Press Release

For Immediate Release: Saturday 1^st September

Buddhist Himalaya comes to The Lake District.

The full programme has just been announced for Buddhist Himalaya - a week-long festival that celebrates the landscape, culture and philosophy of the world’s greatest mountain range. Come the October half-term holiday, the Rheged Centre will once again become home to an exciting and fascinating array of philosophy, adventure, art, dance, music, culture, film, Himalayan craft markets and lectures by some of the world’s leading mountaineers, explorers, writers and Himalayan experts. This exciting event builds upon the success of last year’s festival and is now set to become a regular annual event on the Cumbrian cultural scene.

Buddhist Himalaya came out of a discussion between Doug Scott - who as Britain’s leading high-altitude mountaineer was the first Briton to climb Everest - Marianne Dreyfus from the Samye Ling Tibetan Centre and Robin Ashcroft from the Rheged based National Mountaineering Exhibition. The event’s aim is to celebrate the “Abode of Snow” - as Himalaya translates to in English - the people who live amongst the world’s greatest mountains, their culture, their philosophy, and in particular their Tibetan Buddhist faith.

While Buddhism’s influence has spread throughout the world, it still generates a great sense of mystery and fascination in the west. There is great interest in the link between the Tibetan Buddhist faith and the landscape of the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalaya. A wide ranging event, Buddhist Himalaya will draw together people and events from a diverse range of perspectives and expertise, including Everest mountaineer Sir Chris Bonington and Tibetan Buddhist Abbot and leader Lama Yeshe; Lake District based artist Julian Cooper and Tate Modern exhibitionist Hamish Fulton; Oxford University’s leading Himalayan Geologist Dr Mike Searle and Cambridge University’s leading Tibetologist, Hildegarde Diemburger and best selling authors Thomas Laird, Ed Douglas and Mark Bowen. The event programme reads like of who’s who of Himalayan experts.

Doug commented “The similarities in the lives of the people who live amongst the world’s mountains is remarkable, they have come up with similar ways of both dealing with similar challenges and enjoying life. Of all the world’s mountain ranges it is the Himalaya that has produced the richest culture and one of the world’s greatest philosophies. The aim of Buddhist Himalaya is to tell the story of this fascinating landscape, to explore its secrets, to show off the art it has inspired and to highlight both the richness of the lives of the people who live there as well as the challenges they face”.

Large parts of the festival have free entry and this year, there is a special focus on events for younger visitors, including a special afternoon talk by Doug, called Everest for Kids. He commented, “I was just into my teens when I started climbing - and look where that got me. My mother still keeps asking when am I going to get a proper job!”  Other events that children, -both young and old - will enjoy is Chris Bonington’s lecture on Tibet’s Secret Mountain and a performance of Tibetan song and dance. Led by Princess Dolka, the troupe from the Samye Ling Tibetan Centre will perform both traditional song and sacred dance, all in sumptuous and spectacular costume. And for kids of all ages there are special afternoon showings of Tintin in Tibet.

The event’s art and photographic exhibition will provide the first opportunity for northern audiences to see elements of Julian Cooper’s latest body of work - Earthly Powers. Recently returned from Tibet, Julian has painted a stunning collection of large oil paintings looking at many facets of Mount Kailash. This is the Himalaya’s most sacred peak and is revered by the Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Bon faiths alike as “the centre of the universe”.  Julian commented, “It is both, geographically and spiritually a very powerful place. My aim was to capture both the physical and metaphysical elements of the incredible beautiful mountain”.

Julian Cooper hales from the distinguished Lake District family of mountain landscape painters - the Heaton-Coopers  - and is regarded as one of our finest contemporary landscape painters. Also exhibiting and running a free workshop is Tate Modern exhibitor, Hamish Fulton. Known as the “Walking Artist”, his interpretation of wild landscape is both intimate and profound.

Mt Kailash was also the destination for a group of Samye Ling supporters - who happily admit to being western and middle-aged. This group, with Marilyne Harris as their lead lecturer will tell of their experiences and impression as they undertook the traditional Tibetan pilgrimage, as the undertook a clockwise circumambulation of the mountain.

One of the Himalaya’s most abiding and powerful legends is Shangri La - made famous in the Hollywood movie, Lost Horizons. In two fascinating lectures Cambridge University’s Tibetologist, Dr Hildegarde Diemburger and Buddhist explorer Yeshe Palmo look at the basis behind the tradition of Tibet’s sacred valleys, from which these stories emerged.

