Kopan Monastery’s New Gompa: Loved, Lived in and Full of Dharma

KOPAN THE MOTHER

By Ven. Fran Mohoupt

Kopan started building the new gompa by pulling down the old one after Tibetan New Year 1994. All the monks and nuns helped; it was like a great party. The construction started in April that year with digging for the foundation, blasting rocks after cooking them in fire for several days in order to go deep enough. Probably half the money for the building went into the foundation.

By November that year, the actual gompa was there in the raw. By November the following year we could already use the rooms for the November course visitors, while construction went on. In August 1996 Lama Lhundrup, Gelek Gyatso Rinpoche and Tenpa Chöden were the first ones to move in.

The gompa itself seats 700 Tibetan-style. Its main altar is the 25-foot Lama Tsong Khapa statue. On its right is an altar with Lama Yeshe’s stupa and statue, and a 1,000-armed Chenrezig statue offered by Lama Zopa Rinpoche during the inauguration. On the left of the statue is a 10-foot statue of Shakyamuni Buddha, surrounded by the texts of the Buddhist canon, the Kangyur and Tengyur. What makes a real monastery, apparently are the presence of these texts and, on the roof, the “Iron Mind” (a drum-shape object painted black with yellow bands around it) and a Dharma wheel flanked by two deer.

The first floor of the building contains 10 rooms for teachers and lamas, as well as a special puja room. In the center of this area is a large open space, which will be used as a dining room in the future. It looks down into the meditation hall, directly on to the statue, with the face of Lama Tsong Khapa at eye level. Also on the same floor is a large kitchen that serves food for the lamas. Some of the lamas are quite old, and for them it is great to be able to have their food in their room. Some of the rooms have their own bathrooms.

On the second floor there is the future apartment for Lama Zopa Rinpoche consisting of a large room that will be used as a reception room, a smaller reception room, and Rinpoche’s private room. There are also two rooms and an office for Rinpoche’s entourage. On the same level is Lama Osel Rinpoche’s apartment. All these rooms open out onto a large terrace, which will, I am sure, soon be covered in stupas, light offering houses and water bowl offering houses. A large garden is planned.

On the next floor is the apartment for His Holiness the Dalai Lama, which will be use for high lamas such as Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche. And right on the top is another little room.

The courtyard of the gompa is covered in slate, and flower boxes are everywhere. The famous old bodhi tree is now landscaped and is looking beautiful, a real resting place. At the side of the gompa is the monks’ assembly hall, used for debate and prayers in the evening.

The inauguration involved a lot of planning. There were many people coming from around the world who would stay for the three days of inauguration and four of the Mönlam festival. The monastery wanted to offer everything to all the invited guests. And more than 200 invitations were sent to local Tibetans and Nepalis.

For the foreign guests, there were pilgrimages organized, visits to statue makers’ workshops, and other outings. The invited guests had their own dining room, which was beautifully set up in the foyer of the guest rooms.

Many monks took on the different tasks: one looked after the catering for all the guests, not only during the inauguration day but during the whole week. Someone looked after the transport, someone was delegated to organize the entertainment. It was a great experience for the monastery, because it was a real team effort, and all the monks did their best to make it successful.

All the Kopan monks studying at Sera Monastery were here as well, twenty of them, and they helped with the pujas, with the chanting and many other tasks. They also supplied the home team for the debate during Mönlam. Particularly impressive were Losang Jamyang and Losang Sherab, who also offered the debate on the inauguration day. (Losang Sherab has his geshe degree already and is back at Kopan teaching now, and Thubten Chönyi will be the first Kopan monk to take his lharampa geshe degree, later this year.) Many monks from overseas came home, including Thubten Damchö from Singapore, Losang Namgyal from New Zealand and Thubten Yeshe from Taiwan.

The most impressive part of Mönlam was during the main day, when traditionally the Tibetan lay community comes to make money offering to the Sangha and also make offering at the gompa, and just generally check it out. Literally hundreds of Tibetans came up to Kopan, in taxis, buses, motorbikes, walking. It was the most amazing sight. Everyone was so happy. The people had picnics everywhere. The monks were so proud of their monastery. Many monks said that this was the first time their parents had come to Kopan, and that now they felt Kopan was really accepted as a Tibetan monastery, not just a Western one.

Thubten Lekshe, the famous electrician and disciple of Gelek Gyatso, was in the gompa all day; something totally unheard of for a long time. Sangye, Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s brother, brought all his relatives; it seemed a never ending flow of people. Sangye said that this was without any doubt the most beautiful gompa in the whole of Nepal.

The gompa is indeed beautiful. When you drive around the corner from the gate, it is sitting high up, majestic, shining and glowing in the sunshine. On inauguration day all the finery was out; over the main entrance hung the brocade kaffen with little bells dangling from each, making music straight from dakinis land.

Since the opening, there is a constant stream of visitors coming to Kopan just to see the gompa.

