Interview with Pema Biddha

By Pamela Croci

Recently while passing through Delhi I recorded an interview with Pema Biddha, the coordinator for the Peace Vase Project. Pema told me that the response from the call out for volunteers was fantastic.

“ So many people emailed us, with lots of enthusiasm but because we couldn’t have immediate action they vanished. However there were some that really helped. One of them is Tineke Adolphus. Tineke! Wow! I think if we were to give out a medal she would be the one who gets it. She planted many vases and is going to complete the Swedish allocation.”

Pema went on to tell me that we still need volunteers to come back to help.

“ Africa is a country where we need people. We have a volunteer there Robyn Sheldon and it looks like she has a team but some vases are stuck in other places. Also we need vases planted in North East India, in places like Assam, Nagaland, Punjab and Kolkata, a few in South India, some in Iraq, Iran, Israel. Plus we need people to carry vases to different places within countries and other countries”

If anyone has connections in any of these places please get in touch with Pema and she will put you in touch with other volunteers in the relevant area.

Email : pema@siddharthasintent.org

Pema acknowledges that some planting of vases have not been registered on the website . Pema would like to apologise, to those whose kindness in placing vases,  often in  remote and challanging parts of the world, has not been registered on the website. Pema told me that a new website was being constructed and that these omissions will be corrected.

NB If you have been involved in planting a vase, and it is not registered on the current website please email her with details e.g. Many vases were planted in France, in fact they were the first to be planted, but information has been mislaid.

Please check the website and see if you can help. 2011 is the 20th year of this project and it would be very beneficial to have the Peace Vase Project completed.

A 2636 km whirlwind went through Sweden and found homes for 12 Peace Vases credit Tineke Adolphus

As we approach the 20-year anniversary of Siddhartha’s Intent involvement in the project, about 2,000 peace vases remain to be buried.

By Noa Jones

Toward the end of his life, His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche initiated The Peace Vase Project , a global effort to increase peace, harmony, and well-being by placing 6,200 treasure vases, or terbüm, in carefully selected locations around the planet. Terbüm are containers filled with medicines, precious substances, and mantras that have traditionally been used by Tibetans to protect important places against misfortune and to promote positive, healing energies. Similar sacred vases are used by some North American Indian tribes to heal the land and to restore peace.

In 1991, Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche agreed to take over responsibility for the project. Tibetan Buddhist astrology and other ancient methods are used to select burial sites for the vases—oceans, lakes and rivers, holy places, places of war and strife, and ecologically degraded or endangered natural sites.

So far, about 4,000 vases have been buried or submerged in many extraordinarily remote locations, from the South Pole to the Pamir region of Tajikistan, but about 2,000 remain. As we approach the 20-year anniversary of consecration of these vases, we encourage the international dharma community to band together to finish what has been started. A network of individuals and coordinators is available to assist.

Some of the remaining vases are in storage in India awaiting transfer to their destinations, and some were taken to other continents but not buried. We need people to help transport the vases from India to a place where they are more easily accessible.  Due to Indian regulations, the vases can no longer be sent by courier or post. We rely entirely on people offering space in their luggage.

What you can do:

• If you have a vase that has not been buried, please carry out the task or ask someone else to do it.If you have several vases in storage, please contact Pema Bidha and let her know. The vases are not meant to remain as shrine objects. They must be buried.
• Visit the Peace Vase Project web site to read inspiring stories of burials.
• Volunteer to work on the project as a coordinator, facilitator, technical advisor, or strategic planner.
• Carry vases from India when you leave the country.

For more information, contact international coordinator Pema Bidha pema@siddharthasintent.org

Peace Vase, Northern Davis Strait, Nunavut Canada (Arctic) Photo by Chris Atkinson