The revered Korean Dharma master and Buddhist activist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim (법륜스님) and volunteers from the Buddhist humanitarian relief organization JTS Korea have been running a collaborative project from December 2023–March 2024 to support female monastics across to the remote Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan.
Working together with the Bhutan Nuns Foundation (BNF), which operates under the patronage of Her Majesty the Queen Mother Ashi Tshering Yangdoen Wangchuck to educate and empower Buddhist nuns in Bhutan, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and the team from JTS prepared winter supplies for distribution to national bhikshuni training institutions to help the women residing and practicing there cope with the harsh winter climate.
Ven. Pomnyun Sunim established the humanitarian relief organization Join Together Society (JTS) as an expression of the compassion of engaged Buddhism, and based on the principle that helping others is the best way to enrich one’s own life. Charged with bringing hope, empowerment, and self-reliance to underprivileged communities in developing countries, JTS is run and manned by unpaid volunteers, who ensure that all donations benefit marginalized communities. JTS carries out relief work in countries suffering from humanitarian disasters, and has engaged in humanitarian projects in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. The relief organization has also earned Special Consultative Status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
In close cooperation with the BNF, JTS lent support to 1,585 young nuns across 36 nunneries, supplying essentials that included 590 winter jackets, 500 pairs of socks, 500 blankets, and 1,239 pairs of shoes. JTS also provided sports equipment to support the physical well-being of the young monastics.
In addition to seeing bright smiles light up the faces of the young Buddhist nuns as a result of to their assistance, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS also received numerous messages of gratitude for their efforts.
“Thank you for providing winter blankets to the nuns,” said Ani Pema from Neylung Nunnery. “I am pleased that they will help protect against the cold season. We are grateful to everyone who has helped the sisters.”
Remote, landlocked, and perched in the rarified air of the eastern Himalaya, the Kingdom of Bhutan, sandwiched between two political and economic heavy-hitters India and China, is the world’s last remaining Vajrayana Buddhist country. The ancient spiritual tradition is embedded in the very consciousness and culture of this remote land, where it has flourished with an unbroken history that dates back to its introduction from Tibet by Padmasambhava, also known as Guru Rinpoche, in the eighth century.
▶️ Published by BDG on May 22, 2024
▶️ Read more: https://www.buddhistdoor.net/news/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-korea-support-buddhist-nunneries-in-bhutan/
