report and will submit abridged version to His Holiness the Gyalwang Karmapa during the seventh Khoryug conference in Varanasi.

After a lovely nature walk in the woods around Bokar Monastery, workshop participants held a final discussion on how they could best support each other’s efforts as a group. This discussion allowed further opportunity for monastics to share challenges they have faced in their environmental work and to learn and benefit from how other monasteries have responded to these challenges.

The workshop concluded with the gratitude and auspices of Most Ven. Kyabje Bokar Chungsi Rinpoche and Ven. Bokar Khenchen Lodoe Donyo Rinpoche, as well as closing remarks from Khoryug India Country Coordinator, Lama Thiley of Bokar Monastery, and Lhakpa Tsering, Programme Manager of Kun Kyong Charitable Trust.