Mindrolling Monastery, Uttarakhand, India

Nyingma Tradition, 17th century, about 300 monks.

Mindrolling Monastery ("Sublime Island of Ripening Liberation"), is one of the "Six Mother Monasteries" of the Nyingma school in Tibet.

Of great importance to the Nyingma lineage is Samye monastery, the first Tibetan and Nyingma monastery, which was founded by Śāntarakṣita, between 787 and 791, during the reign of King Trisong Deutsen.

In addition, the Nyingma tradition has held that there were also "Six Mother Monasteries" out of which many branch monasteries developed throughout Tibet, Bhutan, and Nepal.

Of these six, Katok Monastery is credited with being the original monastery, after which the five grew.

There have been slightly different formulations of the six. At one time they included Dorje Drak Monastery, (14th century, relocated 1632), Mindrolling Monastery, (1676), Palri Monastery (1571) in Upper Tibet, Katok Monastery, (1159), Palyul Monastery, (1665), and Dzogchen Monastery, (1684), in Lower Tibet.

After the decline of Palri and the flourishing of Shechen Monastery, (1695), the Six Mother Monasteries were Dorje Drak and Mindrolling in the upper region, Shechen and Dzogchen in the center, and Kathok and Palyul in the lower part of Tibet.

The last four monasteries were all located in Kham while Shechen Monastery was rebuilt in Nepal in 1985, after the Chinese destroyed the monastery in Tibet during the 1950's.

Mindrolling Monastery. Photo: Dev Prakash Panika.

Location

Mindrolling Monastery is in Zhanang County, Shannan Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, China, known as U-Tsang, approximately 43 kilometers east of the Lhasa airport, on the south side of the Tsangpo river.

In 1965, Kyabje Khochhen Rinpoche¹ and small group of monks began the process of re-establishing Mindrolling monastery to Clement Town, in Dehradun, Uttarakhand state, India. It now contains Ngagyur Nyingma College, one of the largest Buddhist institutes in India.

History

Mindrolling Monastery was founded by Rigzin Terdak Lingpa in 1676, one of the great Nyingma revealers of treasure texts. He was both a teacher and a disciple of the Fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lozang Gyatso (1617-1682). His lineage is known as the Nyo lineage.²

Mindrolling was heavily damaged in 1718 by the Dzungar Mongols from East Turkistan. It was rebuilt during the reign of the Seventh Dalai Lama (1708–1757). Dungsay Rinchen-Namgyel and Jetsunma Mingyur Paldron, the son and daughter of Terdak Lingpa, supervised its reconstruction.

For nearly 300 years its monastic university contributed to training Nyingma scholars and yogis from all over Tibet.

At Mindrolling, special emphasis was placed on the learning of Buddhist scriptures, astronomy, Tibetan lunar calendar, calligraphy, rhetoric, and Traditional Tibetan medicine.

Monks traditionally studied thirteen major sutra and tantra texts of the Nyingma, and learned the practices stemming from various terma,³ especially from the lineage of Terdak Lingpa. The monastery had at one time, over one hundred subsidiaries and its throne holder was one of the most revered in Tibet.

At the time of the 1959 revolt against Chinese Communist rule in Central Tibet, there were approximately 300 monks at Mindrolling. In the years after 1959, the monastery again suffered damage to its buildings, but it was not as severe as at other monasteries such as Ganden. At present, the monastery is still being reconstructed in Tibet.

The Mindrolling Monastery in Uttarakhand has today over 300 monks. At the shedra there are about 135 monks, and forty nuns at Samten Tse Retreat Center.

Features

Mindrolling Monastry abbots are Khotrul Jurme Dogyud Gyatso Rinpoche (known also as Khochhen Rinpoche), Minling Khenchen Rinpoche⁴ and Khandro Rinpoche⁵.

Ngedon Gatsal Ling is the main monastery and practice center where the daily prayers and the Drubchens (Mahasadhanas) are performed. Monks learn and practice rituals, mandala drawing, lama dances and the playing of ritual instruments. Monks can also choose to study thangka painting and sculpting.

