Dratsang
The year 2561 of the Buddha Era, 17th Rabjung, Tibetan Royal Year 2144, Female Fire Bird Year started on February 27, 2017. As usual, to mark the start of the year, all the sangha members of Namdroling Monastery, led by His Eminence Mugsang Kuchen Rinpoche, gathered inside the main temple and made auspicious prayers for all sentient beings’ good fortune, prosperity, happiness and peaceful life throughout the year. The prayers were also dedicated to the longevity of the Buddhadharma and its holders, who are bringing benefit to all sentient beings through myriad noble activities. After the prayer session, all those gathered offered khata to the thrones of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and His Holiness Penor Rinpoche. However, like last year there were no New Year celebrations due to the passing away of great Nyingma masters in the previous year.
Starting from March 5, a drubchen (great accomplishment ceremony) was conducted for a week. The ritual of Konchog Chidü(Essence of the Supreme Jewels, a terma discovered by Jatson Nyingpo) was performed inside the main temple as well as the Tsechog, Phurpa, Zhithro, Namchö Solkha, Nyingthik Solkha and Dralha Sang rituals in other temples. On the third day of the drubchen, a giant thangka of Guru Padmasambhava was displayed in the morning and the masked dance of his eight manifestations was performed in the afternoon. A fire puja took place on its fifth day and there were other several ritual dances on the sixth day. Then the drubchen ended with a vast dedication of the merit accrued through its performance.
From March 15, the one-month ngondro, tsalung and dzogchen retreats of the Namchö tradition started. Khentrul Gyangkhang Rinpoche gave the main teaching for ngondro, while Khenchen Tsewang Gyatso instructed the tsalung and dzogchen practitioners.
As usual, the Dratsang monks along with other senior monks from the Monastic Jr. High School (Yeshe Wodsal Sherab Raldri Ling) started performing the Vajrakilaya sadhana every day inside the Vajrakilaya Temple, and Rigzin Düpa and Yumka on the tenth days of the waxing and waning periods of the moon according to the lunar calendar, inside the Zangdog Palri Temple.This year, 12 lamas and 51 monks were sent to 12 monasteries around India and Nepal for a year to fulfil the requests made by those monasteries.
On April 26, His Holiness the 41st Sakya Trizin Rinpoche visited Namdroling Monastery and bestowed the Phurpa Torwang empowerment on the Namdroling community and delivered a precious speech on the differences between the tantras of the earlier and the later translations.
From May 5, the annual five-hundred-thousand preliminary practice accumulations started in the basement of the main Golden Temple. More than 95 monks and lay practitioners undertook the practice with five sessions a day, from 7 A.M. to 9 P.M., till its completion.
The 46th annual Kama Drubchod, the Great Accomplishment Ceremony of the Kama teaching, began on May 30. The tsa-cham (root ritual dance) was performed as an initiation prior to the drubchod and the actual accomplishment ceremony took place from June 3. Inside the main temple, with Gyangkhang Rinpoche presiding, the mandala of the sutra practice of the Great Gathering was performed. Similarly, the Peaceful and Wrathful Magical Net, the Union of the Buddhas, the Yangdag Heruka, Rongzom’s tradition of the Vajrakilaya sadhana, the Six-faced Yamantaka, Zhithro, Namchö Solkha and Nyingthig Solkha were performed inside the other temples. The gar-cham was performed on its fifth day, and the rol-cham and thro-cham were performed on the sixth day. There was a fire ritual of the four activities—pacifying, increasing, magnetizing and subjugating—on the morning of the seventh day. The blessing of the accomplishment practice was granted to all devotees in the afternoon, and butter lamp and dedication prayers were chanted in the evening, thereby concluding the Kama Drubchod.
On August 9, the 45-day Yarney started. Monks from the Dratsang and the senior students from the junior school performed different rituals each week inside Zangdog Palri Temple.
Many monks from the Dratsang will travel to Bodhgaya to attend the 29th Nyingma Monlam Chenmo that starts on January 17, 2018. After the ceremony, most of them will return to the monastery to commemorate the 659th Mahaparinirvana Anniversary of Omniscient Longchen Rabjam on February 3 and the five-day Gutor ritual which will start on February 10. Ratna Lingpa’s ritual of procuring long life called Tsechog Sangwa Düpawill be conducted on February 15, thereby ending the activity of the Female Fire Bird Year, the 2144th Tibetan Royal Year.
Ngagyur Nyingma Institute
The Ngagyur Nyingma Institute (NNI) reopened on March 30, after the winter vacation. The newcomers sat for written and oral entrance examinations on March 31. The results of the previous year’s annual examinations at NNI and the Nunnery Institute, as well as the results of the newcomers’ exams, were announced on April 4, before Gyangkhang Khentrul Rinpoche, Khenchen Tsewang Gyatso and other khenpos, lopons and faculty members of their respective standing committees, and the entire Namdroling community. Some administrative posts at the Dratsang were also changed on that day. This year, 170 new students enrolled in the Institute. From April 17 to 19, the NNI community performed a 3-day puja for the welfare of their academic year as well as for the benefit of all motherly sentient beings. On April 29, the annual exchange of NNI staff took place.
