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Thegchog Namdrol Shedrub Dhargyeling, widely known as Namdroling Monastery, was founded in Bylakuppe, South India, by the Third Supreme Head of the Nyingma tradition, His Holiness Drubwang Pema Norbu Rinpoche in 1963. It was followed by the establishing of the Tsogyal Shedrub Dargyeling Nunnery in 1993.

The celebration of the Diamond Jubilee 60 year Anniversary of Namdroling Monastery and the 30 year Anniversary of Tsogyal Shedrub Dargyeling Nunnery, commenced on the 21st of April 2023, Tibetan Royal Year 2150, by the arrival, at Namdroling Monastery from Tibet, of His Holiness Kyabje Karma Kuchen Rinpoche Thupten Tsultrim Norbu Oser Kunkhyab Palzangpo, the supreme head of the Palyul Lineage.

The chiefs of Namdroling Monastery, Chogtrul Gyangkhang Rinpoche and Chogtrul Mugsang Kuchen Rinpoche, Khenchen Namdrol Tsering Rinpoche, Khenchen Tsewang Gyatso Rinpoche and all the khenpos, tulkus, lamas, lopons, monks and nuns of the monastery extended a grand welcome to His Holiness Karma Kuchen Rinpoche by offering the body, speech and mind representation mandala in the Golden Temple. His Holiness Karma Kuchen Rinpoche then proceeded to offer a white sandalwood Dharma Wheel before the portraits of His Holiness the late Drubwang Pema Norbu Rinpoche and his reincarnation, Yangsi Rinpoche as a token of gratitude to mark the 60th anniversary since the establishment of Namdroling Monastery.

Also on display before the portraits are the relic of His Holiness Pema Norbu Rinpoche and the marvelous white conch on which the sacred mantra of Manjushri 'Om Aa Ra Pa Tsa Na Dhi', was written by His Holiness using only his tongue. The mantra then miraculously embossed itself on the white conch as if it has been engraved by tool.

On the next day, 22nd of April 2023, the entire congregation of monks and nuns carried out a grand prayer ceremony with feast offering after opening the sacred mandala of Longchen Nyinthik Rigzin Dupa. It was followed by a grand enthronement ceremony of 210 khenpos (the eighth batch), 73 khenmos (the first batch) and 12 dorje lopons. This is the first time in the history of Namdroling in which a group of nuns are conferred the title, ‘Khenmo’ - the recognition of being a female professor of Buddhist studies.

On the 23rd April 2023, HH Kyabje Karma Kuchen Rinpoche, Chogtrul Gyangkhang Rinpoche, Mugsang Kuchen Rinpoche, and the Khenchens were given a ceremonial welcome by the nuns of Tsogyal Shedrupling Nunnery to inaugurate the new Temple, the new office building and the new library. After the inauguration, two new books, a magazine and a souvenir were launched followed by the consecration of the new temple with ablution. Rinpoche then visited the Nunnery Retreat Centre and gave heart advice to the retreatants before consecrated the thangka paintings and kila dagger box in the Vajrakilaya Temple.

On the 25th of April 2023, an official ceremony for invited VIP was held at the monastery’s main square. Dignitaries who attended on the day included the Speaker of the Parliament of the Central Tibetan Administration, Khenpo Sonam Tenphel, the Secretary of CTA’s Religion and Cultural Department, Representative of the Honorable Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation of the Government of Nepal and the Secretary of Ecclesiastical Affairs Department of Sikkim, along with the monks, nuns and the local communities. The event was celebrated with the delivering of speeches and the giving of presents. This event marked the conclusion of the 60 year anniversary celebration of Namdroling Monastery.

An official video of the Namdroling Monastery 60 Year Anniversary is now available for viewing at the Pathgate Dharma Theatre. Please click here for the link.

In order to pacify diseases, famines and wars, to increase peace, prosperity and harmony throughout the world, the great noble masters of Nyingmapa who were representatives of Guru Rinpoche initiated the annual Nyingma Monlam Chenmo (the World Peace Ceremony) every year on the 1st-10th day of the 12th month of Tibetan Calendar at Bodhgaya, India, where Shakyamuni Buddha attained enlightenment 2600 years ago. This year the 34th Nyingma Monlam Chenmo started on the 22nd January with the gathering of over ten thousand monks, nuns and yogis from about 195 monasteries, in addition to tens of thousands of faithful devotees from around the world.

To encourage non-Tibetan speaking students to participate in the practice at Nyingma Monlam Chenmo, ‘The Wish-Granting Tree of Enlightenment - Prayer for the Annual Nyingma Monlam Chenmo' was translated into English under the editorship of Lama Dondrup Dorje Rinpoche and was published for free distribution by Pathgate Institute of Buddhist Studies in conjunction with Namdroling Monastery. The translated text was presented to His Holiness Drubwang Pema Norbu Rinpoche who was delighted at the publication of this prayer book, and gave the advice that this prayer book should be used for recitation daily and not merely during the Nyingma Monlam Chenmo.