Despite the sense of sanctuary that this landscape suggests, the world’s greatest mountains are not immune from the realities of the modern world. Renowned American journalist Thomas Laird tells of both CIA intrigue and of Tibet’s tense, complex relationship with China in two revealing lectures. One Tibetan who experienced the full impact of this relationship is Lama Yeshe, who made a hair-raising escape from his homeland after the Chinese invasion and became a refugee.

Outside of Tibet, he struggled to come to terms with an alien way of life and became a social rebel, but then went into a 12 year retreat, achieved a higher level of being and is now Abbot at the Samye Ling Tibetan Centre and also plays a critical role in bringing all faiths together. In a fascinating and inspiring talk he tells of his life, experiences and achievements.

Like the rest of the world, Global Warming is having a major impact in the Himalaya, with the effects being very apparent on the great peaks and glaciers. The “Abode of Snow” also holds a unique record of historic Cllimate Change. Mountaineer, scientist and best selling author, Mark Bowen, tells of the struggle to unlock the climate record of the Death Zone, to reveal a faint picture of a stark future. Moving from snow and ice to rock, Oxford University’s Dr Mike Searle tells of the ongoing mountain-building process that both formed the world highest mountains and present an ongoing risk to the people who live there, in the form of Tectonic-plate movement and earthquake.

The Greater Himalaya is home to all of the world’s highest mountains; although all of the 8000m peaks have now been climbed, thousands of peaks over 6000m still await first ascents. Two special lectures focus on modern exploratory mountaineering amongst this wealth of uncharted terrain. Leading mountaineers Mick Fowler, Julian Freeman-Attwood and Doug Scott tell of their very recent expeditions and climbs that have filled in some of the blanks on the map.

Everest, despite so many successful ascents still fascinates and Tenzing Norgay’s biographer, Ed Douglas tells of the remarkable man who made the first ascent and still remains and inspiration to Third World people everywhere. Within Rheged you will also be able to visit the National Mountaineering Exhibition’s award winning Everest; The Top of the World and see the centre’s most popular Giant Movie - Everest.

In addition to the set programme of special events, Buddhist Himalaya will have its own Himalayan Fair Trade Market, selling everything from Himalayan Books to Himalayan clothing, jewellery, prayer flags & prayer wheels, Thangkas and lots, lots more. And as shopping is a exhausting in the Himalaya, as it is anywhere else, traditional Tibetan and Bhutanese food will be available to sample thanks to Dr Mike Townsend, who has compiled a book of traditional recipes. Copies of his book will be for sale - with all proceeds from sale going to help orphanages in the Himalaya - so you can take home something from the festival. 

All profits generated by the event will go towards the work of two locally based charities - Community Action Nepal and RokpaUK. They work throughout the Himalayan region establishing schools, health posts and orphanages in one of the world’s poorest regions.

Robin Ashcroft had a final thought, “It’s important to realise that although this region is one of the economically poorest on the planet, they actually have one of the word’s richest cultures, that has evolved in one of the most dynamic and demanding landscapes on the planet. This event is a two-way thing, yes we are looking to raise funds for much needed projects in the Himalaya, but we also have much to gain from the Himalayan people’s philosophy. The reality is their culture and society inflicts a lot less damage on the planet than ours. Their way of life is sustainable, while ours isn’t - I suspect we have a lot to learn from the people of the Himalaya.”

For further information on Buddhist Himalaya visit either www.himalayan-festival.com or www.rheged.com. To book tickets for specific events please call 01768 860 090. The event will take place at Rheged form the 21^st to the 27^th October 2007. Rheged is located just 2 minutes from junction 40 of the M6/A66 near Penrith (follow the brown signs).

For further information about Community Action Nepal, RokpaUK and their charity projects visit www.canepal.co.uk and www.RokpaUK.org

Notes for Editors

For further information about this event please contact Community Action Nepal on 01228 564 488 or info@catreks.com Please note that Robin Ashcroft (who’s sent this press release) at the NME/Rheged is away until Monday  17^th September.

A selection of images are available from Andy Norris andy@snipe.co.uk.

Booking Line 01768 860090  -  Information Line 01768 868000