This year, 37 lopons were appointed to teach at NNI, 30 in various departments related to the Dratsang, 30 to teach in the Junior High School, 25 (including loponmas) in the Nunnery Institute, 97 in other parts of India, 134 in Nepal and 70 in Bhutan. In total, 433 lopons and loponmas are giving teachings at and outside of Namdroling under the direction of the Ngagyur Nyingma Institute.
During the academic part of the year, various rituals were performed once a month for the longevity of His Holiness Karma Kuchen Rinpoche, Yangsi Rinpoche as well as other Dharma holders, and for the spiritual welfare of all sentient beings. Also, every Friday evening, various prayers were carried out according to Dharma patrons’ requests. Interclass debate competitions were also held once every month.
The 105th Mahaparinirvana Anniversary of Mipham Rinpoche was held on June 23. This year, due to the renovation inside the Golden Temple, the ceremony took place in the NNI hall. The day before, a statue of Mipham Rinpoche was brought to the hall from the main NNI temple, carried in an elaborate procession by the ninth year students and all the NNI teachers, where the teachers carried each of the volumes composed by Mipham Rinpoche, circumambulating the Golden Temple once. When all the monks were gathered in the hall, they then recited Ngeshe Dronme (Beacon of Certainty) composed by Mipham Rinpoche himself when he was at the age of seven. On the actual day of the ceremony, all the students and teachers of NNI gathered inside the hall in the morning and the Sadhana of Peaceful Manjushri according to the tantra called Accomplishing the Supreme Light of Wisdom was performed and colossal feast offerings were arranged to mark the occasion. During the tea breaks, selected students from the second, third, sixth and seventh years gave expositions related to their respective ongoing subjects. The evening session started with the recitation of the Manjushrinamasamgiti, outside of the NNI’s main temple, welcoming Mipham Rinpoche’s statue with various colourful lights as decoration. Namdroling monks and nearby lay devotees offered a mandala and auspicious scarves in front of the statue. After this, there were debate sessions for about half an hour and then the ceremony concluded at 11 P.M.
The Universal Incense Offering Day was on July 9. The president of NNI, along with other faculty members, monks and nuns of the final year and other students, went to Betapur Hill and performed a purification ritual and then offered prayer flags.
From July 22 to August 3, NNI hosted a conference on “Birds as Ornithologists: Scholarship between Faith and Reason” organised by Orna Almogi (Universität Hamburg), funded by Khyentse Centre for Tibetan Buddhist Textual Scholarship, Department for Indian and Tibetan Studies, Universität Hamburg. Scholars from Bar-IIan University in Israel; Pune University in Maharashtra, India; the University of Tokyo in Japan; Universität Hamburg in Germany; Rangjung Yeshe Institute in Kathmandu, Nepal; and Penn State Law in Pennsylvania and Pace University in New York, USA, gave talks on given topics. In the audience were the president of NNI, students of the Ngagyur Nyingma Research Centre (NNRC) as well as 8th and 9th year students of NNI and NNNI, and other interested students.
The 45-day Yarney started on August 7. In the course of the retreat, weekly interclass debate competitions were held as well as activities such as handwriting and grammar tests for the ngondro (preliminary) class students, debate tests for the students of the 1st to 4th year, expositions on their subject by the 6th and 7th year students, and question-and-answer sessions between all students of the 8th year and the kyorpons of the 9th year. The NNI students also had to attend three prayer sessions a day—mornings from 6:30 to 7 A.M. and 11 to 11:30 A.M., and evenings 9 to 9:30 P.M. On the penultimate day of the Yarney, Khenpo Tashi Namgyal, current president of NNI, gave a discourse on the twofold selflessness and the acceptance and rejection of the vinaya practice. Then selected students gave expositions and others showed their debating skill in front of all the NNI teachers and students. On the last day of Yarney, all the NNI monks strolled into an open field near the institute in a ceremonial procession and performed the three practices of Vinaya—doing prostration, reciting sutra and dedicating the merit—and Riwo Sangcho (Mountain Smoke Offering). After that, there were debating sessions as well as some other entertainments.
On October 12, Khenchen Tsewang Gyatso delivered a speech on creating the best educational environment, continuing to pursue one’s studies, and bringing knowledge into one’s daily activity.
On October 23, a seminar on “The Unique View and Tenets of the Ngagyur Nyingma Tradition” was carried out. Four selected kyorpons from the 8th year composed theses on topics given to them, after which the students of NNI and NNNI as well as their respective teachers, held discussions on those topics.
The academic year at NNI ended on November 10 and self-study for the final exams began on November 21.
