Rebuilding and Construction of Dechen Choekhor Monastery

Dechen Choekhor being the foremost seat of the Drukpa Kargyu Lineage in Tibet, was the cultural focal point for more than 300 monasteries that branched out from it in the 16th century, including Khamtrul Rinpoche's monastery - Khampagar  in Eastern Tibet; Hemis Monastery, Chemey Monastery and Korzog Monastery in Ladakh, and Dorzong Monastery of Tibet. Tsechu Monastery of Trulshik Adeu Rinpoche in Nangchen, Qinghai is a direct branch monastery of Khampagar.

It has been closed to 11 years since Rinpoche first started this enormous undertaking (in fact, it would be more appropriately describe as the responsibility of Choegon Rinpoche) of rebuilding Dechen Choekhor Monastery way back in year 2000. Initially, we plan to hold the inauguration of the main temple in year 2009, and then it was rescheduled to year 2010 due to insufficient funding . . . and in view of the current construction progress; we have no other option but to further delay the inauguration to year 2013 . . .

As of 1st June 2011, the exterior structures of the main temple are considered done, except the top floor. However, for the inner structures, apart from the three giant Buddha's statues of the main shrine hall are close to completion, other sections of the monastery are way behind plan. There are quite a numbers of essential Buddha & Bodhisattva statues that must be made as they are Dechen Choekhor main practices. The smaller temples in second and third floor such as 'The Three Root Temples', 'The Dharmapalas Temple', 'The Lineage Temple' etc are still under development and construction.

We still need approximately USD300,000 to complete the interiors structures and furnishing of the main temple as below:

We are in urgent need of funds to complete the constructions of the main temple. We understand that there are many worthy organizations are in quest of your kind assistance, but in the Buddhist perspective, supporting the Buddhadharma with pure motivation and intentions, accumulated immeasurable merits!

In the Buddha, Dharma, Sangha Sutra, Buddha mentioned that it's very meaningful to turn mundane wealth into non-mundane, non-ordinary wealth, by supporting the genuine Sangha community and the sublime Dharma. This is very clearly mentioned in Mahayana teachings.

With your kind contribution the great dharma activities will be able to continue and flourish; many shall be benefited now and future with your helps. If you wish to lend your helping hand, kindly visit the "Lending Your Help" section in this website for details.

Other Projects in Plan:

Rinpoche's wishes and missions are, with the support and generosity of people throughout, to materialize the following projects (listed according to their priority to the monastery) in years to come.

1. Thupten Dö Ngag Choeling - The Centre of Buddhadharma for Monk's Learning, Retreat and Accommodation
2. Mahakala Temple
3. Chakrasamvara Temple
4. Eight Stupas
5. Catering (Self-Sustaining) Fund
6. Health Clinic
7. Lhatsewa Retreat Centre
8. Jampal Pawo Institute for Buddhist Studies
9. Nunnery 

1. Thupten Dö Ngag Choeling

Thupten Dö Ngag Choeling - The Centre of Buddhadharma for Monk's Learning, Retreat & Accommodation:

• is the joined version of several Rinpoche's projects as below.
• this '3 in 1' idea was adopted in view of the shortage of fund and the urgency to complete these infra-structures to provide Dechen Choekhor's monks a more complete  monastic training in the Buddhadharma.
• the combined projects will require significantly lesser fund compared to the execution of each project individually... Click here for details. 

2. Mahakala Temple

Location: to be built on the left side of the main temple

The Drukpa Choegon Lineage is renowned as the incomparable accomplished master for the practice of Mahakala, Chakrasamvara and Vajrapani. He is an emanation of Vajrapani, and Rinpoche previous lifetimes can be traced back to ancient India where he was the Lord Shakyamuni Buddha´s disciple and personal attendant, Ananda. 

In all his previous lives, they are inseparable from the practice of Mahakala, which include Palchen Galo (widely known as Ga Lotsawa, the great Tibetan mahasiddha and translator who visited India and brought back many precious teachings to Tibet) and Phuljung Samgyal Khache (the great accomplished master of Mahakala practice). The Choegon Lineage is renowned as the most powerful Mahakala practitioner of Drukpa Kagyu.

Thus, Mahakala Temple and Retreat House are mandatory in Dechen Choekhor Tradition, to enable its monks continue to be trained in this precious practice lineage of Drukpa Choegon.

Below are the estimated cost for Mahakala Temple:

2. Chakrasamvara Temple

Location: to be built on the right side of the main temple

Buddha Shakyamuni manifests in the form of Heruka Chakrasamvara (Tib. korlo dompa) for the benefit of all beings and therefore he is considered the source of this high tantra. For Kagyupa, Tilopa the Mahasiddha --  the greatly accomplished 10th-century South Indian adept -- is an embodiment of this deity.

