Letter from Lama Norgyal - Fall 2020
Dear Friends and Members,
As you know, the monastery has been closed since March due to the coronavirus. While we shelter in place, we continue our daily prayers and weekly butterlamp offerings, as well as weekly online classes. We are currently working to bring more online programs to you.
Unfortunately, during this period of closure and limited events, our current income is no longer keeping up with our ongoing monthly expenses, including groceries for resident monks and nuns, electricity and other utilities, and routine maintenance.
Thanks to the generous supporters who have created a matching fund, all tax-deductible donations up to $50,000 made between August 1 and December 31, 2020, will be doubled in value. Our heartfelt thanks go out to those sponsors who have made this matching gift possible, and to all of you for your support.
Weekly Classes and Chanting Events Being Offered on Zoom
Please note: The zoom link for all the monastery zoom sessions has been updated as of 9-20-20. Please email Lama Lhadrun for this information.
We are praying for everyone to be safe and healthy. Some of the practices being performed by resident monastics include the daily chanting of the Medicine Buddha sadhana and the weekly chanting of Kalu Rinpoche's Practice of Aspiration Prayers (Monlam Choga). Butterlamp offerings (Tongchö) will continue as usual, so please feel free to send in your prayers.
Please check our On-Going and Special Events pages for online teaching and chanting events.
Kagyu Thubten Chöling Monastery and Retreat Center
Under the Spiritual Direction of
Guru Vajradhara the 12th Chamgon Kenting Tai Situpa
Founded by Lama Norlha Rinpoche
Top: H.E. Tai Situ Rinpoche (Photo: K.S. Lhamo); Left: Lama Norlha Rinpoche (Photo: Robert Hansen-Sturm); Center: Buddha statue in main shrine room; Right: Kyabje Dorje Chang Kalu Rinpoche
Kagyu Thubten Chöling Monastery and its affiliate centers are branches of the Palpung Institution under the spiritual direction of Guru Vajradhara the 12th Chamgon Kenting Tai Situpa.
Kagyu Thubten Chöling Monastery and its Retreat Centers were founded in 1978 by Lama Norlha Rinpoche. Now affiliated with Palpung Congregation under the direction of Chamgon Kenting Tai Situpa Rinpoche, the monastery provides opportunities for students at all levels. In addition to a daily schedule of practice, study and work, weekend seminars and special courses are led by resident and visiting lamas. The monastery is also home to a traditional three-year retreat program currently in its ninth cycle.
Over more than 30 years, we have been fortunate to host two visits from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and to receive blessings from both the 16th and 17th Karmapas, as well as numerous teachings and empowerments from the spiritual heads and other notable Lamas of all four lineages of Tibetan Buddhism.
Since its founding, a major focus of Kagyu Thubten Chöling Monastery has been the three-year retreat program which was initiated in 1982 and offers training to serious students in the core teachings and practices of the Kagyu Lineage. Three-year retreat graduates offer classes in Tibetan language, meditation, and traditional rituals, both at KTC and at our affiliated centers located in many cities throughout the U.S. East Coast and Peru. They also serve as mentors in the Dharma Path Program, a program created by Lama Norlha Rinpoche to provide serious practitioners in the lay community with comprehensive instruction in the progressive stages of meditation and contemplation.
