Nupri Thrangu Monastery,Nepal
During the time of the decrease in my merit, the Buddhadhrma in the land of snow (Tibet) was diminishing, This was especially the fate of the Karma Kagyu Monastery called Thrangu Tashi Choling Monastery in Kham that was founded and blessed by His Holiness the 7th Gyalwa Karmapa, Chodrak Gyatso. At that time, I became a refugee and did not know where to go.
During this time of hardship, having the motivation to keep my monastery alive, I purchased a small piece of land in front of the Great Stupa of Boudhanath in Kathmandu, Nepal and built a small monastery which I named Thrangu Tashi Choling.
After building the monastery in Boudha, it was difficult to find children who wanted to become monks. I decided to ask some people I knew about finding children who wished to be monks. They said " nowadays all people want to go to school and study or to do business andearn much money. It's almost impossible to find children to become monks."
After hearing this, I was very depressed and disappointed but nevertheless I made a fruitful aspiration with good motivation and put many Chakras (mandalas) of the Sangha and Harmony of the Sangha into the main Buddha statue of monastery. As the result of that, Tenzin Dorje became the first monk from Nubri Village, Gorkha, Nepal.Eventually the number of monks grew and flourished and soon there were almost as many monks as in the monastery in Tibet.
The country where I built the new Thrangu Monastery is a country that accepts all kinds of religions and has faith and devotion to them. The southern regions, near India are mainly dominated by Hindus. In the center are the Newari people who practice and study Vajrayana Buddhism in Sanskrit. In the northern regions, bordering on Tibet, the people practice Buddhism according to the Kangyur (sutras of the Buddha) and Tengyur (the commentaries of great masters). The people of the southern regions of the Himalayan Mountains have great faith in and devotion to Buddha dharma. They avoid killing and take special vows on the full moon and new moon days. They often perform feast offerings (tsok) on the 10th and 25th days of each month of the Tibetan calendar.
Because of these people's great faith and devotion and their diligence in the practice of Vajrayana Buddhism, I became determined to build a monastery in this region to benefit many people. I also thought of building a monastery so that it can host a monastic sangha who could teach through their vast knowledge of Buddhism. I discussed this idea with my monks from Nubri and they all agreed to assist me in building this monastery. Therefore, I have founded the monastery called Nupri Thrangu Monastery which is now under construction and which will be part of the government registration of Namo Buddha Meditation and Educational Centre.
Thrangu Rinpoche
November 11, 2001
Nupri : Location
In the high Himalayas of northern Nepal near the boarder of Tibet lies the area known as Nubri and the village of Kemanlung. Nubri is located in the provinces of Gorkha at an altitude of over 4000 meters. This area is very remote and is a seven days walk from the nearest road.
Living in the mountainous region with dry and cold climate, life is hard beyond imagination. The development of infrustration is extreme slow. There are no roads into the region and the villagers practice mostly subsistence farming. At these altitudes it is only possible to grow potatoes,corn and barley, survival is extremely hard.
Medical Care and Education
Living in such a harsh condition, half the children are malnourished and under weight. Within households women often have less to eat. Insufficient calorie intake can lead to chronic malnutrition in the infants they feed. The infant mortality rate is very high in rural areas.
Nepali's rural families have been stuck in poverty for generations. Parents are often obliged to send their children to work rather than to school. Such isolation makes difficult to recruit teachers, which means that many children do not have much access to formal education. Most of them are illiterate, only speak Tibetan nd Nepali.
Famous Buddhist Pilgrimage Place
Nepal is the greatest land of spirituality and has many holy caves.It is believed that Guru Padmashambhava and Tibet's great Yogi Milarepa spent many years in Nepal and had left many physical prints in the caves which are still preserved and worshipped today.
It is recommended to hike one day from the Monastery to " Milarepa Cave " where Milarepa received the teachings from Marpa and then practiced alone. A path leads down from the roadside and down a hillside where a small monastery (gompa) has been built. The local villagers and pilgrims come up there to sing the prayer songs and lite the butter lamps.
Nupri Thrangu Monastry
In order to help the villagers of this area, both in terms of spreading the Buddha's teaching and providing community services, Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche decided to build a monastery in Nupri. The monastery will be staffed with lamas and monks to perform prayers, rituals and other religious services for the villagers and to teach the villagers about Dharma.
The monastery will have good facilities, including electricity and running water to encourage monks to stay in the village. There will also be a free health clinic for the village.
The whole contruction fee is approximately US$204,287. The proposed site will be 51,750 square meters. The projected Main Shrine Halll can accommodate 150 people.
Foundation work was started in 2002 and completed the executive floor of the main structure. All the extermal construction of Main Shrine Hall began on May 2003 and completed in 2006. The work that has been finished in the year 2005-2006, including a powerhouse, electricity generated, the roof of shrine hall, cupbroad for Twenty-One Taras, main gate of Monastery, ceiling and floor.
How Can You Help
Due to the remote area, there are no roads for motor vehicles, wood, cement and many other construction materials, except for stone, need to be carried in by helicopter or by foot, which increases the cost of construction considerably.
The construction of the Nupri Thrangu Tashi Choling Monastery is almost half done (50% of the construction is done so far). A project like this cannot be completed without help from outside. Many kind and generous sponsors have made it possible to nearly complete the exterior of the monastery.
Please consider downloading and filling in the Donation Slip and forwarding your contribution. The building of Nupri Thrangu Monastery is not possible without your assistance.
For enquires, please contact Lama Dawa, Thrangu Vajrayana Buddhist Center at (852) 2760-8381 or via email at info@thranguhk.org.