The Primary and Secondary Buddhist School is where the monks study recitation, calligraphy, grammar, poetry, philosophy, and English. On the completion of the eight level, monks can join Ngagyur Nyingma Institute (The Institute of Advanced Buddhist Studies), or they can choose to continue to practice in the main monastery.

The Ngagyur Nyingma Institute (NNI), of Namdroling Monastery was established by Penor Rinpoche in 1978. Students from various countries join Ngagyur Nyingma Institute.

For nine years, they mainly study the Sutra and Tantra teachings of the Buddha, as well as the commentaries written by great Indian and Tibetan scholars. As an ancillary subject, they study Buddhist philosophy in general, poetry, composition, grammar, and the history of Tibet, as well as English and other languages.

The nine-year course includes a four-year degree (equivalent to a Higher Secondary degree), two years equivalent to a bachelor's degree and the last three years for a chenpo degree (equivalent to a master's degree).

After the completion of the nine-year course, earning these three degrees, they are then placed in various monasteries and Dharma centres in Himalayan countries and abroad to render their service of teaching Buddhism. NNI also provides an option to continue one’s study and research towards a PhD.

Related institutions are Ngagyur Nyingma Research Center (NNRC), Namdrol Ling Jr. High School and Ngagyur Nyingma Nunnery Institute. The latter was founded by Penor Rinpoche in 1995.

Buddhist nuns there study a nine-year course on sutra and tantra along with poetry, grammar, composition and so on, a syllabus virtually identical to that of Ngagyur Nyingma Institute.

Drubde Ödsal Ling is the retreat centre where monks undertake retreats of various lengths varying from 3-month to 3 years of solitary retreat. Before going into retreat, monks are given teachings and receive profound and advanced Buddhist meditation instructions from the Rinpoches.

The Great Stupa of Buddha’s Descent from Devaloka was built on 29th April,2000. The façade of the main stupa contains a magnificent relief of Maitreya, the Future Buddha. Buddha Shakyamuni is represented descending from the tri-colored steps, representing lapis lazuli, gold, and silver.

The main stupa has five shrine rooms. The ground floor level’s shrine is dedicated to Guru Padmasambhava. The walls depict his life-story in accordance with the terma of Ogyen Terma Lingpa.

Also included are the paintings of the Seven Chapter Supplication, the Supplication for Clearing the Obstacles to the Path, the Outer, Inner and Secret Assembly of Heart Essence of Vidyadharas, the short description of the past lives of Terdak Lingpa, the One Hundred and Eight Mahasiddhas of India, the Twenty-five Disciples of Padmasambhava, the One Hundred and Eight Great Treasure Masters, the Eight Great Chariots of the Practice Lineage, and the Dharmapalas who protect the Dharma.

Great Stupa of Buddha’s Descent from Devaloka. Photo: Govind Verma

The first floor shrine room is dedicated to Shakyamuni Buddha. The murals on the walls depict the Jataka tales according to the text Wish-fulfilling Tree written by the Dharma King Kshemendra. The 16 great arhats⁶, the seven entrusted with the teachings, the 17 panditas of Nalanda⁷ are shown on the pillars.

The Second floor shrine room contains the statues of the descendents of Terdag Lingpa, the great throne holders ( Khris-chen) and the lineage of supreme abbot (mkhan-chen).

A magnificient three dimensional mandala of the Union of the Oral Lineage Transmission and the treasure teachings, based on Lochen Zhi-khro, is built in the centerof the shrine. In addition to these, there are paintings of the previous lineage masters of Pratimoksha, Bodhisattvayana and Vajrayana.

In the vase enclosure of the stupa are the images of the thousand Buddhas of ‘the Good Aeon’. In it are the statues of the field of accumulation that embodies the entire qualities of the three secrets of all the victorious sugatas, based on Ati Zab-don snying-po, the extraordinary tradition revealed by Terdak Lingpa.

The shrine room above the vase contains the statues of the five families of Buddha, along with Buddha Amitabha. The wall murals depict the twelve teachers of the Dzogchen lineage. The life-force tree is shown in accordance with the mandala and the stupa ritual of the Two Aspects of Stainlessness.

The upper and the lower end of the life-force tree is anointed with saffron water, and it is covered with silk. There are over one hundred and eleven extremely secret Dharanis from sutras and tantras.

