OUR LINEAGE
OUR MISSION
Kopan Monastery is a center for the study and practice of Mahayana Buddhism, based on the Tibetan Gelug tradition of Lama Tsong Khapa. We follow the lineage of our founders, Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
Kopan's mission is to provide opportunities for the in-depth study and practice of the Buddha’s teachings for the local community as well as for Western visitors, through education programs, prayer sessions, group retreats and community service. We are committed to creating a harmonious environment to help all beings develop their full potential of infinite wisdom and compassion for the benefit of others, inspired by an attitude of universal responsibility.
Kopan Monastery is affiliated with the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) and follows the spiritual guidance as provided by His Holiness 14th Dalai Lama.
OUR SPIRITUAL LINEAGE
Lama Tsong Khapa (1357-1419)
Founder of the Gelug Tradition and renowned teacher and yogi.
Lama Je Tsongkhapa was born in Amdo, in northeast Tibet. Interested in the miraculous events that occurred at Tsongkhapa’s birth, the master Choje Dondrup Rinchen took charge of his education when he was seven, giving him many teachings and tantric empowerments.
OUR INSPIRATION
His Holiness 14th Dalai Lama
Spiritual Leader of Tibetan Buddhism
His Holiness the 14th the Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso, is the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people. He was born Lhamo Dhondrub on 6 July 1935, in a small village called Taktser in northeastern Tibet. Born to a peasant family, His Holiness was recognized at the age of two, in accordance with Tibetan tradition, as the reincarnation of his predecessor the 13th Dalai Lama, and thus an incarnation Avalokiteshvara, the Buddha of Compassion.
OUR FOUNDERS
Lama Thubten Yeshe
Founder of Kopan and the FPMT
Lama Yeshe was born in Tibet and educated at the great Sera Monastic University in Lhasa. With his main disciple, Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, Lama Yeshe established Kopan Monastery near Kathmandu, Nepal. In 1974, the Lamas created the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT). Lama Yeshe passed away in 1984.
Read More On Lama Yeshe here >>
Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche
Spiritual Director of Kopan and the FPMT
Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche was born in Thami, Nepal in 1946 and was recognized as the reincarnation of the Lawudo Lama. When Lama Yeshe passed away in 1984, Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche became the Spiritual Director of the FPMT and carried forward Lama Yeshe's activities and projects. Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche is Spiritual Director of Kopan Monastery.
Read a biography of Lama Zopa Rinpoche here >>
OUR ABBOT
Khenrinpoche Geshe Chonyi
Current Abbot of Kopan Monastery and Khachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery
Khenrinpoche Geshe Thubten Chonyi was appointed as the abbot of Kopan Monastery and Nunnery in Nepal on 14th July 2011.
Born in Nepal in 1962, Khen Rinpoche joined Kopan Monastery after being ordained by Lama Zopa Rinpoche in 1974. After 18 years of intensive study and debate in Sera Je Monastery in south India, Khen Rinpoche was awarded the title of Geshe Lharampa, the highest Tibetan Buddhist doctorate conferred in the Gelug monastic tradition.
After completing his education at Sera Je, Khen Rinpoche joined Gyumed Tantric College for one year where he furthered his studies on tantra. The Gyudmed monastery is one of the two key monastic colleges in the Gelug tradition that specialises in the teachings of Buddhist tantra. Khen Rinpoche again excelled in his studies there and was awarded first position in his class.
Read More On Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi here >>
OUR LAMAS
Khensur Rinpoche Geshe Lhundrup Rigsel
Previous Abbot of Kopan Monastery and Khachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery
Geshe Lhundrup Rigsel was born in Tibet in 1941 to a poor peasant family. He joined Sera Monastery while still a boy, and in 1959 fled from the Chinese invasion to India. In Buxa, the refugee camp in Northern India where many of the monks were sent by the Indian government, he met Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa, and studied with the great masters such as Geshe Rabten and others. He passed away in 2011, showing the aspect of a great yogi in his life and his death.
Read More On Khensur Lama Lhundrup here >>
Geshe Lama Konchok
A great modern day yogi
Geshe Lama Konchog, a great teacher and close friend of Lama Yeshe, came to Kopan on invitation of Lama Yeshe in 1985 and lived here till he passed away in October 2001.
Only then the extraordinary qualities of this modern-day Milarepa became known to the hundreds of monks, nuns and lay people devoted to him. He meditated in caves for 25 years but only a few people were aware of the details.
Read More on the life story of this modern day Milarepa>>