Ngagyur Palyul Thubten Shedrub Choekhor Dargyeling Monastery in Bodhgaya, India, is a branch of Namdroling Monastery. His Holiness Drubwang Pema Norbu Rinpoche had stated that: “It will be good if a monastery is built here in this sacred place of Bodhgaya where 1002 Buddhas of this fortunate eon will attain enlightenment”.

For many years, during the Nyingma Monlam Chenmo ceremony, there were insufficient rooms to accommodate the monks and nuns, and they had to stay in commercial lodging or in tent. His Holiness Drubwang Pema Norbu Rinpoche started to look for a plot of land in 2000. And in August, 2008, a land blessing ceremony was held by His Holiness Drubwang Pema Norbu Rinpoche presiding alongside many Khenpos, Tulkus, Lamas, monks and nuns.

On the 3rd of February, 2009, the foundation boundary walls of the temple were established with three main statues to be constructed in the temple: Buddha Shakyamuni in the middle, Guru Rinpoche on the right and Avaloketeshvara on the left. These statues were built according to the guidance of His Holiness Drubwang Pema Norbu Rinpoche.

On the 4th of December, 2015, His Holiness Taklung Tsetrul Rinpoche, the 6th Supreme Head of Ngagyur Nyingma Lineage, and the two Chief of Namdroling Monastery consecrated the temple and ceremoniously placed the Sertog (Golden Ornament on the top part of the roof of the temple).

On the 19th of January, 2016, the inauguration and consecration were ceremoniously presided by the 12th Throne-Holder of Palyul Lineage H.H. Karma Kuchen Rinpoche, together with H.H. Thupten Palzang Rinpoche, H.H. Yangthang Rinpoche, Chogtrul Gyang Khang Rinpoche, Chogtrul Mugsang Kuchen Rinpoche, Palyul Chogtrul Rinpoche, Rigo Tulku Rinpoche, Khenchen Pema Sherab Rinpoche, Khenchen Namdrol Tsering Rinpoche and Khenchen Tsewang Gyatso Rinpoche with thousands of faithful gathering.

Hence, this monastery was successfully built based on the visionary aspiration and direction of His Holiness Drubwang Pema Norbu Rinpoche.

On this auspicious day of 7 January 2023, (Tibetan Royal year 2149) 46 monks of the 11th batch of retreatants of Namdroling Monastery’s Samten Otsalling Retreat Centre, which was established by His Holiness Drubwang Pema Norbu Rinpoche in the year 1985, came out of their retreat after successfully staying in seclusion for three years and completed their practice successfully.

Some of the notable events in 2022 included:

• Passing of great masters into parinirvana and the enthronement of young tulku.
• 14 new Dharma teachings by Lama Dondrup Dorje Rinpoche were published online to honour the continuous presence of Buddhadharma in the degenerated age by the unbroken lineage of vajra masters from the primordial Buddha Samantabhadra to the present time.
• Reopening of Namdroling Monastery to the public after 718 days of lock down due to the covid epidemic.
• Gyang Khang Rinpoche and Khenchen Namdrol Tsering Rinpoche inaugurated a new Dharma Centre in Nepal founded by the Nepal Buddhist Lotus Nun Association. The programme was organised by the graduated nuns of Namdroling Monastery.
• Jubilee celebration of the Palyul Retreat Centre in the USA.
• A three-volume set entitled ‘The Comprehensive History of Namdroling Monastery’ and a two-volume set entitled ‘The Oral History of Namdroling Monastery’ were published by the Ngagyur Rigzod Editorial Committee of the Ngagyur Nyingma Institute.
• Pathgate assistance to the Ukrainian refugees in Europe.
• Update of Pathgate sponsorship in Nepal, Bhutan, India, Mongolia and elsewhere

To read the full report, go to ‘Pathgate News - Special Features’ as listed on the menu. Click here to see the full list of special features..

The first part of the Ngöndro preliminary practice of Dzogchen - is a series of reflections on the four thoughts that turn the mind from the unsatisfactoriness of samsara to the path of liberation which is the application of Dharma.

These Four Thoughts (lodok nam shyi) which direct our mind to recognise the truth of suffering and the truth of the origin of sufferings are:

1. precious human birth;
2. impermanence and death;
3. defects of samsara;
4. karma - cause and effect. 

The first contemplation which turns the mind away from activities that lead to the continuous suffering of rebirths in samsara, is to reflect on the rarity and difficulty to obtain a precious human birth - the most supreme of all rebirths in the three higher realms of the gods, the demi gods, and the humans.

