Sogan Rinpoche at Home in Golok- 2007
In July, 2007, to the great joy of his family and boyhood friends, Ven. Sogan Rinpoche was able to journey to Golok, his native region in Tibet for the first time in over a decade. Traveling with Rinpoche were several supporters and friends from the US, including board members of The Sogan Foundation, Rinpoche's non-profit, humanitarian foundation which had provided the funding for Kunsel Kyetsal, a new secondary school facility for Golok teenagers. Construction of Kunsel Kyetsal had recently been completed and in a few weeks the fall semester would begin. For the first time Golok's young Tibetan nomads could study a modern curriculum of subjects taught in their native language and they would attend class in a fully-equipped, spacious new structure.
It was a festive time. Natives of Golok welcomed the precious master who had been born and raised among them, and everyone celebrated the inauguration of a greatly needed educational facility. To find out more about Kunsel Kyetsal and The Sogan Foundation's other humanitarian work, visit its website.
Tibet is often called the "Land of Snows," but in summertime the frozen landscape is transformed into rolling grasslands with fields of wildflowers and pristine rivers, lakes and ponds. During the warmer months nomads move to higher elevations with their herds – they go to their "summer place." When Rinpoche returned to his homeland in July, 2007, he journeyed by horseback to visit his family's traditional summer place.  Photos on this page give a glimpse of that ancient way of life of the native inhabitants of the Tibetan high plateau.
Click on the images below to enlarge them