As His Holiness the Dalai Lama always says, “World peace could ultimately only occur through the cultivation of people’s peace of mind”. From that point of view, Rinpoche’s most important project in Europe is to create an International Buddhist Institute in Switzerland, in order to make the Buddhist wisdom of inner peace and compassion available to Westerners.
This institute would have two main focuses. The first would be to provide personal and spiritual support based on Buddhist wisdom. The second would be the preservation and translation of Tibetan Buddhist ancient literature.
In order to establish this institute, Namkha Rinpoche and his community plan to purchase land in Switzerland, in the heart of Europe. A foundation by the name of Rigdzin Ling is about to be created for that specific purpose. Today, the accomplishment of this project seems to be closer than ever thanks to a generous donor who has already donated 1.2 Million USD. Additional funds are required to help finance the different activities and developments as mentioned in our financial report.

Personal ans spiritual support based on Buddhist wisdom
......................................................................................................................................................................................

In today’s hasty society, the pursuit of material comfort has become the main, if not the only goal in most people’s lives. The need for wisdom, peace of mind and compassion is therefore greater and more urgent than ever.
In the field of such insights, the Tibetan people have a unique heritage to pass on to the world. For centuries, Tibetans have dedicated most of their resources to the cultivation of spiritual well-being and their most eminent persons have dedicated themselves to the study and practice of Buddhism. Tibet has developed extraordinary knowledge and has been a laboratory for mind sciences.
Rinpoche wishes to enable people of this modern age to benefit from Buddhist wisdom on pacifying the mind in two ways. First, Rinpoche wants to make this ancient wisdom available to all those who wish for it without them having to study the intense practices and teachings of Buddhism (everyone wants to use internet but not everyone wants to become a computer specialist). Namkha Rinpoche particularly wants to provide seminars on the development of peace of mind for business people, for people in a difficult personal situation, and for people suffering from severe illnesses, including their relatives and people working with them.
Secondly, for those who aspire having a deep understanding and a broader experience of Buddhism, Rinpoche wishes to set up courses of theory and practice in all the different ‘schools’ (traditions) of Tibetan Buddhism. He also wishes to provide people with the opportunity to stay in long retreats with adequate guidance and conditions.

Text translation and preservation
.....................................................................................................................................................................................

In order to preserve Tibetan Buddhist tradition in the West, Namkha Rinpoche wants to establish in the institute a centre of text translation and edition. Most of the ancient Buddhist texts (originating in India) do not exist in their original language anymore. They have only survived the many destructions and suppressions in India because of meticulous translation into Tibetan and conservation in Tibet. It is estimated that only 2% of Tibetan literature has yet been translated into western languages. There is a treasure of wisdom yet to be revealed to the world. Considering how much the arrival of Buddhism in the West has changed the scientific and philosophical world (causing important streams of thought such as Systematism to appear), it is most likely that this immense database of literature has much to offer the world. Rinpoche therefore wishes to establish a team of translators that would live in the institute and work on the translation of important Tibetan literary texts.
In addition, Rinpoche plans to create a library where texts of the world’s major spiritual traditions are made available in several languages. The foundation will also try to gather an exhaustive collection of the Tibetan Buddhist texts already translated into western languages.

Financial report
.....................................................................................................................................................................................

At present, thanks to a kind donor, the Rigdzin Ling foundation has 1.2 Million USD at its disposal. The price of the property is still under negotiation; we should be able to purchase it for an amount between 4.2 and 4.5 Million USD. As the bank has agreed to a loan of around 1.5 Million USD, there are still between 1.5 and 1.8 Million USD to be raised in order to buy the land.

Additional aid will be needed to launch the institute during the first two years, (around 125,000 USD per year), until its self-sufficiency.

For the translation team and the library, specific donations are also required, since no profit would be made from translation. To have translators living and translating full-time would cost around 27,000 USD a year per translator (for a net salary of 1350 USD a month plus a room and travel expenses). As for the library, the more financial support we may receive, the larger the collection of texts will be.

In the long run, donors will be wanted, to pay off the mortgage (of approx. 1.5 Million USD) so that the institute would find itself in a more comfortable situation to develop its activities.