Rumtek Monastery, Sikkim

Karma Kagyu Lineage, 20th century, about 150 monks.

Rumtek Monastery (Gompa), also called the Dharma Chakra Centre, is the seat-in-exile of the Gyalwang Karmapa, inaugurated in 1966 by the 16th Karmapa.¹

Rumtek Monastery. Photo: Vikramjit Kakati,Wikipedia.

The monastery was designed and built according to the traditional Tibetan architecture and is a replica of the Tsurphu Monastery, Tibet, built during the 11th century, the original seat of the previous Karmapas. Rumtek Monastery has over 300 branches all over the world.

The largest in Sikkim, the monastery is home to a community of 150 monks, the place where they perform the sacred rituals and practices of the Karma Kagyu lineage.

Many sacred objects are housed within the complex, and one of the most magnificent is the Golden Stupa, which contains the precious relics of His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa.

Opposite that building is the shedra, or college, Karma Shri Nalanda Institute for Higher Buddhist Studies.

Location

Surrounded by lush green mountains, Rumtek Gompa is located in the Indian state of Sikkim 23 km from the capital Gangtok.

History

The Ninth Karmapa, Wangchuk Dorje (1555 - 1603), was asked by the Sikkimese king to build monasteries in Sikkim, long considered an exceptionally holy place by Tibetan Buddhists. Three monasteries, Ralang, Phodang, and Rumtek, were founded under the auspices of the Ninth Karmapa.

Built under the direction of Changchub Dorje, 12th Karmapa Lama in the mid-18th century, Rumtek served as the main seat of the Karma Kagyu lineage in Sikkim for some time.

When Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, 16th Karmapa, arrived in Sikkim in 1959 after fleeing Tibet, the monastery was in ruins.

Despite being offered other sites, the Karmapa decided to rebuild Rumtek.

To him, the site possessed many auspicious qualities and being surrounded by the most favorable attributes: flowing streams, mountains behind, a snow range in front, and a river below.

With the generosity and help of the Sikkim royal family and the local folks of Sikkim, it was rebuilt by the 16th Karmapa as his main seat in exile.

After four years, construction of the monastery was completed. The sacred items and relics brought out from Tsurphu Monastery, the Karmapa's seat in Tibet, were installed.

On Losar in 1966, the 16th Karmapa officially inaugurated the new seat, called "The Dharmachakra Centre, a place of erudition and spiritual accomplishment, the seat of the glorious Karmapa."

The monastery is currently the largest in Sikkim, home to the community of monks where they perform the rituals and practices of the Karma Kagyu lineage. A golden stupa contains the relics of the 16th Karmapa. Opposite that building is a college, Karma Shri Nalanda Institute for Higher Buddhist Studies.

Features

Dharma Chakra Center includes a main temple where the most of the important relics are enshrined, quarters for the monks, a three-year retreat center, a monastic college (shedra), a nunnery, stupas, a protector's shrine and institutions for the lay community.

A large stone courtyard is where ritual lama dances take place on significant dates of the Buddhist tradition.

The Main Temple was built according to the traditional designs of the Tibetan monasteries. The roof ornaments (ghanzira) symbolize the five Buddha families: Amithaba, Vairochana, Amoghasiddhi, Akshobya, and Ratnasambhava.

At the main temple entrance are life-size images of the Four Guardians of the universe, Virudaka, Virupaksha, Dritarashtra, and Vaishravana, guarding the four directions.

The Main Shrine Hall inside stands on red pillars adorned with silk banners and ancient thankas. Paintings of the Kagyu lineage, the Eight Great Bodhisattvas, the Sixteen Arhats and the Genduk Chogngi² decorate the walls.

Two rooms are dedicated to the Mahakala and Mahakali, where a prayer ceremony (puja) is held every morning and evening. The hall on the left side serve as the gonkhang³ of the female protector of the Kagyu sect, Tsering Che Nga and fierce manifestation of Guru Padmasambava, Dorje Drolo.

Golden Stupa is located across the institute, in a small hall, and contains the ashes of the sixteenth Karmapa (1924 - 1981). Behind the stupa, the statue of Dorje Chang (Vajradhara) stands in the center surrounded by four great Kagyu teachers: Tilopa, Naropa, Marpa and Milerapa.

Nalanda Institute for higher Buddhist Studies was founded by the Sixteenth Karmapa to preserve and propagate the Buddhist teachings and in particular those of the Kagyu tradition.

The institute was inaugurated on November 18, 1981 and since 1987 has been formally affiliated with Sampurnanand Sanskrit University of Varanasi, India, becoming an officially accredited institution.

