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Open Call for Eastern European Sangha artists

Merigar East announces the opportunity of an artistic project based on sponsorship. So, you can either share your creative idea to the community or support it by donating.

We are selecting proposals from our Eastern European Sangha of an artistic installation/workshop or performance. It would be representing our gar for the 10 years of Dzamling Gar Festival (December 3rd).  

We invite all performers, musicians, artists in any field to participate in this important celebration in our community, an opportunity to present their work to the public.

The members of Merigar East and its Lings, we invite you to get involved!

The project can be any form of interactive art/performance, connected to Merigar East’s story, natural environment, to the places’ energy, to its projects and activities. Moreover, it can be related to an episode you remember fondly that took place here. Over the years, hundreds of people visited ME during retreats with our Master. Everyone was cheerful and relaxed in this place during the transmission of teachings.

The artist will display the piece/installation/performance at the 10 Years Dzamling Gar celebration in the house shared between Merigar East and West (terrace or garden). Imagine an interactive, intercultural experience that people can admire in the making, get involved in, be attracted to see.

Apply
Donate

Merigar East and its Lings members, we encourage you to apply!

The fund will cover for the travel, the cost of the material for the piece/workshop and the accommodation in Dzamling Gar, related to the event. Moreover, we offer an optional one-week residency in Merigar East, on the spot, in October. Depending on the donations and on the proposals, we are hoping to fully cover the cost of the artistic work. We can build together a definite budget in one month.

We are open to your creative ideas! Apply by the 15th of October by writing a one-page proposal, describing your idea, comprising your short bio and a budget draft.

Apply
Donate

Or support this long-term project by donating.

Uncategorized

Tibetan Sacred Art

There is a Tibetan Sacred Art exhibition happening these days in Merigar East. We are displaying for the first time the Tangkhas that belonged to prof. Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche, the Tibetan master that established Merigar East. Thanks to prof. Fabian Sanders from the Ati Yoga Foundation, we learned the hidden meanings in the paintings and the process of painting. If you come to see the exhibition, our guides will tell you more about what we discovered.

Tibetan art, in particularly paintings, but also sculptures and other forms are just like a language. They are a text, written in a language of signs, of forms, of colors and not in words. Anything that you see in them has a precise reason to be there.

The purpose of these paintings is to communicate with the mind of those who look at it and to communicate in a more direct way than words. When you see an image, you have a completely different reaction than when you hear a teaching in words. It is far more potential. That is the purpose of the piece of art. 

This very precise language is not open to improvisation, to the painter’s individual creativity. It is not the same painter that paints the whole painting, but it is a collective work. The main artist paints the eyes, at the end, and it is like giving life to the painting.

The paintings are easy to roll, they are made also for easy transportation, they are made to be carried around, because Tibetans are moving a lot.

The colors are taken from all the three realms: animals, minerals and vegetables. The best and more expensive colors are minerals, like precious stones. You have turquoise, lapislazuli, gold, metals, silver. Anything that has a strong pigmentation can be used, there are really large varieties of things they use for paintings. The paintings also have very specific measurements and proportions, that should be respected.

The paintings and statues need to be consecrated or empowered by a lama.

The painter, ideally, they should receive from a Lama (or Teacher) transmission of the mantras connected to that deity and then they are authorized to practice, and only then, ideally, they should have developed a very precise image of the deity, an inner visualization of the deity. Finally, they are in the perfect condition to paint in the best and most powerful possible way.

Cover photo by Lubomir Michna.

News

Summer Personal Retreats

Have you considered how much progress you would make in your practice if you dedicated time to a personal retreat?

Here at Merigar East we will have a quiet summer, because the Gonpa renovation phase 2 – Painting the ceiling has been postponed to next year.
You can come here and do your personal retreat in a silent place, close to the seaside, but most importantly, in a place that has been especially created and empowered by practice.
We offer the facility of a silent and alone retreat, in out wooden caravan, situated in the back of the gar. Our caretakers can provide you with what you need so that you do not distract yourself during your retreat and they can make sure no-one is disturbing you.
You can also have a retreat while living in our house with other people, if you do not need to be completely alone.

If you wish to retreat, please write to us, telling us:
– The period
– The practice you want to carry out
– Your daily schedule preferences
– The services you would need to be supported in your retreat (e.g. food, shopping, being completely alone, transportation to/from village).

Our prices depend on the services you need but we make sure that we are very accessible to people who want to practice and especially to IDC members. Sustaining and meritorious members are granted all the discounts foreseen by the IDC agreements!

Looking forward to support you in your personal practice!

light crystal sphere and green vegetation Ecology and permaculture

Transform the solar energy for Merigar East

The sun radiates light and heat, which makes it possible for life to exist on earth. Every day the light of the Sun shines on the Earth, driving many chemical and physical changes across the planet. But what would life be without water?

After years of struggling with power fluctuations in the Gar, we’re turning to our natural ally – the mighty Black Sea Sun – for help. There’s abundant solar power available during our busy summer season, just when we need it most, and you can help us put it to good use.

Support Merigar East, where the 5 elements manifest themselves more strongly,  in transforming the energy of the powerful Black Sea sun! We are taking our first steps in introducing this source of energy in our Gar, that should help us stabilize the water well pump.

We have invested in 2022 around 1500 Euro in diagnosing and repairing some problems in our gar’s electrical grid. With this we made the Gar safer, but the bitter discovery was that the energy fluctuations we are experiencing are mainly due to the cable connecting us to the electricity distribution network, which would be too expensive to repair. One immediate solution we could afford, with your help, is a modest, additional power supply that can at least prevent water from being interrupted during these fluctuations.

