The late great Rev. Lama Tenzin Norbu founded the Tashi Choeling Monastery in the southwestern
district of Kyidong in Tibet, when it was still a free country. Known popularly as Kyidong
Dhungsey Rinpoche among followers of the Drukpa Kargyue Religious tradition of Tibetan Buddhism,
Rinpoche was both a yogi and a lama. But when the Chinese occupied Tibet in 1959, the monastery
was destroyed. Many Tibetans left everything to go into exile in India as their country, their
religion, their very culture were left in ruins. Among those who took flight, was His Holiness
the Dalai Lama.
Upon his exile in India, Rinpoche reestablished the Tashi Choeling Monastery in Dharamsala. He sought out the original monks who had been scattered about the country, and brought them together to pass on their knowledge of valuable religious and cultural practices so as to preserve and maintain the unique identity of Tibet. Kyidong Rinpoche was the head lama until he died in 1988 and the monastery has since been administered by his sons and the elder monks.
The monastery has been functioning in the traditional way, that is, reciting prayers and performing other religious practices under the elder Tibetan monks, since the death of the head lama and no new monks were being recruited or educated. As this generation of monks has passed on, succombing one by one to old age and ill health, the monastery has been left with almost no monks. It has been impossible to take in and train new monks as there are no funds for their education and basic living expenses. This unfortunate situation has endangered one of the oldest religious traditions in the Drukpa Kargyue Sect of Tibetan Buddhism.
Upon his exile in India, Rinpoche reestablished the Tashi Choeling Monastery in Dharamsala. He sought out the original monks who had been scattered about the country, and brought them together to pass on their knowledge of valuable religious and cultural practices so as to preserve and maintain the unique identity of Tibet. Kyidong Rinpoche was the head lama until he died in 1988 and the monastery has since been administered by his sons and the elder monks.
The monastery has been functioning in the traditional way, that is, reciting prayers and performing other religious practices under the elder Tibetan monks, since the death of the head lama and no new monks were being recruited or educated. As this generation of monks has passed on, succombing one by one to old age and ill health, the monastery has been left with almost no monks. It has been impossible to take in and train new monks as there are no funds for their education and basic living expenses. This unfortunate situation has endangered one of the oldest religious traditions in the Drukpa Kargyue Sect of Tibetan Buddhism.