Pathgate News
Pathgate Sponsored Second New Building At Namdroling Monastery
The construction of the second of two new 3-storey buildings for the Ngagyur Nyingma Institute at theNamdroling Monastery in India has already been in progress for a few months. Sponsored entirely byPathgate Institute, the two new buildings will provide much needed floor space and facilities for the Ngagyur Nyingma Institute which at present has 850 students undergoing a nine-year programme of Higher Buddhist Study. This second building is located by the main gate where the shedra canteen used to be. When completed, this building will provide a new home for the STD booth, shedra canteen, milk shop and shedra shop on the ground floor. The second floor will house the offices of Rigzod Editorial Committee, computer room, conference room, book shop and shedra office. The third floor will be used as accommodation for the Khenpos.
The arrival of the second building made it possible for the first building, which started its construction last autumn to be used exclusively for classrooms and accommodation for the shedra students. All seven classrooms in the first building are now being used, while the remaining of the building is approaching final completion. When completed, this building will also provide accommodation for over one hundred monks with good size bathroom facilities on each of the three floors.
The present project of having two brand new buildings concurrently in development began last autumn with a modest program of having one new building constructed for theNgagyur Nyingma Institute. The proposal for the construction of a new building has been circulated within the monastery for a few years with little progress beyond rounds of discussion due to lack of financial resources. As the need for additional classrooms and student accommodation became increasingly urgent, request for the project to start was made to His Holiness Penor Rinpoche by the faculties of the Ngagyur Nyingma Institute in the autumn of 2007.
Out of compassion for their plight, His Holiness Penor Rinpoche granted them permission for the construction to commence and promised them financial support if they could not secure outside funding for the project. The faculties then approached Lama Dondrup Dorjeto enquire his willingness to take on the task of sponsoring the entire cost of construction. With encouragement and blessing from His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, Lama Dondrup Dorje managed to raise the full amount as needed for the construction of one building before 2007 came to close. With the finance now firmly in place, the construction of the building progressed speedily in record time. By March 2008, the interior outfitting of the classrooms on the ground floor was completed and were put into use by the beginning of the new academic year.
The proposal for the second building was put forward around March after rounds of meetings and discussion amongst the faculties of the shedra and the monastic officers. It was finally decided it is vital to commence the construction of the second building straight away as the cost of building materials is rising fast and there is a real need for another building to ease the lack of usable space at the monastery. Lama Dondrup Dorje was once again approached by the faculties of the shedra to see if he would take on the task of raising the funds needed for the project. With the blessing of His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, Lama Dondrup Dorje finally agreed to take on the task to source the necessary funding for the second building.
The construction of the new buildings for the Ngagyur Nyingma Institute is one of many projects sponsored by the students and friends of Pathgate Institute from around the world. If you wish to support the various on-going projects of Pathgate Institute in propagating Dharma worldwide for the benefit of all sentient beings, you may do so by becoming an active partner in the Pathgate Partnership Programme. For details, please visit the Donation Page.