The revered Korean Dharma master and Buddhist activist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim (법륜스님) recently returned to Bhutan, where he has been conducting a range of community surveys and social development activities among remote communities, aiming to improve the quality of life and to explore sustainable development projects that could serve as models to be replicated around the world.* During his four-day visit from 28–31 October, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and a team of volunteers from the Buddhist humanitarian relief organization Join Together Society (JTS) conducted rural site visits to review development projects that included completion ceremonies for two landmark water projects for villages that had been experiencing shortages of potable water.
Ven. Pomnyun Sunim’s undertakings in Bhutan are being implemented by JTS Korea in cooperation with Bhutan’s royal family and government. Ven. Pomnyun Sunim established Join Together Society (JTS) as an expression of the compassion of engaged Buddhism, and based on the principle that helping others is the best way to enrich one’s own life. Charged with bringing hope, empowerment, and self-reliance to underprivileged communities in developing countries, JTS is operated and manned by unpaid volunteers, who carry out relief work in countries suffering from humanitarian disasters. JTS has engaged in humanitarian projects in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. The relief organization has also earned Special Consultative Status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
After a 25-hour journey from Seoul, including a 10-hour drive along winding mountain roads, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim arrived at Nabji Village in central Bhutan’s Trongsa District. Over the previous two months, Nabji residents had been working on paving the roads within the village. The main events during Ven. Pomnyun Sunim’s visit on this occasion were formal completion ceremonies for water pipeline projects in the nearby villages of Rimapong and Rebati.
▶️ Published by BDG on November 4, 2024
▶️ Read more: https://www.buddhistdoor.net/news/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-inaugurates-water-pipelines-in-rural-bhutan/
