NUPRI THRANGU TASHI CHOLING MONASTERY
During the time of the decrease in my merit, the Buddha Dharma 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 and earn 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 the monastery.
As a result of that, Tenzin Dorie became the first monk from Nupri 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 very good faith in and devotion
to the Buddha Dharma. They avoid killing and take special vows on the full moon and new moon days. They often perform Ganachakra Puja (tsok) on the 10th and 25th days of each month of the Tibetan calendar.
Because of these people’s good faith and devotion and their diligence in the practice of Vajrayana Buddhism, I became determined to build 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 Nupri and they all agreed to assist me in building this monastery. Therefore, I have founded the monastery called Nupri Thrangu Tashi Choling Monastery which is now under construction and which will be part of the government registration of Namo Buddha Meditation and Education Center.
Thrangu Rinpoche
12-11-2001
Translated on November 19, 2001.