The university provides examinations and jointly awards the acharya degree with the Nalanda Institute.

Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche are the abbots and principal teachers at the institute. The Third Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche Memorial Library preserves an extensive collection of texts from all four schools of Tibetan Buddhism.

Nalanda Institute students are awarded the shastri degree, equivalent to a bachelor's degree, after completing seven years of university courses. After two more years, the acharya degree, the master's degree in Buddhist studies, is conferred by Sampuranand Sanskrit University.

Karma Shri Nalanda Institute also confers the ka-rabjampa degree ("one with unobstructed knowledge of scriptures"). Students then teach for three years at the institute and specialize in one school of philosophy from among the five major philosophies of the Kagyu lineage before they can take the test for the khenpo designation.

Once they graduate as a khenpo, most return to serve at their original monasteries, others choose to do the three years and three months retreat, a traditional program of intensive meditation.

Monastic Life

Monks' daily routine starts at 5:00 a.m. with scripture memorization. After breakfast and after lunch, younger students study Tibetan and English. Older monks learn torma⁴ making and ritual instrument playing.

In the afternoon they continue with scripture memorizing. After dinner older monks perform practices such as Mahakala, and younger monks study.

Each month the monastic routine includes week-long practices, focused on specific buddhas, deities, protectors, or lineage masters, whose dates are established according to the Tsurphu astrological system. Some practices span two weeks.

One-day practices and prayers are held on certain days. The monks also perform special pujas at the request of others.

Student Monks at Rumtek.Photo: Amar, Wikipedia.

Festivals

The Tibetan New Year day, Losar, is celebrated and festivities continue for two days with performances of lhamo⁵.

Before the celebration of Losar the monks perform a week long puja in honor of Mahakala. Ritual dances take place on the last two days preceding the eve of Losar. Recently, for the first time in the history of the monastery, the performances of dances were opened for public viewing.

The Dungdrub Puja, organised during the fourth Tibetan lunar month sees the recitation of one hundred million mantras by the monk community. The recitation begins on the fifteenth day and continues till the final conclusion. The puja is conducted for world peace and to assist people develop tranquility and compassion by embracing Buddha's teachings.

Vajrakilaya Drupchen or Guru Padmasambhava tsechu puja⁶ is celebrated for ten days every alternate year on the fourth Tibetan month (May -June) to pay homage to the Guru Padmasambhava. The traditional lama dance is performed on the last day.

Chakrasamvara practice and sand mandala are performed on the fifth lunar month.

Travel

Rumtek Monastery is open from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., all days of the week.

Sikkim is well-connected to all major places via road. It takes about 40 minutes to drive from Gangtok to Rumtek Dharma Chakra Centre, Tsurphu Labrang Pal Karmae Sangha Dhuche, Dharma Chakra Centre, Sikkim 737135, India.

Sources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumtek_Monastery
• http://www.rumtek.org/
• https://myoksha.com/rumtek-buddhist-monastery-sikkim/

Footnotes

1. Rumtek Monastery is a focal point for the sectarian tensions within the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism that characterize the 17th Karmapa controversy.

The divisiveness started in the early and mid 1990s, with semi-public accusations of impropriety from those closely involved, and continued for several years thereafter. The recognition of the 17th Karmapa created a split within the Karma Kagyu lineage. Tai Situ Rinpoche recognized Ogyen Trinley Dorje as the 17th Karmapa, and Shamar Rinpoche disagreed and chose Trinley Thaye Dorje as the rightful claimant to the title of the 17th Karmapa. As the years passed, separate sets of organizations and highly recognized lamas, or teachers, supported one Karmapa or the other.

In 2018, Ogyen Trinley Dorje and Trinley Thaye Dorje met for the first time to begin creating a personal relationship with one another and to encourage their spiritual communities to heal the divisions and join in efforts to help preserve the Karma Kagyu tradition.

In 2020, Ogyen Trinley Dorje and Trinley Thaye Dorje jointly announced they would work together to find the next incarnation of the Shamar Rinpoche, historically considered second in importance to the Karma Kagyu lineage after the Gyalwang Karmapa, similar to the Panchen Lama's role as second in importance in the Gelugpa school after the Dalai Lama.

On 29 March 2017, Trinley Thaye Dorje announced his plans to disrobe and marry his friend, 36-year-old Rinchen Yangzom, born in Bhutan. The announcement also mentioned he would no longer be performing ordination ceremonies, which are limited to certain vow holders.

In March 2018 Ogyen Trinley Dorje published a video on his official Youtube channel setting the course for a temporary break from his activities. He proclaims his personal doubt of being as skilled as the previous Karmapas and asks the community to reconcile the division of the Karma Kagyu Lineage.

