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In the summer of 2005, Tsoknyi Rinpoche III, accompanied by a handful of western students, traveled to the Nangchen region in Eastern Tibet. The purpose of the trip was to document the lives and assess the needs of the Tsoknyi Nangchen Nuns—3,000 remarkable women who live and practice an ancient yogic tradition in nunneries and hermitages scattered across this remote, mountainous region.
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In 2006, the Tsoknyi Nangchen Nuns Preservation Project
released Journey to Nangchen, a 28-minute video
record of this extraordinary journey.
Since its release, Journey to Nangchen has been shown to audiences in 25 countries around the world. It has been screened at film festivals across the United States, viewed on the web and aired on cable television in Dharamsala, the seat of the Tibetan government in exile. Viewers who have seen the video have been inspired to make substantial contributions to an endowment fund that has been established to provide long-term support for the Nuns.
Now, in response to countless requests from audiences who have been touched by their encounter with the Nangchen Nuns and have expressed a desire to learn more about their lives and practices, the Pundarika Film Project is producing a new video entitled . The purpose of this hour-long documentary is to expand awareness of the Nangchen Nuns, to explore the roots of their wisdom and compassion and to show how we, as ordinary human beings seeking happiness in a modern world, can find that same thread of sanity and inner strength in the everyday confusion of our lives.
will look at the unique world of the Nuns, who study under Tsoknyi Rinpoche’s guidance, through the eyes of the western women who accompanied him to Nangchen and who are attempting to make their own links with the often strange, but compellingly familiar world of Buddhist practice.
Nuns from both large and small
nunneries in Nangchen speak about
why they became nuns and what it is
like to live a life dedicated to spiritual
practice. Their stories of the suffering
that prompted them to walk away
from the security of traditional roles
as wives and mothers and devote
themselves to seeking liberation are
vivid and universal. We see their dedication to their practices, to the teachings, to each other and their communities. We see the exchange between them and the western women who have come to offer their help and who find their lives immeasurably enriched by the wisdom, simplicity and good humor of the Nangchen Nuns.
will speak to anyone interested in simplifying and transforming their minds and lives
in a world that is increasingly chaotic. It will inspire all of us . . . women and men . . . to overcome
the limitations of our fears and hesitations and to open ourselves
to the blessings of a full and authentic life.
We are seeking contributions of any
amount to help in the completion of
. Using the 70 hours of
video collected in 2005, as well as
additional footage shot in the summer
of 2007, we are now in the editing phase
of the production. As of January 1, 2008,
$35,000 of the $60,000 needed to finish
the video has been raised.
is scheduled to be released in the fall of 2008. Once reviewed and approved by Tsoknyi Rinpoche, we will submit the completed video to public, cable and foreign television outlets, and it will be distributed to Dharma centers, colleges and libraries worldwide. Fifty per cent of all the proceeds from distribution of the video will go directly to projects benefiting the Nangchen Nuns.
We invite you to join us in telling this unique and timely story. If you would like to know more about the project, please contact the producer, Victress Hitchcock, at victress@chariotvideos.com.
Contributions can be mailed to Pundarika Foundation, P.O. Box 57, Crestone, CO 81131. Please make your check payable to Pundarika Film Project. Also, you may now use the internet donation form to make your contributions to the Blessings film. All donations are tax deductible.
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