Siddhartha’s origins
In the early 1960’s, having fled the destructions and the persecutions perpetrated by the Chinese army in his country, Kangyur Rinpoche, renowned as one of the greatest Tibetan masters of the last century, came to settle in Darjeeling, India. It is there that he established a small monastery with the intention of using it principally to welcome the numerous orphans of the Tibetan refugee community and other Himalayan families, as well as the Himalayan populations in difficulty.
After Kangyur Rinpoche passed away in 1975, his children and members of Chanteloube (ACEC) (founded for the study and preservation of Tibetan culture and philosophy) established a special department, the purpose of which was to find funding to support individuals and groups in the Himalayan region who were living in difficult or deprived conditions. Its chief aim has always been to provide shelter and education for the children of families in difficulty. This was how began Siddhartha.
Later, the various departments of activity directed by Kangyur Rinpoche's son, Pema Wangyal Rinpoche, came to together under Songtsen. The name Songtsen encompasses the range of the organization's humanitarian work, as well as the various departments dedicated to the preservation of Tibetan culture and wisdom, including Chanteloube, KRF Development, Padmakara and Siddhartha.
In Sanskrit, Siddhartha means "the one that accomplishes his goal". It was the name of the Indian prince, who at the age of 36, become known as the Buddha, or the Enlightened One. Since 1980, the organization continues to follow its goal, assisting the education and the subsistence of hundreds of Tibetan refugee children and other children of deprived families. But the task remains an immense one. Little by little, Siddhartha’s aim surpassed the framework of the children of the OKC Darjeeling monastery to spread itself to other monasteries and schools, such as Shechen and Shri Singha in Nepal, Lhodrak Kharchu in Bhutan, Guru Lhakang in West Bengal, India and to several other institutions that are now regularly supported.
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