The yeaR 2017 AT KOPAn in Pictures

Enthronement of Tenzin Rigsel Rinpoche in March 

  The year started with the auspicious enthronement of Tenzin Rigsel, the incarnation of our previous abbot Lama Lhundrup. More than 300 people from all over the world joined the Kopan Family for three days for prayers, Tsumpa music and dancing, a snowlion,and pilgrimage. Tenzin Rigsel is now attending school at Kopan and is  a bright, confident and inquisitive member of the Kopan family. He enjoys meeting people. He will be 5 years old on the 29^th January - a birthday party is planned.

Courses and Retreats

More and more people are coming to Kopan, looking for some meaning in their life, for new ways to cope with everyday problems and the challenges of their busy days.   The courses at Kopan offer a wide variety of topics, from short introductory course to the traditional 10 day Lam Rim courses, up to the yearly Basic Program Module held every summer.  Kopan has now a dedicated retreat house with comfortable apartments in a quiet area.

The Chenrezig Gompa

Built in 1990, it received major structural damage during the earthquake of 2015  and had to be demolished. The building of the new one is going ahead nicely. The structure of the ground floor and gompa section is already finished, and a completion of the building is to be in 2019. It will be slightly larger tan the previous gma, big enough to hold the Novembercourse there. Already the main statue -a Shakyamuni Buddha - has been ordered.

Sagharmata School and Hostel - A New Project of Kopan Monastery

Helping children in remote areas to get an education

In May this year Lama Zopa visitied Thubten Shedrup Ling Monastery, the Maitreya Childrens Home and Sagharmata Secondary School in Chailsa, Lower Solukhumbu. For a  few years now, Kopan Monastery has been active in this area, taking over the administrationof  Sagharmata School and hostel from Snowlion Foundation. Lama Zopa Rinpoche is very excited about the development happening there. 120 studets are attending the school now, which goes up to class 7. The school is growing at a rapid pace and will offer schooling up to class 12 grades within the next five years,  increasing the number of students to 400.

Many of the students are coming from remote hill area and the Maitreya Children's hostel is offering accommodation for them. The Hostel will be developed at the same time to accommodate up to 200 children. This opens up opportunities for the children of this very remote and poor area to get a real chance of education, leading on to college or university. Kopan has established a scholarship fund to help children whose parents are too poor to afford schooling. You can help this children to have an education:

DONATE  HERE               Read more about the hostel and school here           Ask us for more information

Animal Liberation Sanctuary

The Animal Sanctuary is a haven for animals who are in danger of being slaughtered. More than 50 goats live on the land near Kopan, with 8 cows living in the grounds of the monastery. Their daily needs are taken care of by a local family, with a Vet coming every week to check on their health. The  layout of the place is such that in their day the goats will circumambulate the tree stupas every day. Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s vision is for saved animals to be looked after and be constantly in contact with BuddhaDharma. By keeping the animals in a sanctuary, it also challenges society’s ideas of what animals are ‘precious’ and worthy of  long-term care. The sanctuary is visited by school groups, meditation groups from Kopan Monastery, and many individuals from Nepal and internationally. It is hoped in the future to expand the visitability and education role.

All About November Course, Long Life puja and Rinpoche's birthday.

Again, many young and old people, in total 260, flocked to Kopan Monastery for the one month November course to listen to teachings and meditate.Thanks to the recently completed accommodation, all could be accommodated in nice new rooms. No More Tents – which was a bit of a disappointment for the hardy ones who loved sleeping outside in the cold. Anila Ailsa was teaching the course this year, and received much praise for her presentation. Lama Zopa Rinpoche was teaching for the last 7 days of the course, when many old students joined the teachings. The course was followed by a 7-day lam rim retreat, with 65 participants..

Lama Zopa Rinpoche arrived in time to celebrate his birthday with the Kopan monks, nuns and students. His birthday was celebrated in style this year in the courtyard of the Gompa. A huge birthday cake was presented, the young monks sang a beautiful prayers requesting Rinpoche to live long, and the local  Sherpa Community performed a few Sherpa  dances to Rinpoche’s delight.

On Lama Tsong Khapa day all the November course students participated in the light offering procession, led by lama Zopa Rinpoche.  All the building at Kopan were illuminated by thousands of multicolored lights turning the monastery into a fairy castle on the top of the hill.

On the 14^th December Long Life Puja was offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche, was as always a wonderful, inspiring and heartwarming event. The young monks were singing a special prayer for Rinpoche. A group of sherpa disciples presented a sherpa dance, to the great delight of Rinpoche and the audience.

Rounding off all the special celebrations during Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s visit, the annual Guru Rinpoche Puja was held again at the nunnery. A huge Brocade applique thangka of Guru Rinpoche  overlooked an assembly of many monks and nuns, with special guest the young incarnation of Trulshi Rinpoche.  Many local people attended this one day puja, receiving blessings from all the lamas.

More News

Skill training for the staff at Kopan Monastery and Nunnery was offered by Bertand Beauregard from Institut International de Coaching Humaniste. Twenty three monks and fifteen nuns took part in the three day training, learning about communication, teamwork and management. The general consensus was:' It was fun and we learned a lot'.

The Monks                                                            The Nuns

More building - completed and coming up.

During the earthquake, the Norbulinka building was damaged, with lots of cracks, and falling plaster manifesting. Already two floors had been taken off to ease the weight, and now its last hour has come. It was built in the late eighties, when the building materials avaialble were not very high quality.It has withstod the onslaught of several gnerations of sallmonks. Now it will be demolished in January.

Two new accommodation have been completed over the past two years. One block is for the younger monks. Each accommdation consists of two rooms, one for the teacher and the other one for two young monks. The other block is designed for older monks,small appartments with private bathroom and a kitchenette. Both block are a huge improvement on the old accommodation - the moving in was just sooo exciting!!

There is a lot happening at Kopan Monastery and Nunnery.

We have tried to bring you some of the news, but there is more.

Come for a visit and check it out directly.