The efforts of prominent Bon Buddhist teacher Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche come not a moment too soon. The Dalai Lama, exiled spiritual and temporal leader of the Tibetan people, recently announced he has withdrawn from longstanding fruitless attempts at dialogue with China, voicing grave concerns that the ancient culture of Tibet could soon be extinguished.

Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche has spent much of his 20 years in the West building a home near Charlottesville, Va., for the Bon Buddhist spiritual tradition, the indigenous religion of Tibet and one of the world’s most ancient cultural traditions.

Now he’s launching a major construction project that will permit dedicated Western students to study intensively at a new, 100-student facility in northern India.

Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche – an accomplished author, international teacher and Rockefeller scholar – has relied on initial donations to purchase land outside of Dehradun, India, for Lishu Institute, a new center that will allow Western students to spend years deepening their understanding of this ancient, mystical pre-Buddhist tradition that develops wisdom, compassion, clarity and peace of mind. (“Rinpoche,” a Tibetan honorific given to some respected Tibetan Buddhist teachers, literally means “precious master.”)

The project was recently endorsed by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and the Department of Religion & Culture of the Central Tibetan Administration of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

In late October Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche traveled with students from all over the world for blessing and opening ceremonies and to offer the first international teaching near the Lishu site in India.

At the same time, Rinpoche is working tirelessly to expand Ligmincha Institute near Charlottesville, offering more opportunities for training and study in its Serenity Ridge retreat center.

Founded in 1992, Ligmincha Institute (www.ligmincha.org) is a nonprofit organization in Central Virginia that strives to preserve the ancient teachings, arts, sciences, language and literature of Tibet.

On a scenic hilltop just 30 minutes south of Charlottesville, prayer flags sway between tall trees on the 20-acre site overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains in Nelson County. Here a renovated barn has been transformed into a colorful Tibetan gompa (prayer hall), and monks from India and Nepal come to offer teachings and prayers. Ancient precious texts are preserved in a magnificent 9-foot hand-carved Tibetan bookcase, and traditional painted silk thangkas hang from the gompa walls.

Hundreds of students travel every year to Ligmincha from North America, Mexico, Eastern and Western Europe and elsewhere to study and engage in practices that foster clarity of thought, spiritual development and a deeper connection to the natural world.

As interest in the Bon Buddhist tradition continues to grow, Ligmincha has embarked upon a $1.2 million capital campaign to fund expansion of the complex, which will include a new teaching hall, kitchen, dining room, bookstore and café, and a library to house, preserve, and support translation of the ancient Bon teachings.

Ligmincha has already raised $500,000 and the first phase of the project – a new residential wing – opened in 2007.

“Both Lishu and Ligmincha were founded based on a deep concern that this tradition will dissipate,” said Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche. “It has happened in many other indigenous traditions – through the centuries, great knowledge has been lost, and sometimes only a small group of people even knew it had been lost.”

“These projects come from a deep place in my heart. We need to preserve the teachings as literature, as an unbroken lineage of spiritual transmission, and as direct knowledge.”