Palpung Monastery, Himachal Pradesh, India

Karma Kagyu Lineage, 12th century, about 800 monks.

Palpung Monastery is the name of the congregation of monasteries and centers of the Chamgon Kenting Tai Situpa, one of the oldest lineages of tulkus (reincarnated lamas) in the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. Palpung means " glorious union of study and practice".

Palpung Sherabling Monastic Seat. Photo: Lodoe Gyalten.

History

Tai Situpa (lit. Great Preceptor) is considered an emanation of Bodhisattva Maitreya and Guru Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche) who has been incarnated numerous times as Indian and Tibetan yogis since the time of the historical Buddha.

Palpung Monastery is the historical seat of the successive incarnations of the Tai Situpas in Kham, Tibet. It is also the mother monastery of the Karma Kagyu in Kham and evolved into the center of the Rimé movement.¹

The seat in exile, outside of Tibet, Sherabling Monastery, is in India. The congregation has monasteries and centers around the world.

Buddha Statue in the Red Vajra Crown Ceremony shrine-hall. Source www.palpung.org

Palpung Monastery originated in the 12th century and wielded considerable religious and political influence over the centuries.

The current monastery was founded in 1727 by the 8th Tai Situpa "Situ Panchen" with the great support of the Dharma King of Derge Temba Tsering. It is the seat of four lines of incarnate lamas, the best-known being the Tai Situpa as well as the Jamgon Kongtrul and the Second Beru Khyentse.

The temple has historically been associated with the Karmapas. Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, 16th Karmapa, was enthroned first at Palpung before traveling to his main seat at Tsurphu Monastery in Ü-Tsang.

Location

The 12th Tai Situpa, Pema Tönyö Nyinje, has established a new monastic seat in exile at Palpung Sherabling Monastery in the state of Himachal Pradesh near the city of Baijnath.

Palpung Yeshe Rabgyeling Nun Monastery is near the city of Manali in the town Bunthar about 120 Km from the Palpung Sherabling Monastery.

Features

The monastery has 126 rooms for monks, three shrine halls, six shrine rooms, built in traditional Tibetan architecture. The large courtyard hosts bi-annual Lama-dances, the protector dances at the Kalachakra Calendar New Year, and Guru Rinpoche dances in the early autumn.

On the 4th floor there is a shrine hall housing wooden mandalas of the 14 tantras of Marpa, the main practices at Palpung Sherabling. On the walls are paintings of the lineage Lamas of the eight great schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the Kamtsang Kagyu lineage, and the 84 Mahasiddas.

On the 3rd floor is the Red Vajra Crown Ceremony shrine-hall, a hall containing 10,000 gold-leafed Buddha statues 25 cm tall, a set of the 108 volumes of the Buddha's teachings and 225 volumes of commentaries.

There are also eight 1.8m standing statues of Bodhisattvas and a 2.1mt Buddha Shakyamuni statue.

Sand Mandala. Source www.palpung.org

The main shrine hall with 20 columns, a 12.8m Maitreya Buddha statue are on the second floor. Offices, conference rooms, a library, rooms for monks and lamas are also on this floor.

The first floor has more rooms for monks, reception, school, multimedia, an auditorium, a museum, a lama dance training hall, and other amenities.

Palpung Audio and Visual Archive (PAVA) was established for the preservation of the teachings of Vajrayana Buddhism.

Teachings given by Tai Situ Rinpoche and Mingyur Rinpoche are posted on the PAVA website. Some of the teachings require oral transmission and visitors are requested not to listen to those recordings if the transmission was not received.

Palpung Sherabling Institute of Higher Buddhist Studies was built in 1977 and can accommodate 150 students that are committed to a seven year basic course In Buddhism.

The Visitor Retreat Center completed in 2006 has twelve rooms for visitors of short or long term retreats. The rooms have complete amenities and are available for anyone, monk, nun, or lay-person by contacting Palpung Sherabling directly.

Monastic Life

The three-year, three-month, three-day retreat center for monks, built in 1988, has rooms for twenty-five retreatants and additional facilities.²

The first retreat group started in 1989 with the blessings of late Kalu Rinpoche and late Saljay Rinpoche. Mingyur Rinpoche is currently the retreat master, while Lama Tsultrim Rinpoche is Master of Discipline, spiritual guide, and practical application teacher.

Monks spend the day memorizing Sadhana texts, practicing mudras and chanting, practicing puja instruments, making sand mandalas, studying languages, literature, and Tibetan grammar. They perform eleven monthly pujas that start early in the morning and can be quite elaborate.

Festivals

Annual schedule includes 6.5 days Great Aspiration Prayer (Monlam Chenmo), Kagyu Gurtso (the sound by Milarepa, can be attended by graduates of the three-year retreat).

Many practice celebrations last anywhere from 3 days and a half to 10 days: Red Chenrezig, Vajra Yogini, Chakrasamvara, Hei Vajra, Universal fire offering puja, Tantra of Marpa, Four armed red Avalokiteshvara, Kalachakra, Shakyamuni Buddha's Descent from heaven day, Avalokiteshvara fasting, Guru Padmasambava ritual dance, Ratnalingpa Vajrakilaya puja or Dorje Drollo Wrathful Padmasambhava puja, Lama dance of Mahakala, Mahakala puja, Great Mahakala Lama dance, Smoke puja (Gelek Tinphung) and Tibetan new Year (Losar).

Visitors may join the public activities and also could request the monastery to have specific prayers by coordinating with the office in advance.

Saga Dawa celebration³. Source www.palpung.org

Travel

Palpung Sherabling is about 500Km from Delhi. It can be reached by taxi at a cost of about $100. The trip would take ten to fourteen hours. Busses are also available for much lower cost, but the duration of the trip is the same.

Kangra airport, near Dharamsala, is 60Km away from Palpung and flights are available from Delhi for similar cost as the taxi.

Sources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palpung_Monastery
• http://www.palpung.org/

Footnotes

1. The Rimé movement involved the Sakya, Kagyu and Nyingma schools of Tibetan Buddhism, along with some Bon scholars and was the reaction to the Gelug institutions pushing the other traditions into the corners of Tibet's cultural life. Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (1820-1892) and Jamgön Kongtrül (1813-1899) compiled together the teachings of the Sakya, Kagyu and Nyingma, including many near-extinct teachings.

Without Khyentse and Kongtrul's collecting and printing of rare works, the suppression of all other Buddhist sects by the Gelugpas would have been much more final. The Rimé movement is responsible for several scriptural compilations, such as the Rinchen Terdzod (a collection of thousands of terma texts) and the Sheja Dzö (“Treasury of Knowledge”), Jamgon Kongtrul's masterpiece, covering the full spectrum of Buddhist history according to the knowledge then current in the Himalayas.

2. The three-year retreat was formally instituted in the 19th century by the great master Jamgon Kongtrul Lodrö Taye. The three-year and three-month timeframe derives from teachings in the Kalachakra Tantra regarding the time required to engage in undistracted meditation.

3. Saga Dawa commemorates the birth, enlightenment, and parinirvāṇa (Pali: parinibbāna) of Buddha Shakyamuni.