Bön Mustang Australia Foundation
Bön Mustang Australia Foundation
At the request of H.H the 33rd Menri Trinzin, Abbot of Menri Monastery and Lineage Holder of the Bön Order, the Bön Mustang Australia Foundation was established with the primary intent to support, preserve and revitalise the precious Bön traditions, culture and lineage teachings of the Mustang Region.
In support of this intent, H.H 33rd Menri Trinzin graciously asked Geshe Sonam Gurung and Dr. Daniel P. Brown to translate, directly from Tibetan, the A Krid (Wylie: “Ah-tri”) Lineage teachings of Bön Dzogchen (one of the three Bönpo paths to enlightenment). The Atri teachings are a complete set of lineage teachings, comprising preliminary practices, designed to ‘ready’ the mind, through to fruition of Dzogchen, realisation of the true nature of mind, or liberation.
In an incredibly generous offering, H.H 33rd Menri Trinzin sanctioned the translation and dissemination of these greatly protected Dharma teachings with the intent of preserving and cultivating the fruition of these practices. As with H.H 14th Dalai Lama’s compassionate dissemination of Tibetan Buddhism in the West, H.H 33rd Menri Trinzin expressed the intent to support the healthy integration of these traditionally eastern teachings within a western cultural and psychological context. This is because, at their core, Bön and Buddhist practices may be seen as a sacred psychology, perhaps more than a religion, intent on developing a unique set of comprehensive skills guiding practitioners to direct and stable recognition of the unfabricated nature of mind.
Out of respect for the lineage, the Bön Mustang Australia Foundation has taken its responsibility to support the preservation & integration of these precious essence teachings to heart; and in return has committed to supporting the various projects underway in the indigenous Tibetan regions of Nepal.
The Vision
Under the guidance of H.H the 33rd Abbot of Menri Monastery, it is envisaged that this coupling of Eastern and Western cultures will result in many innovations in practice and will provide fertile ground for western practitioners to develop into teachers, further propagating the knowledge of the self-arising three-fold embodiment of enlightenment.
The Shenten Thagye Ling Monastery monastery is currently under construction in Mustang, Nepal which will act as a central support for western practitioners who will have the opportunity to connect, learn and develop alongside monks from the indigenous Bön cave yogi tradition.
The Mustang Children’s Hostel
The Mustang Children’s hostel is a major project designed to support the provision of education, housing, healthcare and sustenance for indigenous Tibetan children in the Mustang Valley region of Nepal. Over the last 10 years, the number of children and students in the region has steadily grown which has positively initiated the call for greater support to accommodate and vitalise this growing cohort of children from backgrounds of economic, physical, emotional and social vulnerability. To date, the Mustang Bön Foundation (America) has successfully raised funds enabling the acquisition of a guest house in the Mustang region currently housing almost 60 children. These children are provided with three meals a day, indigenous medical care provided by a Tibetan doctor service as well as a Tibetan education to supplement their Nepalese schooling. These initiatives provide a viable pathway for these children to higher education opportunities offered in other areas of Nepal with some graduates choosing to return to the region as doctors, teachers and with other credentials in support of H.H the 33rd Menri Trizin’s intent to culturally stabilise the region and perpetuate the indigenous Tibetan cultural ecology that has nurtured precious lineage teachings for millennia.
The Shenten Thagye Ling Monastery
In collaboration with the Mustang Bön Foundation (America), an international architecture firm, MAP Design, has been selected to oversee the project build and work alongside local Nepalese project management and site engineering. MAP Design worked with Geshe Sonam to create a comprehensive plan for the monastery campus which will centre around a large Gönpa | “dong-pa" (mediation space) capable of seating over 100 practitioners. The campus will also provide classrooms and housing for over 100 local Tibetan students and have a community centre, Bön medical clinic and guest house accommodation for traveling foreign students. Rooted in the religious and vernacular planning principles, the Campus design has been inspired by the Symbolic Eternal Knot comprising 14 interconnected and wind protected courtyards of varying sizes that will provide both social and environmental spaces.
Make a donation.
The Bön Mustang Foundation Australia has been established with the primary intent to support, preserve and revitalise the precious Bön traditions and lineage teachings of the Mustang Region. This organisation is 100% funded on a volunteer and donation basis with all funds going to the direct support of The Children’s Hostel in Mustang, Nepal and for the continued development of The Shenten Thagye Ling Monastery at the request of H.H the 33rd Abbot of Menri Monastery.