Alphabets and the mantra of the essence of Dependent Origin are also found with them. All the dharanis are arranged in compliance with ‘the Practical Guide on Offering Dharani’ text by Lochen Dharmashri.

The neck of the stupa lies above the vase and below the 13 golden colored tapering wheels of Dharma. It is filled with the texts of the Buddhist canon as well as earlier and later versions of commentaries translated into Tibetan.

It also includes the works of the famous Six Ornaments and Two Supreme Ones, Rongzom, Mahapandita, the Omniscient Longchenpa, Terdag Lingpa and Lochen Dharmashri. Also included are several tsa-tsa built according to the ritual of Drimed Namnyi.

Additionally, there are brass statues: five of Buddha Muni, one of Green Tara, one of the Lake-born Guru with his retinue of two, Standing Ksitigarbha, and one of Manjushri.

There is a silver statue of Vajrasattva, a gold and copper statue of Buddha Amitabha, Phurpa of Nyang-gter, a Samye Dora [vajra], and a holy brass statue of Shakyamuni presented by Dzongsar Khentse Rinpoche.

Relics of the four different types are also kept there, namely: the relics of the Dharmakaya, such as Guru Rinpoche’s tooth (offered by Nyenchen Thangla) and relics of Buddha Kashyapa, relics of the cremated bodies of holy saints, relics of the saints’ robes and relics resembling mustard seed.

Furthermore, the stupa also houses a collection of numerous other spiritual objects of spontaneous origin, as well as various indisputably holy substances that were passed down from the reliable sources. These are all full of blessings.

Every aspect of this stupa was built under the guidance of the most venerable Khochhen Rinpoche and follows the famous stupa-building guidelines of Phugpa and his heart sons, Lochen Dharmashri, and other reliable sources.

Tsering Gatsal is a primary health care clinic set up on the monastery premises for the monks and local community and provides modern and Tibetan medicine.

Dekyi Gatsal and Deva Loka Guesthouses are available for visitors. They feature conference rooms, gift shops, a restaurant, an internet cafe, and the relocated Peace Cafe, all managed by residents of the Clement Town Tibetan community adjacent to Mindrolling.

A large community prayer hall of the Tibetan Colony of Clement Town is on the premises of the monastery and is at the disposal of the Mindrolling monastery. The top floor consists of dormitories for the younger monks and classrooms of the Primary and Secondary Buddhist School.

The monastery is a Charitable Society registered in India as ‘Nyingmapa Mahabodhi Charitable Society’. Besides providing Buddhist education and research, the organization preserves and promotes Buddhism and Tibetan culture.

The monastery provides free food, accommodation, clothing, medical care, and education including textbooks and stationery to over 300 monks. The sole source of income is voluntary donations.

Annual Ceremonies

• The Great Yamantaka Sadhana (Gutor Shinjey Drekjom), is the annual ritual to help negative karma and burn all related bad omens before the start of New Year (LOSAR).

• Vajrasattva Drubchen is a seven-day ceremony based on the Minling Dorsem or Mindrolling Vajrasattva ritual. Minling Dorsem is part of the Vajrasattva cycle of teachings discovered by Chögyal Terdag Lingpa.

The Drubchen is held every year for seven days beginning on the 10th day of the first lunar month. The ceremony is performed to purify the negativities of all sentient beings, particularly of the deceased. On the 15th day of the first lunar month (the sixth day of the Drubchen), the entire sangha gathers to perform a special ceremony for those who have died within the previous year.

• Kagyed Drubchen is a ten-day ceremony performed beginning on the 24th day of the first lunar month. It is based on the Kagyed De-Sheg Du Pa terma that is one of the treasure teachings discovered by the renowned Terton Nyang Ral Nyima Wozer and later revived by Terdag Lingpa. The final day of the ceremony is on the 2nd day of the 2nd lunar month, which is the Parinirvana Day of Terdag Lingpa.

There are lama dances in the evenings of each day’s ceremony. The drubchen ends in the evening of the 3rd day of the 2nd lunar month with the ritual of Ngödrub Lenchog, the Receiving of Siddhis Ceremony and Marme Monlam (butter lamp ceremony). These are open to the public.