"Given that Tilopa was truly Chakrasamvara, then it would follow that Gonpo Chak Zhipa (the four-armed Mahakala), would be Tilopa, the embodiment of Chakrasamvara in Mahakala-form"   

The Drukpa Choegon Lineage is renowned as the incomparable accomplished master for the practice of Mahakala, Charasamvara and Vajrapani. He is an emanation of Vajrapani, and the nearer sources of emanation of Drukpa Choegons, include the Mahasiddha Tilopa, Palchen Galo (widely known as Ga Lotsawa, the great Tibetan mahasiddha and translator who visited India and brought back many precious teachings to Tibet) and Phuljung Samgyal Khache (the great accomplished master of Mahakala practice). 

The Drukpa Choegons are inseparable from the practice of Chakrasamvara and Mahakala. Thus, the Mahakala and Chakrasamvara Temple and their Retreat Houses are mandatory in Dechen Choekhor Tradition, to enable its monks continue to be trained in this precious practice lineage of Drukpa Choegon.

Below are the estimated cost for Chakrasamvara Temple:

4. Eight Stupas of Dechen Choekhor

The Tibetan word is Chorten, which means "the basis of offering". Stupa or Spiritual Monument is a symbol of enlightened mind (the awakened mind, universal divinity), and the path to its realisation.

Stupas generally represent the enlightened mind of the Buddha. They were constructed since the early days of Buddhism. One of the symbolic meanings is that they represent the five elements: the square base represents earth, the round dome is for water, the cone-shape is fire, the canopy is air and the volume of the stupa is space. Stupas are often used to store relics from important masters. Stupas also offer the quality of harmonizing the surrounding environment. No Tibetan monastery is ever constructed without a stupa.

We intend to build eight Stupas surround the monastery compound. Based on current best estimation, the building cost for each stupa requires USD 10,000. Please click here for details.

5. Catering (Self-Sustaining) Fund

The goal of the catering fund is to create a self sustaining income to feed the large number of monks in the monastery. This will help reduce the dependency on public donation in long run.

In many monasteries a senior monk is given the sole responsibility of managing this fund. The monk will then using his entrepreneurial skills invests this money (common practices in India is running guest houses, opening restaurants and making and selling items like incense, protection chakra etc.) and creates a steady return with which he can run the catering for the monastery. This practice has been very effective at other monasteries and we hope to emulate it. We estimate that this fund should be about USD 50,000 to be self sustaining.

6. Health Clinic

Basic modern medical care seems beyond the reach of the vast number of the local people in this region. As one of our self-support project, we intend to set up a fundamental health clinic that serves the monastery community as well as the nearby villagers.

We plan to set up some basic healthcare equipment and the necessary medical supplies in a dedicated area in the monastery compound. This will cost approximately USD 40,000.

7. Lhatsewa Retreat Center

A monastery without retreat center is not complete, especially in Drukpa Kagyu tradition. The Drukpa Choegon Lineage puts a huge emphasis on meditation practices. We intend to re-create the renowned Lhatsewa Retreat Center from Tibet here in Kullu. With this retreat center, the monastery will be able to provide retreat and extensive meditation courses, which also include the traditional three years retreat, the life long retreat programs and yogic training. Foreign and international students will also be able to utilize our Vajrayana retreat facilities for their practices.

The estimated cost for each retreat house is USD 10,000 with attach bathroom and wooden floor. Kullu's winter is chilling cold, thus cement floor is not suitable for long retreatants. We also need to install wooden wall in some part of the retreat houses to provide the best possible environment for the retreatants. It is not for luxury but to care for their health in long run.

We plan to build 50 - 100 retreat houses scatter across the hill behind the main temple. However, the fulfillment of this intention is very much depend on the available funding.

8. Jampal Pawo Institute for Buddhist Studies

The second language for the Himalayan children is Tibetan. All the holy scriptures are in Tibetan. Therefore there is a great need to preserve and promote Tibetan language studies. Currently, we do not have the capacity to provide proper classroom to impart such scholarly education. We are making do by temporarily using a part of the temple, hostel and dining hall as classrooms on a rotation basis for different levels of studies.

Therefore in future, we intend to create this separate building for Buddhist studies to cater for the education needs of two to three hundred monks. The school will cover the basic language study such as English, Sanskrit, Tibetan, Hindi and other relevant subjects, so that our monks will be conversant in the languages of the modern world and the old. Other core courses will include subjects like Buddhist history, literatures and philosophies. After mastering the basics the students will then be exposed to more fundamental and advanced studies in Buddhist philosophy including Logic, Abhidharma, Madhyamika, Vinaya etc.

The center also aims to conduct more research on Buddhist studies and organize various seminars on such topics. It is also our sincere hope that the students who come out of this school will act as responsible stewards of this planet with strong sense of environmental awareness and global citizenship.

The estimated cost of this project is USD 200,000, and the facilities planned are as follow:

9. Nunnery in Kinnaur

Many of Rinpoche's female disciples have expressed their dire wish to join the monastic life, and have repetitively entreated the previous and current Drukpa Choegon Rinpoche to set up a nunnery in this remote region of Himalaya. Rinpoche has gave a serious consideration to their request, but due to insufficient resources, this project will need to be put on hold until the right causes and conditions arise.