Acclaimed Buddhist leader and head of the Drukpa lineage, the 12th Gyalwang Drukpa, has been bestowed with an honorary gellowship by the Wolfson College of Oxford for preservation of culture in the Himalayas, his office said on Saturday.
“It has been a privilege to work with the college over the past five years as it has led the way in promoting all the diverse cultures of the Himalayas and its history,” an official statement quoted the leader as saying.
His Holiness first visited the Tibetan and Himalayan Studies Centre at Wolfson in 2012. The centre is a unique Himalayan studies environment within the UK and one of the leading ones in the world, creating opportunities for inter-disciplinary research and a new platform for presenting Himalayan culture to a wider audience. It is dedicated to preserving and promoting Himalayan cultural heritage, to maintaining links between Oxford and Tibetan and Himalayan Buddhist communities in Asia and to providing the best possible training for a young generation of scholars.
In 2015, Wolfson College created “The Gyalwang Drukpa Scholarship” in honour of His Holiness and the award further recognises his importance in helping educate and protect Himalayan cultural history.