I am very glad to see that there are many individuals who wish to volunteer and as there were so many new volunteers joining during my trip, at the same time I feel it’s important to express a few things, which I feel are important in volunteerism.

Some of you may feel, ‘How will Rinpoche know anything about volunteering?’ Some of my friends used to jokingly say, ‘Oh please remember, I am a volunteer and I cannot work as hard as you all.’ To this I usually reply, ‘you’re not the only one who is a volunteer here, even we Rinpoches are volunteers, even His Holiness is a volunteer. The many Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are also volunteers - we are all volunteers in the service of all sentient beings.’ So from this point of view I think I can say that I also have some experience and some reflection about being a volunteer and what kind of attitude a volunteer should have.

Until 2014, only Drukpa Vietnam and Drukpa Singapore was given directly under my care. But towards the end the year, His Holiness has commanded that the entire Drukpa Asia and Drukpa America should be under my care as well. When His Holiness handed me this great responsibility, I did not feel proud or powerful, nor did I any feel any hesitation since I knew that His Holiness is actually giving me spiritual practice in the form of additional responsibly. To me, taking care of Drukpa Asia and Drukpa America means performing two kinds of duties.