NEW DELHI, India and COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, March 2, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

The Gyalwang Drukpa to Lead the Peace Pad Yatra

Live to Love, a global humanitarian initiative is organising a Peace Pad Yatra or Foot Journey in Sri Lanka. Starting from Colombo on 6^th March 2013, the Pad Yatra will traverse from south to north, covering a distance of about 500 kilometres before concluding at Jaffna in the north of Sri Lanka on 6^th April 2013.

The Gyalwang Drukpa, a recipient of the United Nations Millennium Develop Goals Honour and of the NDTV-Toyota Green Hero Award in India, will lead 500 participants from India, Nepal, Bhutan, and 16 other different countries on this walking journey that aims at promoting peace and harmony, as well as an eco-friendly way of living. Among these participants are some of the global celebrities including Michelle Yeoh and Alec Baldwin

Just like ancient times when the Buddha walked with his disciples and taught them through his physical actions and verbal expressions, His Holiness and his spiritual sons and daughters will relive the ancient traditions of spirituality as well as connect this ancient wisdom with our modern life. These harbingers of peace and eco-consciousness will visit holy sites across Sri Lanka, blessed by the holy saints of the past, and with historical meditation caves and archaic frescoes of meditational deities as the backdrop. They will spread the message of peace, harmony, goodwill and respect for the environment. The Pad Yatra will cover Kataragama, Colombo, Sri Pada, Kandy, Matale, Dumbula, Sigiriya, Polonnaruwa and Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka.

Speaking on the purpose of the Pad Yatra, the Gyalwang Drukpa says, "In order to promote peace in the world, we must first find peace within ourselves. In order to promote an eco-friendly way of living, we must first connect ourselves with nature. We live in a fast-moving world that focuses too much on material success that I believe we have lost touch and become disconnected with our own environment. I feel that in modern times, a Pad Yatra or "Foot Journey" is one of the most effective methods to restore the ecological balance and the peaceful state of mind, through reconnecting with our experiential understanding of nature."

This is the 6th Pad Yatra that the Gyalwang Drukpa is undertaking and his first, outside of India. Since 2006, the Gyalwang Drukpa has taken hundreds of environmentally concerned participants on foot journeys through various parts of India - Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Ladakh, Manali, Sikkim and Darjeeling, each time the participants picked up more than one ton of non-biodegradable waste and educated populace in the remote areas about the importance of keeping environment clean and green for future generations.

More information on the Pad Yatra is available here http://www.walking.drukpa.com

Follow the Gyalwang Drukpa in action during the Pad Yatra on Facebook and for more photographs of the Pad Yatra, go to http://www.facebook.com/LiveToLoveInternational

About Live to Love

LLive To Love, a global humanitarian initiative founded by the UN-MDG Award winning philanthropist, the Gyalwang Drukpa, focuses on 5 directions to improve the world: Education, Medical Services, Relief Aid, Heritage Preservation and Environmental Sustainability. It supports regional activities in France, Germany, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, Peru, Poland, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Vietnam, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Live to Love has been at the forefront of various initiatives

• Ashoka Stupa restoration in Nangchen, China in July 2012
• Ladakh International Film Festival in June 2012
• 5 yearly Pad Yatras since 2006 to promote environment awareness
• The 2^nd Guinness World Record for "Most Trees Planted Simultaneously" in 2012 for planting 99,103 trees in 55 minutes
• The first Guinness World Record for "Most Trees Planted Simultaneously" in 2010 for planting 55,000 trees
• Relief mission to Ladakh post flash floods in August 2010
• Relief mission to China's Yushu region post earthquake in April 2010

More about Live to Love at http://www.LiveToLove.org

About the Gyalwang Drukpa

The India-born Buddhist spiritual leader, the Gyalwang Drukpa is an active proponent of Peace and Harmony through putting compassion and love into action. He is most lauded for promoting gender equality and awareness on environmental issues. He is the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Award recipient and Green Hero of India. His Kung Fu nuns were featured on the Life Series broadcasted by BBC World News in September 2011. He also led Ladakh in breaking the Guinness World Records for "Most Trees Planted" category on 10^th October 2010, and again in October 2012. He is also the founder of the school in Ladakh which was featured in the popular movie "The 3 Idiots" and is now more popularly known as "Rancho's School".

More details are available on http://www.drukpa.org 

For further information, please contact:
Shreeya Roy, communications@drukpa.com, +91-9350335761

SOURCE Live to Love