The Yungdrung Bön Foundation Germany

The non-profit Yungdrung Bon Foundation was founded in 2000 by Wangden Herbert Kreuzer in support of the Triten Norbutse monastery in Kathmandu. Khenpo Tenpa Yungdrung Rinpoche, Wangden Kreuzer, Susanne Kreuzer and Waltraut Benzing formed the board together. Since then Khenpo Tenpa Yungdrung Rinpoche has been the Chief Executive Officer. Wangden Kreuzer, who himself lived as a monk in Triten Norbutse, felt a great need to help the monastery. He studied and practiced for seven years with S. E. Yongdzin Lopön Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche and thus also Yongdzin Lopön Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche is patron of the foundation.

In germany the Yungdrung Bon Foundation raised donations for food and medical care for the monks living in Triten Norbuste, as well as for supporting a cultural center in Ladakh, a medical and a school project in eastern Tibet.

In 2005, Waltraud Benzing left the board and was replaced by Waltraut Ott. Waltraut Ott took over the management and submitted funding applications to the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). With this money and private donations it was possible to build an own well for the Triten Norbutse monastery as well as for the School of Traditional Tibetan Medicine, which is affiliated to the monastery. The medical school is the only training institute that still teaches the complete Sorig Bumshi system of the Bön tradition. Every year between 11 to 15 fully trained doctors leave the institute. The study lasts about seven years. The students come from all parts of Nepal and after their studies they return to their home regions to work there and to provide medical care to the local population.

In 2008 Wangden Kreuzer and Susanne Kreuzer also left the board and Christine Trachte became a new board member. At about this time other volunteers began to set up aid projects (such as for example Usha Aksoloy, who works tirelessly for the small Bön Monastery Yung Drung Kundak Ling in the south of Sikkim, literally giving the residents a roof over their heads). When Usha found the monastery, it was just a ruin in which only a handful of monks and children lived. For a couple of years she has been significantly supported by Benno Wrobel.

In 2009, Waltraut Ott and Christine Trachte ventured to take up S. E. Yongdzin Lopön Tenzin Namdak Rinpoches vision of a boarding school for children from families of the Bön tradition in Siliguri in India. This path was long and rocky. Since the school was to be founded for a certain cultural group, namely Bön families, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) repeatedly refused funding. Donations came in very slowly. In 2010 Mara Lisa Arizaga founded in Switzerland another support organization for the International Himalayan School in Siliguri and in 2013 Simone Beuerle and Eric Beuerle de Castro decided to promote the school. Eric was able to win the Hahn Air Foundation and since then things are progressing. The Yungdrung Bon Foundation has been able to fund the construction of the school with around € 200 000 from private donations up to now, of which € 95 000 have been donated by the Hahn Air Foundation and Eric Beuerle, with € 20 000 still to be announced for the next two years. After some problems with the Indian authorities had to be solved, the school will finally be opened in April/May 2018. The vision of S. E. Yongdzin Lopön Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche becomes true. The school is not finished yet, more construction projects are pending, but the operation is starting to run and will expand with the growing number of students.

In 2011, Waltraut Ott also decided to leave the board, Norbert Halder took over the office of treasurer and Christine Trachte the management.

In the meantime, several retreats are held in Germany every year under the patronage of the Yungdrung Bon Foundation. Simone Beuerle organizes an annual retreat with Geshe Gelek Jinpa, Dr. Wolfgang Reutter organizes among others one of the annual retreats with Khenpo Tenpa Yungdrung Rinpoche. Christine Trachte organizes the Dzogchen practice training with Khenpo Tenpa Yungdrung Rinpoche, which takes place 3 times a year for 4 days. The group exists since November 2015. Since October 2017 there is a second group under the guidance of Geshe Samten Tsukphud and Khenpo Tenpa Yungdrung Rinpoche. Dorothea Mihm takes over the organization of this second group. Since both groups take place in parallel, together more than 100 people are participating, which is only possible to manage with many helpers. Zoom calls are planned with Khenpo Tenpa Yungdrung Rinpoche between the individual trainings. These zoom calls are organized by Benno Wrobel. From 2018 John Reynolds will come to the Dzogchen practice training and be available for questions and support.

In 2015, Amrei Vogel submitted a funding application to the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) for a residential home for students in Lubra / Mustang in Nepal. The previous dormitory was destroyed during the last earthquake in April / May 2015. The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) is funding this reconstruction with € 97 000 together with € 33 000 from private donations. In 2018, the dormitory will be available for the students. Amrei has supervised the entire construction and is now planning a new winter school for the students from Lubra in Kathmandu.

At the request of Khenpo Tenpa Yungdrung Rinpoche, Dorothea Mihm plans to build a hospice, which will be affiliated with the monastery of Triten Norbuste. She is assisted by Stephanie Seyboth. 

Agnes Packebusch-Scheer and Stephanie Seyboth have launched a prayer group that practices for people who are ill or in special circumstances (Contact: Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein!).

In addition to all these activities and projects, Triten Norbutse Monastery remains the heart project of the Yungdrung Bon Foundation. The foundation was able to help significantly in overcoming the damage caused by the earthquake in 2015, facilitating the construction of a road to the monastery and enabling the necessary retaining wall below the monastery to protect the residential buildings at the foot of the „monastery mountain“. In the last three years alone, the foundation has been able to support the monastery with around € 300 000.

In addition, a stairlift for S. E. Yongdzin Lopön Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche and a new bathroom for Khenpo Tenpa Yungdrung Rinpoche was installed in their residences in Shenten Dargye Ling in France through the foundation.

Markus Schollmeyer is the webmaster of the website of the foundation:

www.yungdrungbon-stiftung.de

Information:

Christine Tracht

Tel .: +49 (0) 8841-9351 or +49 (0) 176-43023477

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Donations account:

Yungdrung Bon Foundation

German doctors and pharmacists bank

IBAN: DE27 3006 0601 0005 1270 92

BIC: DAAEDEDD