History of the monastery
In 1972 the 16th Karmapa advised the 1st Chime Rinpoche to build a monastery,
mainly for the preservation of peace in Ladakh. Karma Drupgyud Choeling
was inaugurated in 1973. In 1976, Lama Ole and Hannah Nydahl received the
transmission of the Six Teachings of Naropa at this monastery. In 1977,
Khenpo Thubten late spiritual head of Institut Karmapa near Nice and
younger brother of Chime Rinpoche came to teach in KDC for two years.
In order to accommodate the many people who join the common meditations
on Chenrezig, In 1996, Chime Rinpoche built the new Nyungne Lhakhang. It
was inaugurated in 1999 by the 14th Kunzig Shamar Rinpoche.
Today the monastery consists of an old and a new part. The original complex
includes the old lhakhang (assembly hall) and old living and working quarters,
which were all built with local mud bricks. Set back from the road is the
spacious modern part with Nyungne Lhakhang and recently built kitchen,
dining hall, class rooms, library and office. A small lawn and a poplar
grove are the breathing spaces of the monastery very necessary in this
dusty desert climate -, and a stupa, mani wheels and prayer flags complete
the picture.
Functions of the monastery
Karma Drubgyud Choeling provides both a place to live, to work and to
study. Life is hard. Water has to be pumped up, electricity is sparse.
Temperatures drop to 40ēC in winter. The small rooms, inhabited by up
to four monks, are heated with cow dung. The smoke escapes through holes
in the ceiling.
In Ladakh such living conditions are not unusual, and Karma Drubgyud Choeling
Monastery is quite popular, especially, with the Tibetan part of the population.
This is demonstrated in the ever rising number of monks (end of 2006: 72),
as well as in the interaction between the monastery and local people. During
the summer the monks are requested daily to come and do private house pujas,
every month in addition to the daily invocation of Mahakala and Tara a
special puja lasting days is performed. When the annual nyungne (fasting
meditation) and mani projects take place, the wide spaces in front of the
lhakhangs are filled with hundreds of Ladakhis and Tibetans.
School
The young monks not only are instructed in the practice of the Karma Kagyu tradition, but also receive a basic modern education. In addition to memorizing prayers and ritual texts, they also learn to play the instruments and how to make tormas. In addition to studying Buddhist philosophy they have Tibetan and English language and math classes. The responsibility for the education of the young monks falls to specially trained monks of the monastery, two permanently employed teachers and visiting teachers. Our goal is to also have two or at least one Western volunteer present during the summer months to give English and perhaps science classes.
Karma Drubgyud Choeling Monastery P.O. Box 10 Leh 194101, Ladakh, J&K, India kdcladakh@yahoo.com