When you go inside the gompa there is this absolutely magnificent statue smiling benevolently at you. It is as if Lama Tsong Khapa is really sitting there, not a statue, but the man himself. As Ani Karin says, “this is definitely the 16 -year-old aspect, so beautiful.” The statue emits warmth, kindness, happiness. It makes people happy just looking at it.

The acoustics are wonderful: soft, yet full. Sounds are coming from there now, as I write. The decoration in the gompa is very elaborate. It is strictly according to tradition, and Geshe Lama Konchog supervised most of it. Sixteen artists worked for 10 months. Thubten Gelek, an ex-Kopan monk, was the main artist. Lama Zopa Rinpoche speaks very highly of him and personally congratulated him. Usually he lives in Dharamsala, doing thangka painting, but when Lama Lhundup called him, he came without hesitation. Working with him was a team of four Tibetan and twelve Nepali painters, all very skilled, and supremely patient as there were meters and meters of ceiling and walls to be decorated.

The altars are quite simple, but very nice, with a lot of carving around the top and painted in gold. They just about glow in the dark. One of the amazing features is all the cement carving on the pillars. This way of carving into cement has developed into a real art form here in Nepal.

Although the gompa seats around 700 people, there are only four large pillars supporting the whole structure, so the hall itself has a very spacious feeling. The ceiling is quite high; where the statue is, it is 28 feet. The modern touches are the aluminum windows, instead of the usual wood ones that never close properly. Lama Konchog says, “Outside Tibetan gompa, inside Injie gompa,” meaning that from the outside the gompa itself is made according to Tibetan tradition, but there are many modern comforts hidden inside. This was a compromise between the traditionalists and the modernists. I think Geshe-la would have liked one pillar per two square meters, like in the gompas in Tibet, and it took a lot of discussion and convincing to drop that concept.

The gompa has an amazing feeling to it, totally welcoming. It is lived in, loved, and full of Dharma.

Presiding over al this is Lama Lhundrup, the quiet force behind everything. He has dedicated his life to fulfilling the wishes of Lama Yeshe, and one of these wishes was to make Kopan big and beautiful and a haven for as many monks and nuns as possible. His strength is his ability to deal with visitors, to look after the many people who come to Kopan. He is always available, he is wonderful with people.

Lama Lhundrup became Lama Yeshe’s student in the refugee camps in north India after escaping from Tibet in 1959. In 1972, when Lama Lhundrup was in south India helping establish Sera, Lama Yeshe wrote asking him to come to Kopan. The abbot at Sera told him he could go “just for three months.” He never returned (except to receive his geshe degree in 1991). It is Lama Lhundrup’s unflagging energy and single-mindedness that have kept Kopan going.

Gelek Gyatso Rinpoche is of course the protector of the place, the one whose visualizations come into reality seemingly effortlessly. His ability to be open to new ideas, to absorb it all and come up with new ways of doing things here, in Nepal, at Kopan, is astonishing. He is the force behind making it not only beautiful but also functional, modern, practical. The gompa is an expression of his guru devotion. He spent countless hours discussing with Geshe Lama Konchog, who represents the traditional, trying to merge the old and the new to a new level of cooperation. In the end, Lama Konchog’s wish for a traditional Tibetan gompa was fulfilled as well as the need for something comfortable, with running water and electricity that actually functions.

Gelek Gyatso was 10 years old when he came with the first group of monks from Solo Khumbu. Over the years he has put his mind to learning every conceivable practical job: car mechanics, electricity, plumbing, building, architecture, road construction. At a meeting to discuss one of Kopan’s new projects, someone suggested that they get an architect. “We don’t need an architect,” said Lama Lhundrup. “We have Gelek Gyatso.”

He is the reincarnation of a Nyingma yogi from Thami, the area in Solo Khumbu that Lama Zopa Rinpoche is also from. Lama Lhundrup says, in fact, that he is a very high lama, and Lama Zopa Rinpoche says he has abandoned the eight worldly dharmas. Nobody could have done what he did, in the way he did it. Someone who works in Bodhgaya, India, said recently that he always has to scream at his workers to get them to do the job, but Gelek Gyatso simply stands there, watching quietly, and you never hear him even raise his voice. Gelek Gyatso has such a presence. And all the monks absolutely love and respect him.

During the main building time he was at the job seven days a week, all day, and in the evening he studied the plans, checking what to do next. And in between he managed to watch more TV than I could in a year!

And then there is Geshe Lama Konchog. He and Lama Yeshe were best of friends at Sera in Tibet. After escaping from Tibet he spent many years in retreat in the mountains, sometimes in the caves of Milarepa. He simply turned up at Kopan one day, soon after Lama Yeshe passed away in 1984, and has never left. “When Lama Yeshe passed away,” said Lama Zopa Rinpoche, “the smiles at Kopan went away. When Geshe Lama Konchog came, the smiles came back.”