2. Six Jewels of India: Also sometimes called the six scholarly ornaments: Aryadeva, Dharmakirti, Dignaga, Gunaprabha, Sakyaprabha, and Vasubandhu. Sometimes the two leading scholars, Nagarjuna and Asanga are listed instead of Gunaprabha and Sakyaprabha. The Tibetans include all of them as the eight greatest scholars of Buddhist India plus Shakyamuni Buddha, as the Genduk Chogngi.

3. Gonkhang in Tibetan Buddhism is a room in the monastery dedicated to worship the patron gods.

4. Torma (Skt: Balingta) are figures made mostly of flour and butter used in tantric rituals or as offerings in Tibetan Buddhism. They may be dyed in different colors, often with white or red for the main body of the torma. They are made in specific shapes based on their purpose, usually conical in form. A very large, central shrine torma may be constructed for festivals, though typically they are small and placed directly on a shrine, on a plate, mounted on leather or held on a special base like a skull.

5. Lhamo, or Ache Lhamo, is a classical secular theatre of Tibet with music and dance that has been performed for centuries, whose nearest western equivalent is opera. Performances have a narrative and simple dialogue interspersed with comedy and satire; characters wear colorful masks. The core stories of these theatrical plays are drawn mostly from ancient Indian Buddhist folk tales, lives of important people and historical events from Tibetan civilization.

However the ceremonial, dance and ritual spectacles strongly reflects the Tibetan Royal Dynastic period. Very similar traditions are found in Bhutan and other regions influenced by Tibetan Buddhism and Tibetan culture. There are at least three unique schools of Lhamo: Kyimulunga, Gyangara, and Chungba.

6. Tsechu Lama dance arose 800 years ago from the pure visions of Chokyi Wangchug (1212-1270), popularly known as Guru Chöwang (“lord of doctrine”), who is said to have revealed eighteen troves of earth treasure (that is, texts and objects physically concealed in the earth) and one trove of mind treasure (a scripture concealed in his own mind stream in a prior incarnation at the time of Guru Rinpoche.) Among the most influential are the Lama Sangdu, a sadhana and practice on Padmasambhava that includes the widely used prayer known as the Seven Line Supplication, the Sangdu Lamai Tugdrub, and the Kabgye Sangwa Yongdzog, one of the three treasure cycles on the Kabgye, or Eight Commands, central to the Mahāyoga section of Nyingma tantra. The Lama Sangdu cycle is also the core of the sacred dance ceremony performed on the anniversary of Padmasambhava, the tenth day of the fifth or sixth month of the lunar calendar, known as the Eight Aspects of Guru Rinpoche.

The essence or nature of the dance is recognizing that the nature of all phenomena is the union of appearance and emptiness. One’s body, speech, and mind no longer remain ordinary, and one visualizes oneself as the form of the deity. The dance becomes a way to express this to other people.

There are long and short versions. The long is called the black hat dance, and the short the white horse dance. According to historical sources, this practice first came into the Kamtsang lineage at the time of the Eighth Situ Panchen Chökyi Jungne, who instituted it at Palpung monastery. Later during the time of the Fourteenth Karmapa Tekchok Dorje, it was introduced at Tsurphu Monastery, one of the seats of the Karmapa lineage. Situ Chökyi Jungne had learned the dance at Bentsang Monastery in Netong, so the present tradition is a continuation of the Netong tradition.

In 1959, the Sixteenth Karmapa Rangjung Rigpe Dorje escaped to India, where he instituted the tradition of the Tsechu lama dance at Rumtek monastery, his seat in exile. Since then it has been preserved there in its entirety as a living tradition.

When a powerful yogi performs the lama dance, he can directly affect the body, speech, and mind of the viewers. All sentient beings have buddha nature, but it is hidden by obscurations. The lama dance is a way to purify these obscurations. Through the samadhi of the three vajras, the expressions of the body, speech, and mind of the deity purify the dancer’s mental continuum. If the spectators, imagining and meditating on themselves as the deity, are also able to view it not as ordinary experience but as an expression of the deity, they will receive the blessings of the wisdom deities—it is no different than if the deities themselves actually came. Seeing the dance implants the seed of liberation within the viewer’s being.

According to the Hevajra tantra, the dance eliminates the outer and inner obstacles of the dancers themselves as well as those of the spectators. The dancer gains influence over the world because all that appears and exists is sealed with the stamp of the deity. It is also said that one will easily accomplish the recitation of the deity’s mantra.