Adapted from a speech given at the invitation of the Consulate of India, Hong Kong on 25 May, the eve of Vesak 2023
vocation
Changing Minds: Uniting Monasticism with Education

“In the early 90s, former monastics were quite rare in my region. Society did not perceive ex-monastics in a good way. They were seen as failures that could not fulfil their commitment. These days it’s accepted. You don’t need to be a monastic to help the Dharma.” In telling me this, Choje Lama has highlighted […]
Answering the Conch Shell’s Call: Schooling and the Religious Life

This is the second instalment of Life Religiously Lived, a biography of Choje Lama. We opened with the birth circumstances of the boy then-known as Wangchuk Topden, and in this chapter we look at how his school years shaped his life in preparation for his growing religious vocation. * Each human life is an open […]
Full of Noise

the call often comes when we refuse it.On some mornings it comes as an orange sitting ripe on the table.