Organization

Mission and Activities

The name Jewel Heart was chosen because heart stands for the loving warmth we all need in order to live, while jewel refers to the pure inner nature of every human being. By accepting that our life is extremely valuable and precious and developing our qualities, our inner peace will increase and our actions will be marked by loving care for others. This is what the work of the institute is dedicated to.

The Jewel Heart logo is made up of three parts: the turning jewel wheel, the lotus and the flame.

Jewel Heart was founded with the aim of translating Tibetan Buddhism, as taught by its teacher Gelek Rimpoche, in a way that connects with contemporary Western culture. It focuses on developing love and wisdom in daily life.

To realize this goal, we organize many different activities. First, there are study and meditation groups in various cities, in which we aim to translate Gelek Rimpoche's teachings and commentaries into the participants' everyday lives. This training program has a wide range, from short courses for beginners to a continuing program of courses for advanced students.

The Jewel Heart center also invites different teachers to come and teach. Highlights are the twice-yearly visits by Gelek Rimpoche in spring and fall.

Jewel Heart also organizes cultural activities that emphasize Tibetan culture and its spirituality. Jewel Heart has a number of subgroups that focus on social activities from a Buddhist perspective, such as learning more about process of dying and information for teenagers. We hope to be able to expand these activities in future.

Jewel Heart owns a library that is modest but of good quality. At present a group of people is working hard to make the teachings available in digital form.

Jewel Heart has a magazine with Buddhist subjects that comes out three times per year, on top of which there is a monthly e-newsletter with practical information for sangha members and those interested.

Legal Structure 

The legal persona of Jewel Heart is a Church. The organization is headed by its spiritual leader, who has delegated most of his competencies to the Board. The Board is appointed by Gelek Rimpoche after nominations by a selection committee. It is responsible for providing the right conditions for the organization and its activities. Every member of the Board deals with one or more subjects to shape the internal organization.

Next to the Board there is a Dharma Coordination Team (DCT), which sets out general policies and coordinates the study groups and other activities. The team is also responsible for the training program for new group leaders. The third platform of the organization is the Council of Elders, a supervisory board for all activities that will temporarily take over the spiritual leader's tasks should he pass away.

The Jewel Heart Foundation supports the activities of the Church and is the owner of the Jewel Heart center in Nijmegen.

Work Structure

Jewel Heart's organization is carried almost completely by volunteers. This means that all the necessary work is done on a voluntary basis. Because of the wide range of tasks involved, the work is divided among many smaller clusters.

There are six major clusters:
  • dharma items
  • building
  • household and catering
  • PR
  • office and finance
  • cities
There is also a building committee that takes care of the development of the Nijmegen center, bought by the foundation a number of years ago.
 
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