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Kopan Monastery, Nepal
Gelug Tradition, 20th century, 380 monks and 360 nuns.
Kopan Monastery is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery near Boudhanath, on the outskirts of Kathmandu, Nepal. It is a member of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), an international network of Gelug dharma centers.
Kopan Monastery. Photo: Samir Chaudhary
Location
History
The monastery was established by Lamas Thubten Yeshe and Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, who bought the property from Nepal's royal astrologer in 1969. Its name comes from the name of the hill on which it was built.
Features
Kopan has become especially famous for teaching Buddhism to visiting Western foreigners. The first of what would become annual month-long (November–December) meditation courses were held in 1971.
These courses generally combine traditional Lam Rim teachings with informal discussion, several periods of guided meditation, and a vegetarian diet.
The one-month course for foreigners is attended by more than 250 people every year.
Many of the western students took ordination vows and stayed as a small western sangha community at Kopan under the supervision of Lama Yeshe, until they were forced to leave Nepal due to a change in Nepal's visa regulations in 1985.
Over thirty years Kopan became one of the largest Gelug monasteries in Nepal, encompassing now two separate institutions: the monastery, atop Kopan Hill, and the nearby Khachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery.
The nunnery, started in 1994, is home to 360 nuns, studying philosophy, and engaging in intensive practice such as the annual Nyungne retreat.1
There are several meditation halls and shrines in the monastery compound:
• The Lama Tsongkhapa Gompa is the main gompa at the entrance courtyard, where the morning prayers of the monks are held.
• The debate courtyard is where the philosophy students hold their debating session's morning and evening. The main figure in the middle of the altar is lama Tsongkhapa. There are several statues on either side and a collection many Tibetan texts, the Kangyur, which is a collection of all the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha, and the Tengyur, which is a collection of commentaries on these teachings.
• The Tantric College is home to about 60 monks studying there and a treasure house of beautiful paintings, statues, and thangkas. Twice a year the students make sand mandalas there. They also perform fire pujas and blessing ceremonies. The gompa is open to the public.
• The Chenrezig Gompa is the oldest one, where the lamas gave their first teachings to their western students. The new gompa was built in 1990. In the altar is the statue of Shakyamuni Buddha and on the left side the statue of the Thousand-Arm Chenrezig. On the far left is a statue of the Fasting Buddha, and image of Shakyamuni Buddha when he was practicing austerities.
• The Relic Shrines have a collection of very precious relics, like those of the previous abbot, Khensur Lama Lhundrup and of Geshe Lama Konchok, a great yogi who lived at Kopan Monastery for many years.2
Kopan Monastery Prayer Hall. Photo: divakaran pk
Festivals and Monastic Events
• Losar – Tibetan New Year. Purification rituals (Gyutor) mark the end of the Tibetan year. A large ritual cake (torma), symbolizing all negative actions of the past year is made, blessed, and then offered to the fire.
On the first day of the Tibetan New Year a special puja is made to celebrate and bless the coming year. Ceremonial scarves (Khatas) are offered to the teachers and everybody partakes in the barley grain and flour, a staple food from Tibet, which is auspicious for prosperity and good luck in the New Year.
• Monlam – The Great Prayer Festival was established in 1409 by Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelug tradition. On the main day of the festival, the Day of Miracles, extensive offerings are made by the lay population to create merit. The festival ends with Maitreya Buddha day, during which prayers are made to Maitreya Buddha, requesting him to return quickly.
• Tsip Shag is a monastic ceremony where the students gather to receive the oral transmission from the abbot of the text they will study in the coming year. This is also the time when the participants for the Rigjung Debate are chosen.
• Surkor (four texts) Puja signifies the entering of the students in a higher section of their studies. They do extensive prayers and pujas to gather merit, and to purify obstacles that might arise with the study of these texts.
• Rigjung Debate is another monastic event that marks the completion of the “Minor Field of Studies", which forms the first part of the Geshe studies. Only the top four students of the class, chosen during the Tsip Shag ceremony, qualify for this honor.
• Ganden Ngamchoe - Lama Tsongkhapa Day takes place towards the end of the year with elaborate offering rituals and a candlelight procession around the monastery with bells and cymbals and chanting of the mantra of Lama Tsongkhapa.
• Jang Guncho - Annual Inter-Monastic Debate is a tradition of the three great Tibetan monasteries of Sera, Drepung and Ganden. The monks used to get together in the winter months for one month and debate.
• Special Days of the Buddha – the commemoration of the buddha's holy deeds.
Travel and Visiting
Kopan Monastery has become a popular recreational destination for Kathmandu residents and tourists. On Saturdays it regularly receives hundreds of visitors from 10 AM to 4 PM. The monastery is closed to the public on other days of the week.
Visitors can choose a private stay in the monastery for a minimum of three days, when they can attend informal Daily Dharma Talks offered Monday to Friday from 10 – 11.30 am, attend the morning prayers of the monks, use the library, or just enjoy the peace of the environment. Families with children are also welcome for a private stay.
Kopan is about 9 km from Kathmandu airport. The road to the monastery is accessible all year round.
Sources
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopan_Monastery
• http://kopanmonastery.com
Footnotes
1. Nyungne (abiding in the fast) is a two-and-a-half-day practice that involves keeping of strict vows; the second day is devoted to complete silence and fasting. The meditation centers on the recitations of prayers and mantras, and guided visualizations of the Thousand-Armed Chenrezig, the embodiment of all the buddhas' loving-kindness and compassion.
2. Relics are the remains of beings that have devoted their entire life to virtuous practice.
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