• Tsechu Drubchen is held for three days beginning on the 8th day of the 2nd lunar month. The Tsechu Drubchen marks the birth of Guru Padmasambhava and is done in accordance with the Terma, Lama Sangdu, which was discovered by the great treasure master Guru Chöwang and later revived by Terdag Lingpa.

On the 10th day of the 2nd lunar month, a full day’s Lama Dance is performed in accordance with the ritual of Lama Sangdu. These Lama Dances are renowned for their blessings and are the foremost examples of the Lama Dances of Tibet in their original form. Many people come to receive the blessings of this great ritual.

On the next day, His Holiness Mindrolling Trichen would bestow a long life empowerment to the public in order to dispel the obstacles and difficulties in the coming year.

• Saga Dawa Drubchen is held on the 15th day of the 4th lunar month and marks the birth, enlightenment and mahaparinirvana of Shakyamuni Buddha, one of the most important occasions throughout the Buddhist world. Special prayers, rituals and butter lamp offerings are made during this ceremony.

• Tel-da Tse Chu marks the birth of Padmasambhava. This Drubchen is performed for three days in accordance with the Lama Sangdu text from the 8th to the 10th day of the 5th lunar month. During the Drubchen, special feast practices are done and the tsog (feast offering) is distributed to the general community.

• Yarne, the Summer Retreat is the rain retreat for one and a half months from the 15th day of the 6th lunar month to the 30th day of the 7th lunar month.

The retreat is held in accordance with the instructions of the Buddha in the Vinaya Sutra directing all monks to observe certain restrictions and engage themselves in meditation and practices for the period. Khenpos and Lonpons gave teachings each day and ‘Sojong’ or confessions are offered by the sangha during this retreat.

On the evening of the 30th, the last day of the retreat, selected monks give teachings and expound the Dharma to the community.

• The Nine Dharmapala Drubchen is held for three days beginning from the 27th of the seventh lunar month. During this ceremony, prayers and various offerings are offered to the nine Dharmapalas and other protectors to dispel the obstacles to the Dharma and sangha.

• Kamei Tsogchen Dupa Drubchen, one of the most sacred Lama Dances, is performed on the 13th day of the 9th lunar month. It is a full day of ritual dances wherein the dancers depict the pacifying of the land and building the mandala for the ceremony.

Thereafter, the main Drubchen is held for five days beginning from the 17th day of the 9th lunar month. This ceremony is held in accordance with the Dupa Do in the Kama or oral tradition from the Lochen Kabum and represents the entire mandala of peaceful and wrathful deities in accordance with the Anuyoga tantra.

• Tsimar Kangsol is a special puja performed for six days from the 6th day of the 10th lunar month. It is held to dispel obstacles to the Dharma and sangha by offering prayers to Tsimar who is one of the main protectors within the Nyingma school.

• Vajrakilaya Tordok ceremony is performed from the 27th day of the 10th lunar month for three days to dispel the obstacles for all sentient beings. It is done in accordance with the Vajrakilaya ritual of Yang Sang Pudi, which is a terma, discovered by the great treasure master Guru Chöwang and later revived by Terdag Lingpa.

• Guru Drakpo Tordok is held for three days from the 27th day of the 11th lunar month as a special ritual to dispel the different obstacles caused by the eight classes of spirits and other adversities such as war, famine and epidemic. It is performed in accordance with the ritual of Minling Gudrak from the Guru Drakpo terma discovered by Chögyal Terdag Lingpa.

• Yamantaka Tordok is held from the 23rd day of the 12th lunar month to the last day of the year. It is performed in accordance with the ritual of Yamantaka of the Shinje Dregjom terma discovered by Chögyal Terdag Lingpa to dispel all the obstacles for the coming year. This ceremony is considered a very special ritual for the peace and welfare of all the sentient beings. Witnessing the lama dances performed on the 28th and 29th days during the ceremony is said to avert the obstacles of the coming new year.

Travel

Mindrolling Monastery is 32Km from Dehradun Airport and several direct flights are available from New Delhi to Dehradun.