Lama Zopa told people in Singapore that he “is a great tantric yogi who has realization of bodhicitta and the unmistaken realization of emptiness. It would take most of us many lifetimes to attain his level.”

He is incredible. He knows so much, about traditions, rituals, art, music, dance – he has trained the Kopan Cham dancers.

Kopan’s manager Tenpa Chöden came here when he was 17, in 1973. He always tells the story of how Lama Yeshe put him straight away into the gompa, making him gompa keeper, although he really wanted to study. “I have been working ever since,” he says. Actually he has quite a reputation for being one of the best debaters that Kopan ever had. Now he is the best manager that Kopan ever had.

He remembers the price of cloth for robes, for the rice, for cement, or how many mantras you need to order for the 25-foot statue. He is quite amazing. During the building Gelek Gyatso was the supervisor and Tenpa Chöden the buyer. So all the beautiful tiles, all the painting work, all the statues, all the potted plants are the result of Tenpa Chöden’s planning. And at the same time the normal business of a large monastery with 260 monks and 150 nuns had to be taken care of. And that is no mean feat. And on top of that the new road was built, a generator installed, the phone lines updated, a new classroom built, and so on and so on.

All this is seen by everyone here as an offering to Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Lama Yeshe.

The Value of a Monastery such as Kopan

Mandala talked to senior monk Ven. Thubten Samphel about the benefits of living at Kopan.

Mandala: From a career-oriented Western point of view, what sort of future do the monks at Kopan have?

Ven. Thubten Samphel: I think there is no such thing as a career for a monk. The most important thing for a monk is to observe the vows. Kopan exists to help the monks protect their vows by providing an environment that is conducive to subduing the mind. Even just being here, not even necessarily doing extensive study, is beneficial for their lives and minds.

In a monastery, the presence of the older monks, showing dedication towards the monastery and keeping their vows, acts as an example or role model, a source of inspiration for the younger ones. If they see that the older monks show some kind of subdued mind, some kind of happiness in their Dharma practice, then they are inspired to follow on the same path. They can see the result of their effort and study. If they can’t see a result, a model for their own future, then there is no motivation to stay here. Then they don’t feel that their future lies here, that this is their home. Consequently, they don’t care about the monastery, about the other monks, about other people and how to serve them.

Kopan is a very young monastery; it’s been established for some 25 years. It is a school with many young monks, and not many older monks are here to act as an example.

What sort of advice would you give the young monks?

I think at the very beginning they have to study, this is most important. And later on, as a result of their study, they get to understand how valuable this human body is by understanding the lam-rim, mind transformation and so on, hearing these teachings from the gurus and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Then it is possible to change the mind that looks for excitement.

Of course, the young monks usually want to go to the West, this seems very exciting to them. But after they have gone there and felt the suffering, they might find that there is really nothing meaningful there. This, in fact, can be a good experience for them.

The Great Prayer Festival

In a tradition begun by Lama Tsong Khapa, the Gelug monasteries in Nepal held their first Great Prayer Festival, Mönlam Chenmo, during the first weeks of Tibetan New Year in 1993. This year [1997], Kopan Monastery hosted the festival. In an unprecedented step, the abbots of the participating monasteries and the representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama requested Lama Zopa Rinpoche to act as the Ganden Tripa in Nepal – the representative of Lama Tsong Khapa and the lineage lamas – at the Mönlam festival.

“Rinpoche declined several times,” said Ven. Roger Kunsang, his attendant. “Finally, when a number of lamas came to Kopan to request Rinpoche, he accepted. His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s representative in Nepal also visited Rinpoche, officially requesting him to take the role of the Ganden Tripa in Nepal for this Mönlam.”

Festivities, which lasted four days, started on February 20, two days after the inauguration of the new Kopan gompa. Five hundred monks and nuns participated. In keeping with tradition Rinpoche gave teachings each morning on the life of the Buddha, reading from The Jataka Tales. “To me,” said Ven. Roger, “Rinpoche appeared just like Pabongka Rinpoche.”

The rest of the days were spent chanting prayers; and there were debates. Lama Chöpa was celebrated on the third day. On the fourth day, in keeping with tradition, the entire assembly took a statue of Maitreya in procession around the monastery. It was then decided to continue the procession down to Boudhanath stupa, a 40-minute walk away.

“It was magnificent,” said Ven. Roger Kunsang. “The statue of Maitreya was taken in a jeep, a huge yellow umbrella held aloft above it, and all 500 monks and nuns chanted Migtsema throughout the procession to the stupa. Rinpoche wore his pandit’s hat, and there were even dob-dobs, monks dressed up as the police-monks, holding huge bamboo staffs, looking heavy.

“Then everyone circumambulated the stupa. At each cardinal point, Rinpoche would stop and perform special blessings. It was magnificent.

“Rinpoche was very happy with the way Kopan organized the Mönlam,” said Ven. Roger.

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