For the majority of beings in the Saha World (mi jé jik ten), precious human birth will occur for them for one time only during the infinite span of endless rebirths in samsara.

Human rebirth is incredibly rare for it is the result of merit accumulated from acts of generosity and the discipline of cultivating the ten virtues (gé wa chu) of body, speech and mind.

It takes merely one single act of non-virtue to create the karmic imprint that causes us to be reborn after death into the three lower realms of the animal, the hungry spirits and the hell-beings.

Shakyamuni Buddha has plainly stated that whoever loses the human body due to non-virtues will be reborn repeatedly in the three lower realms for a period of 5000 kalpas before any probability of being reborn again into the human realms.

Since each kalpa or aeon is equivalent to the duration of 10 billion years between the beginning and the destruction of an universe, human life once lost due to non-virtue would take a minimum of 50,000 billion years for another chance to have the next human birth, albeit one of lowly unfavourable conditions with neither the eight freedoms nor the ten endowments.

On the probability most beings receive only one chance of human birth in 5000 kalpas, the Fifth Dalai Lama said:

“This vessel of freedoms and endowment
For the attaining of all benefit and happiness,
Has been obtained this once,
If I were not to journey to the optimum land of realisation,
Return, instead to samsara with nothing worthy to behold,
It would destroy my heart.”

- Extract from a teaching by Lama Dondrup Dorje Rinpoche. The full text is available to read under the feature of Gateway to Tibetan Buddhism. Click here to see the full list of articles available.

Mara is a paranirmitavaśavartin deva from the highest celestial heaven of desire, the Heaven of Controlling Others’ Emanations (zhen trül wang jé), but owing to his attachment to objects of desire, he dwells in the celestial heaven of Tushita (ganden) - the Joyous Realm.

Being the lord of illusion, mara enjoys conjuring up alluring deception that cause the unsuspecting to embrace the unwholesome as wholesome, or to get hoodwinked into the preoccupation with the eight worldly obsessions (jikten chö gyé) of:

• longing for gain and dread of loss;
• longing for happiness and dread of suffering;
• longing for fame and dread of disrepute;
• longing for praise and dread of blame.

Mara personifies the negative qualities in the human ego, which cause the arising of delusion and the ripening of karmic retribution.

He is also the tempter who attempted on numerous occasions to persuade Shakyamuni Buddha to abandon his noble aspiration to liberate all sentient beings.

From another perspective, the existence of the maras are an important reminder that the corrupting influences and myriad obstructions they created for those who aspire to attain emancipation, can be eliminated through the application of buddhadharma when one’s clinging to the dualistic notions of hope and fear are severed, since mara is merely the reflection of our own delusion.

The only way mara can overwhelm us is when we choose to surrender ourselves to the delusion of our own making, which has its origin in our mind and is susceptible to changes in accordance to what thought we may choose to entertain.

Whoever can transcend the fabricated view of the self will for certain gain triumph over the influences of mara.

- Extract from a teaching by Lama Dondrup Dorje Rinpoche. The full text is available to read under the feature of Gateway to Tibetan Buddhism. Click here to see the full list of articles available.

At one time, Shakyamuni Buddha with a retinue of bodhisattvas, arhats and deities were residing at the Celestial Realm of the Thirty-Three Gods. A question was put forward by Avalokitesvara to Lord Buddha - the Great Shramana - on how merits can be gained by the construction of a stupa. Shakyamuni Buddha responded by proclaiming the Essence of Dependent Origination Dharani:

“All phenomena arise from causes - ye dharma hetu prabhava
The Tathagata has taught these causes - hetun tai khen tathagato hy avadat
That which brings cessation to these causes - tekhen tsa yo nirodha
This too has been taught by the Great Shramana - evam vadi maha shramanah”

“Avalokitesvara, dependent origination is the dharmakaya - the Truth Body - of all the tathagatas. “

“One who has recognises dependent origination sees the Buddha.”

“Avalokitesvara, if a devout son or daughter of the noble family erects in a remote place a stupa - even one no bigger than the size of a gooseberry fruit, with a central life-tree pillar the size of a needle and a parasol no bigger than the flower of the bakula tree - and insert within the stupa, this essence of dependent origination dharani which is inseparable from the dharmadhatu (the sphere of absolute reality) he or she will generate the merit of Brahma and reborn after passing with store of great fortunes equal to that of the gods of the Pure Realms of Suddhavasa.”

After the Blessed One proclaimed in this way, the hearers, bodhisattvas, the whole assembly, and the universe of gods, humans, asuras, and gandharvas rejoiced and praised the words of the Blessed One.

- Extract from a teaching by Lama Dondrup Dorje Rinpoche. The full text is available to read under the feature of Gateway to Tibetan Buddhism. Click here to see the full list of articles available.