We are getting a small setup of 3kw photovoltaic panels with a battery, to feed and stabilize the main well pump and the camping area. We need to gather 5000 Euro in order to achieve this project. Our guests ’ well-being (and you can be among them) depends on it!

Support us by donating below! With your contribution, we will transform money into light, light into water, water into life…

We welcome you to come and experience the openness that this unique place offers in abundance!

Ecology and permaculture

Tree Planting

In November 2020 November – February 2021 we hosted volunteering events for tree planting and tree care (pruning, grafting).

We have planted over 300 trees and have established our own small tree nursery, with the help of many volunteers.

You can adopt a tree, take care of it in person or donate for its maintenance.

We would like to extend this action, to make it an yearly routine and to involve the local community in ecological initiatives.

Ecology and permaculture

The Fruits of the Oasis

The fruit trees have been very generous with us this and last year. The residents and the volunteers have prepared fruit jams, jellies and nectar. We are freezing the excess of fruit and use it for home preparations such as cakes, puddings and creams.

We are making and gifting organic calendula, sage and balm, herbal infusions and spices of all kinds, grown on our lands and picked up and processed by ourselves with care.

In October 2022 we organized an online meeting where we shared with passionate plant experts the wonders of plants through the lens of Tibetan medicine. In that occasion we prepared a short video with our own recipe of calendula and sage cream. Enjoy!

Vacancies

Merigar East is looking for help

Volunteering and Karma Yoga are a wonderful source of understanding our condition and gaining merit. We are looking for enthusiastic, motivated, self-driven people to join our team.

We wish to become at least as many as in the picture above taken with Rinpoche in 2008. Remember the times when YOU helped setting up the gar from scratch and organize retreats? You can use your experience, enthusiasm and knowledge again.

We want you to participate if you:

  • are creative, have experience with original and constant social media feeding, inspiring writing and advertising in the right channels to work as a social media manager;
  • are an economist, a clerk or accountant and you wish to give a hand to work as yellow gakyil or assistant;
  • have wonderful organising skills and have experience in planning educational activities to work as blue gakyil or project manager for a retreat/event.

We offer fruitful collaboration, support, full hearts and very good intentions. You can also benefit from free holidays and retreats at the seaside in our beautiful Merigar East. You can put your qualities at the service of the teachings and learn to deal with your limitations in a respectful group.

For some people this is holiday, for others this is home. Join us!
Gonpa Renovation project

Gonpa Renovation Has Taken Off!

We have completed the exterior painting the Gönpa

A big group of artists volunteers started painting the Meditation building in Merigar East on Monday 25 July, with Migmar Tsering as a coordinator. 
Parts of the initial paintings, with Mantras, Buddhist symbols and floral decoration were reproduced. But as they continued, the pillars were decorated with new, colourful symbols, reminding of lilies and other flowers. Just looking at the building inspires joy and balances our elements.

The decorated ceiling, a surprising addition

As the third week of the works starts, a tall scaffolding was mounted and we started painting the ceiling! Our ceiling was never painted before and this work is even more then we expected. We are so grateful to Migmar and our volunteers and wish that many people will experience an opening of all their senses in this beautiful Gönpa!

Thank you so much for your support so far!

Your generosity and collaboration is immensely appreciated and it is bringing concrete result. 
We have managed to raise so far 40.680€. We are still missing some part, up to the 60.000€ goal.  
We still need your support! Donate here.

Gonpa Renovation project

Painting the Gönpa in Merigar East

We have started painting the Gönpa!
Phase two of the Gönpa renovation started on Monday, with Migmar and the volunteers drew the first shapes that are slowly covering our walls. 

Who are the volunteers?
We are happy to host a young team made, so far, of 6 Italian arts students (from China), two artists from Romania, one from Slovakia. The second week 7 more volunteers from Czech Republic and Romania will join. 

Thanks to all the donors you so much for your support so far!
Your generosity and collaboration is immensely appreciated, and about to present concrete result. 
We still need your support to complete the works! As we cannot pay for their work, we are covering the costs for the travel and stay and food of the volunteers. We would like to treat them well, with your help!
Please donate as much as you can! Every bit counts!

Gönpa Renovation Merigar East. First week 25 – 30 August. Photos by Gabriela Stefanescu.
Gonpa Renovation project

News on the Gonpa Renovation

Thanks to Migmar Tsering and Oliver Leick’s ceaseless encouragement and some exceptionally generous donors, we’ve passed the point of no return in Renovating our Gönpa.
The works auspiciously started on the anniversary of Buddhas birth, attainment of enlightenment, and Parinirvana. Under the coordination of our Geko, the workers have insulated the building’s walls from rising ground humidity and repaired the damage to the walls. Moreover, they have painted the outer part of the wooden ceiling and coated the façade with a new silicate plaster. In order to insulate the walls, we have cut them to insert plastic sheet. This should help to get rid of mould and salt stains. Meanwhile, the new, improved outer coat to resist the elements for many years to come.

The next phase will take part from 25th July to the 17th of August. This phase will consist of decorative paintings inside and outside, with Tibetan motifs, under the coordination of Migmar Tsering.

The previous murals were Tibetan letters, mantras and flower decorations.


We are looking for artists & volunteers!
We already have seven artists who have registered to decorate the Gönpa, and who wish to learn about Tibetan art from Migmar. If you are skilled in painting or willing to support the works by cooking, cleaning and practicing together, you are welcome! Apply by sending us an email and telling us about your motivation.
So, you can still help! We need to cover the costs for the travel and stay of the volunteers. Please donate!

Asociatia Comunitatea Internațională Dzogchen - Merigar East
Loc: 23 August 907005 Jud: Constanta, Romania
Call us +40755421389

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