We are presenting you four kinds of links : - In the first position, free women, artists, special and touching women, enriching by their feminity or else, - In second, craftsmen or male artists, - In third position, centres, magazines, forums or buddhist directories, - Then, in fourth position, friend's sites, We remind our kind visitors, in particular beginners on the buddhist path, that it is their responsability to carefully and critically examine any school or center they are drawn to. The links to centres and schools are only an invitation to explore the diversity of the buddhist horizon in the West, and express no affiliation nor recommendation.

It was at the heart of the school of Trungpa Kagyu where she learned the practice of dharma, in particular the principles of Dharma Art, and it was there that our destinys met. She is my Half, the mother of my child and my precious companion on the Path. Although she makes many of the products for Mérite & Patience, this site does not reflect her astonishing creativity, especially since at the level of expression I monopolize all the space. She now has her own site. She is mysterious, evanescent and at the same time a strong presence. After a decade of life together, I sometimes still have trouble understanding her... Aline has been an artist for a long time, a painter, specializing in silk, where she learned the secrets in Lyon, but is equally self-taught in all domains. One can see the diversity of her work in the range of technics and materials used. Silks of differing textures, dyed using plants, usually found locally, are painted, manipulated and/or sewn to create volume, combined with wood or stones to create a hanging, a banner, a necklace, a belt, a scarf... For her painting, this great lover of nature is often inspired by the play of light and shadow and of a texture on a painting of a wing, treebark or a patch of sky ... Since her coming to Creuse, her artistic world has widened to include vegetable dyes and tapistries. I love you, my Dear.

A passionate craftsman manufactures for you the handle of your sword for you. Find also in his shop whatever you need to look after, personalize or renovate your katana.

In 1985 Richard Granado, then a Buddhist, met with two Buthanese artists who had come to France to decorate various temples. Being impassioned by drawing and relatively gifted he might have followed a more conventional path, like many artists. However fate decided differently. The sculpters in fact needed help in order to complete six small statues as well as a meter-high Buddha. "I quickly realized that this was the career I wished to follow. I started by preparing the clay: using an ancestral technique that has never changed: the clay is beaten with a mallet and a vegetable fiber called chogou or cotton hydrophile is added which strengthens the clay because the sculptures are never fired !" After his experience with Djowo and Gyaltsen, the master sculpters, Richard Granado continued studying alone for two years, making bas reliefs, deer, dharma wheels, columns and auspicious signs at the Buddhist center Karma Ling. But soon he realized his limited knowledge of the technique and decided to travel to Nepal (in 1988) in order to perfect his craft under new sculpters: Master Omton and his students, known throughout Buthan as the best artists and who had worked extensively for the Royal Court. Richard Granado was allowed to study with them and received the transmission of the canons through Mathieu Ricard. Richard Granado continues his work, encouraged by His Holiness Dilgo Rinpoche, master thanka artist Gega Lama and many other Lamas, creating statues commissioned by Buddhist centers or private orders and by sharing his knowledge by giving courses in the spirit of that which was transmitted to him.

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Gilles Maitrot is a contemplative, a photographer with the heart of a shaman. His relationship with photography "is to take by surprise moments of eternity" opening windows "towards something else". Influenced by a contact finding its source in what the South AmerIndians call "Pacha-Mama" or Mother Earth and Northern ones, in their "profession of faith", Mitakuye Oyasin, "I belong to the great family of the living", through contact with the shamanic emanations of our Ancestors. He has a powerful empathy, full of gratitude and respect in relationship with the ones, "the peoples", who perpetuate these cultures and with whom he has deep and very "precious" contacts. Eligible, having followed at the same time from 1981 to 1993, several cycles of learning and initiatons at a very advanced level, from authentic Vajrayana yogis of Tibet... the last and dearest to his heart being Khyabjé Dilgo Khyentsé; he still practices assiduously Root-Yoga... in all discretion and solitary humility. You will find, as well as the albums and several videos, the texts, and notably a presentation of shamanism. He offers his art of Regional and National Parks, natural sites and all other places which he can share with his visitors.

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Jean-Paul, praticionner of oriental and western traditions, opens the door for us on a visionary experience. The resulting dissolution between subject/object of the absorption of these paintings unlocks a vivid and elusive true-life. No contour, no movement is rigid; one can enter a world in each painting. One can but rest speechless.

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Suvita Art&Antiques organizes your cultural events such as exhibitions, concerts, workshops etc ... They all have, in a way or another, a spiritual dimension. Exhibitions of contemporary art and of sacred art, workshops of Raga Indian chanting, concerts, sales of buddhist or hindou eastern antiques ... Suvita moves and presents its collections, its artists all over the year in France or abroad. Do not hesitate to contact them for any inquiry or to submit an artistic or cultural collaboration, to show your works or share your ideas.

SanghaForum is a place of encounter and exchange dedicated to the dharma of Shakyamuni Bouddha. It is dedicated to all buddhist traditions in the spirit of the Rimé movement. Buddhist or non-buddhists, it is opened to all. In particular, this forum aims to be a place where advanced pratising meditators can meet and get along, and support as well as direct beginners, and even inform members who are not yet buddhists.

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This site is about magical and esoterical pratices of Tantric and Theravada Buddhism. Large selection of charms, traditional magical objects, sacred minerals and perls. Fair trade, humanitarian action. Collection of Buddha's relics, photo album of travels to Asia. This site is worth seeing. There is a surprising abundance of things to discover as well as the personal collection of Kunzang.

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Masha association involves the Shipibo & Ashaninka villagers of Puerto Nuevo, and other dedicated people. They offer the opportunity to visit them and to live as they do, with the natural rhythms of the rainforest where you will have the opportunity to experience their culture, spirituality and healing, as well as their botanical knowledge and environment. A local commitee, comprised of the most respected members of the village, directly takes care of distributing the benefits that visitors bring to the village so that the entire community is able to prosper and not just a few. The income is invested in medicinal, educational and other supplies that are essential to the village. Thus some important tools such as big fishing nets or wood saws are bought, in order to allow the village to compete against the commercial fishing and timber companies who deplete the natural resources of the area taking as much as they want, often by unethical means, and leaving little left for the village. Native people have a lot of respect and experience with the forests and the water element, they know and are able to exploit the resources without destroying them. In this way Masha association is not a charity organization to "help the Indians" as if they were people unable to decide their future by themselves. Masha is the exclusive partner for the supply of the incense you will find on Mérite et Patience (see "Ambiance").