Deep in the Himalayas of Northeastern India, a Buddhist monk cares for 300+ children. In 1998 Lama Thupten Phuntsok founded Manjushree Vidyapith School and Orphanage. The orphanage began with just 17 children, and is continuing to grow.
Lama Thupten Phuntsok’s vision of Manjushree Vidyapith is:
To provide a home and close-knit loving family for orphans, physically disabled or destitute children of the Tawang district.
To provide a modern education and sound moral values.
To inspire the young people to act with a good heart, to become leaders in their communities, and to help bring peace to the world.
Twelve years ago, Gurmukh Khalsa and Lama Thupten met in transit at an airport. Inspired by the humility of the monk, Gurmukh traveled to the Tawang district to visit the orphanage. Since the first meeting, she knew it was destiny for her to support these children and the vision of the monk.
Over the years, she has supported Manjushree with medical support and basic needs. As the number of children continues to grow, Gurmukh feels it is time to support them with more. She reached out to Sat Nam Foundation on the summer solstice with the proposition to work together to create infrastructure and sustainable plans for the orphanage.
On March 26th, we will travel with Gurmukh and a group of 6 yogis to Manjushree. We will caravan together from Guwahati airport. The drive into the mountains is approximately 2 days. Gurmukh will lead daily yoga and meditation on the way. We will spend approximately one week at the orphanage (exact dates TBD) meeting the Lama and children, and co-creating a project together. We will also visit the oldest monastery in India and a cave where Guru Nanak meditated.
The group of 6 individuals are asked to "Give or Fundraise" $10,000 in order to initiate this project with a large input of funds. We launched the project at Sat Nam Fest Berkshires on August 10th. With the help of our community, we were able to raise $30,000+ on our way to our goal of $100,000.
We intend to leave a representative of Sat Nam Foundation at Manjushree for 4-6 months to serve as a liaison and our link to the project. Our mission is to empower the orphanage with autonomous systems of water, food, and clothing as well as to support them with medical needs and infrastructure.
Gurmukh is devoting the next 25 years of her life to this project. We invite you to join her and the team at Sat Nam Foundation as we embark on the journey to Manjushree Vidyapith!
- To donate, please visit: https://www.satnamfoundation.org/manjushree
- If you are interested in joining us on the trip, please email: seva@satnamfoundation.org
- Learn more about Manjushree here: Friends of Manjushree