Merigar, Saturday 10 February 2024, first day of the Wood Dragon year

Good evening,

We are very pleased to announce the conclusion of the second season of the 8th of December fundraising event. This event is a way to honor the Master's life, His gift of the teaching and His earthly remains.

In a few moments we will be announcing the names of those drawn from among all those who participated. This year a gift will be given to 61 people, but our thanks go to everyone, especially to those among the 164 donors who were not drawn.

The Fundraising will continue for another two years, during which you can participate by donating in your own name or on behalf of others as several people have done, by providing the name of the person to whom you wish to give a ticket. On some occasions groups and entire Lings and Gars have made collective donations.All this is wonderful!

The purpose of our Fundraising is to ensure the maintenance of the Great Stupa of Merigar.

As you know, the Great Stupa of Enlightenment is the physical place where the International Dzogchen Community preserves the remains of the Master. The place was consecrated by Rinpoche himself in 1996 and was realized with the participation not only of practitioners, but also with the financial contributions of many citizens of Monte Amiata. The purpose of building the Stupa was to create a sacred place that would benefit all the surrounding villages with an energy of peace.

Little did we know that this place would become even more significant in the shared history of our Community of Practitioners. Today it is from there that the Master continues to bless our lives.

The winning numbers were drawn a few days ago by the Namkhai family and then communicated to us. We then matched the numbers to the names.

There are 61 names in all, which we will read to you shortly.

The prizes consist of objects that because of their closeness to the Master are sacred to us in the most meaningful sense of the word. For this reason, as we did last year, we decided not to send them by post. The prizes can therefore be collected here at Merigar by those who are able to do so. For those who cannot, we will try to organize a handover between practitioners so that the package can be delivered.

Remember that in June Merigar will host a teaching retreat with our teacher Yeshi Namkhai and that will be a good opportunity to collect the prizes or have them collected by a friend.

The packages are unopened and we do not know what they contain. The winners will have the honor and pleasure of opening their gifts. When opening the packages be careful as they sometimes contain several items, some of them small. 

Finally, a big thank you goes to those who were able to participate as well as to each and every practitioner in our Community.

We would like to dedicate our closing words to express our gratitude to the Namkhai family, Rosa, Yeshi, Yuchen and their relatives, who through the 8decemberfund have once again demonstrated the meaning of true generosity and kindness. They are the pillars of the Community for all of us, always showing us the right way to cultivate closeness to the Master. For this and their continuous dedication to all we will always be grateful.

As of tomorrow you can visit the Merigar website for the list I am about to read of this year’s winners, and the website also provides all the information on how to participate in the next Fundraising season.

Starting tomorrow, winners can collect their prizes at the Yellow House by arranging collection with Pia Bramezza or Salima Celeri.

All other prizewinners are welcome to contact us at fund8december@dzogchen.it