Sources

• https://www.khenchenrinpoche.org/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindrolling_Monastery
• https://www.mindrolling.org/
• https://studybuddhism.com/en/advanced-studies/history-culture/monasteries-in-tibet/nyingma-monasteries-mindrolling
• https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Nyingma_Kama
• https://www.mindrollinginternational.org/lineage-and-history/lineage/

Footnotes

1. Khochhen Rinpoche, born in 1937 in Gonjo in Eastern Tibet, was considered at an early age to be the reincarnation of Namdrol Sangpo Rinpoche of Khochhen Monastery by the 8th Mindrolling Khenchen.
Ter-say Chime Rinpoche, who was the elder brother of Dzongsar Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö, formally enthroned Rinpoche at Khochhen monastery. Rinpoche undertook his studies in Mindrolling in Tibet where he studied and mastered Buddhist philosophy, psychology, tantras, astrology, poetry, literature, calligraphy, and rituals. He received profound teachings and instructions from eminent masters such as Dzongsar Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö, Minling Chung Rinpoche and Minling Khenchen Rinpoche.
Rinpoche was at Mindrolling for well over ten years until the Communist invasion in 1959. Following the invasion, Rinpoche, at the age of 22, escaped into exile in India as one of the seven-member entourage of His Holiness Mindrolling Trichen.

2. Traditionally there are three type of lineages in Tibetan Buddhism:
(1) reincarnation, or tulku lineage, like the lineage of the Dalai Lamas and Karmapas;
(2) disciple lineage like that of Tilopa, Naropa, Marpa, Milarepa, Gampopa, etc., and
(3) family or blood lineages, like the ones of Sakya Trizins and Mindrolling. The Mindrolling lineage continues to this day via the descendants of Terdag Lingpa to the 11th Mindrolling Trichen.

3. Terma ("hidden treasure") are various forms of hidden teachings that are key to Vajrayana and Tibetan Buddhist and Bon spiritual traditions. In the Vajrayana Nyingma school tradition, two lineages occur: an oral Kama (or canonical teachings) lineage and a revealed Terma lineage.
The Terma teachings were originally esoterically hidden by Vajrayana masters Padmasambhava and his consort, Yeshe Tsogyal, during the 8th century, for future discovery at auspicious times by treasure revealers, who are known as tertöns. As such, terma represent a tradition of continuous revelation in Vajrayana and Tibetan Buddhism. Termas are a part of tantric literature.

4. The 9th Minling Khenchen Rinpoche is the successive reincarnation of the Minling Kenrab lineage. He was born into the family of Mindrolling in 1970 (birth name Jigmey Namgy). Rinpoche’s mother, Jetsun Dechen Wangmo, was the aunt of the 11th Mindrolling Trichen Rinpoche. He was recognized as the reincarnation of the 8th Minling Khenchen Rinpoche, Ngawang Khentse Norbu, by the 14th Dalai Lama and Lhatog Rinpoche.

5. Jetsün Khandro Rinpoche (birth name Tsering Paldrön) is a lama in Tibetan Buddhism. She was born on August 19, 1967 in Kalimpong, India as the daughter of the late Mindrolling Trichen, Khandro Rinpoche, and recognized by Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, the 16th Karmapa, at the age of two as the reincarnation of the Great Dakini of Tsurphu Monastery, Urgyen Tsomo, who was one of the most well-known female masters of her time. Khandro Urgyen Tsomo was the consort to Khakyab Dorje, 15th Karmapa Lama (1871–1922) and recognized in this Buddhist tradition as an incarnation of Yeshe Tsogyal. Her name is in fact her title, Khandro being Tibetan for dakini and rinpoche an honorific usually reserved for tulkus that means "precious one."

6. The sixteen arhats are Piṇḍolabhāradvāja, Kanakavatsa, Kanakaparidhvaja, Subinda, Nakula, Bhadra, Kālika, Vajraputra, Śvapāka, Panthaka, Rāhula, Nāgasena, Iṇgada, Vanavāsi, Ajita, and Cūlapanthaka.

7. Nagarjuna, Aryadeva, Asanga, Vasubandhu, Buddhapalita, Dignaga, Bhavaviveka, Arya Vimuktisena, Chandrakirti, Dharmakirti, Shantideva, Shantarakshita, Kamalashila, Haribhadra, Gunaprabha, Shakyaprabha, and Atisha.