First Shravasti award winners, Swami Chidanand Saraswati, Dr. Her Rey Sheng, and Dr. Mohammed Deen were awarded Shravasti Spiritual Leadership award, Shravasti Humanities award, and the Shravasti Environmental award respectively on December 20. 
 
Adhering to the principle of “mutual love” and “symbiosis”, the Shravasti Awards pay tribute to those who transcend religious differences to promote good deeds and encourage people from different cultures to collaborate and improve the world. Recipients of this award may come from any religious background and are nominated by the public. 
 
Winner of the Spiritual Leadership Award, His Holiness Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswati, a Hindu spiritual leader has led the Global Interfaith Summit and has long been devoted to realizing religious harmony. Moreover, Swami Chidanand has put his heart and soul into humanitarian projects, working on saving the Ganga River, developing healthcare and education, as well as improving the position of women. His contributions have been recognized by winning the World Peace Ambassador Award and the Mentor of India Award.
 
Dr. Her Rey Sheng, Shravasti Humanities awardee is the initiator of global “goodness” research and deputy CEO of Tzu Chi Foundation. Transcending the differences between Eastern and Western culture, Dr. Her advocates altruism to achieve equal wealth and prosperity of all human beings and to achieve social harmony and fulfillment of life. Dr. Her has participated in relief work of the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake in China, the 2013 Philippine Typhoon, and the 2015 Nepal Earthquake. He has won Emmy Award, the Golden Bell Award, and a For Good Award.
 
Sharavasti Environmental Award winner, Dr. Mohammed Deen Darokhan is an environmentalist dedicated to ecological protection in the Himalayan region. His vision of transforming his hometown into an integrated organic area by 2025 is crucial to glacial and climate protection in Ladakh. Dr. Deen has made significant contributions to carbon neutrality, ecological agriculture system, afforestation, biodiversity, energy and water conservation, reduction of plastic use, protection of local cultural traditions, and language diversity.
 
The vision of the Shravasti Awards is towards encouraging humans to transcend our differences and together build a harmonious homeland where all human beings exist in balance and beautiful earth can develop sustainably. 
 
His Holiness The Drikung Kyabgon Tinle Lhundup said, “The physical world and the mental world are connected to and dependent on each other. Likewise, all living beings are interdependent in a similar manner. We should respect other beings with kindness. This is the virtue of being a human and what we should value as a human.”
 
His Holiness The Drikung Kyabgon Tinle Lhundup has been devoting himself to promoting the development of cultural diversity, education, and humanistic care, aiming to manifest the principle of “mutual love” and “symbiosis” in all areas of life. His Holiness initiated GO GREEN GO ORGANIC and other sustainability projects in the Himalayan region. These projects have greatly improved the lives of local people in the highest desert in the world. The local population of this area comes from different religious backgrounds, including Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, etc. For his excellent contributions, His Holiness has been appointed as the Mountain Partnership Goodwill Ambassadors of the United Nations.
 
The Shravasti Foundation was established on September 28, 2020, in California, USA. The foundation was founded by a team of volunteers to support His Holiness Drikung Kyabgon Tinle Lhundup’s humanitarian activities. More than 2500 years ago, when Buddha Shakyamuni preached the Dharma teachings in Shravasti, he pointed out that all living beings share a common destiny and equality, and that we should treat other beings with kindness and no discrimination. This is where the foundation takes its name. The Shravasti Foundation strives to practice the Buddha teachings, making a great endeavor to transcend religious differences and to promote harmony between different groups and between humans and the environment.