The final exams will take place from December 13–30. Soon afterwards, most of the monks will travel to Bodhgaya to attend the annual 10-day Nyingma World Peace Ceremony starting on January 17, 2018.
Monastic Junior High School
The new academic year at the Yeshe Wodsal Sherab Raldri Ling (YWSRL) Junior High School commenced on March 30. His Eminence Gyangkhang Khentrul Rinpoche and Khenchen Tsewang Gyatso awarded certificates to the final year students and handed out prizes to the first, second and third position holders of every class. The teaching of their respective classes started on April 21.
This year, ninety new students joined the school from India, Nepal, Bhutan and other places. Currently, 36 lopons are working as administrators while 37 tutors from NNI and the school itself are teaching rituals, traditional Tibetan art, English and maths. During their academic year, the students sat for four tests in Tibetan and English subjects in three sessions. The Tibetan tests were taken on June 23, July 21 and September 8 and the English tests were held on June 31, July 28 and September 15. Similarly, in order to improve their spoken Tibetan, the students were also given speaking tests occasionally.
As usual, the senior students participated the puja ceremonies such as those on Guru Padmasambhava Day and Dakini Day, the Kama Drubchod, the 45-day Yarney, the Vajrakilaya sadhana inside the Vajrakilaya Temple, and so on, alongside monks from the Dratsang. They also did prayers every morning, 7 to 9 A.M., in front of the Zangdog Palri Temple.
The academic year of the YWSRL Jr. High School ended on November 10. On November 13 and 14, students had examinations for rituals and arts. Self-study time for the final exams started on November 21 and the annual exam will be conducted between November 28 and December 13.
Nunnery Dratsang
At the commencement of the Tibetan royal year 2144, February 27, 2017, the nuns of Tsogyal Shedrub Ling Nunnery joined the Namdroling monks inside the Golden Temple with His Eminence Mugsang Kuchen Rinpoche presiding.
Starting from March 5 they attended a week-long drubchen. Some of them also practised in the annual 30-day ngondro, tsalung and dzogchen retreats, which began on March 18.
As usual, the nuns engaged daily in the practice of the four-mandala ritual of Tara in the morning, and confession and prayers to the Dharma protectors in the evening. On auspicious days they also offered feasts of Rigzin Düpa and Yumka. They also participated in performing rituals according to the requests of Dharma patrons as well as learning the art of rituals such as making tormas, playing cymbals, and so on.
From May 30, an eight-day Minling Dorsem sadhana was performed. A feast offering, butter lamp offering, and dedication and aspiration prayers marked the successful end of the sadhana. Nuns of the Dratsang along with the senior nuns from their Jr. High School performed the rituals of Solkha, Minling Dorsem, Sengdong and Tsechog, followed by the Nyungne (fasting ritual) during the 45-day Yarney. They will then travel to Bodhgaya in January, 2018, to attend the 29th Nyingma Monlam Chenmo.
Ngagyur Nyingma Nunnery Institute (NNNI)
The reopening of the Institute at the Tsogyal Shedrub Dargyeling Nunnery and the announcement of the previous year’s examination results were carried out on the same dates as those at the Ngagyur Nyingma Institute (NNI). All the subjects the nuns learn and the rules and regulations they follow are identical to those of NNI. The courses for the new academic session started on April 21. Under the Board of Directors of NNI, lecturers from NNI and graduate nun lecturers teach and look after the affairs of the Nunnery Institute.
On June 23, the Mahaparinirvana Anniversary of the omniscient Mipham Rinpoche took place at Tsogyal Shedrub Ling Nunnery. The nuns gathered early in the morning and made actual and visualized offerings to mark this auspicious day. Also some selected nuns engaged in exposition and debate on Mipham Rinpoche’s texts. The celebration ended with auspicious and dedication prayers in the evening. On July 9, nuns of the final year along with some other nuns joined the Universal Incense OfferingCeremony at Betapur along with the monks of the NNI. All other activities like carrying out the Summer Retreat and competitions for the betterment of studies, were scheduled at the same times as those at NNI.
The annual examinations at NNNI will take place between December 15 and 31. Afterwards, the students will go to attend the 29th Nyingma Monlam Chenmo in January, 2018.
Nunnery Junior High School
On April 6, Khentrul Gyangkhang Rinpoche and Khenchen Tsewang Gyatso chaired the announcement of the examination results for the Nunnery Junior High School, where prizes were awarded for the top students, and certificates for the nuns who had completed class eight were given. The nuns were then offered spiritual advice. Nuns from different parts of the world study in the Nunnery School under the guidance of one senior and one junior principal with around 21 teachers.
The nuns study the same curriculum and follow the same rules as are found at the Namdroling School, Yeshe Wodsal Sherab Raldri Ling. The junior students attended the regular classes, and seniors took part in ritual activities every tenth day of the waxing and waning moons, as well as during Drubchen, Yarney, and the like, along with the nuns of the Dratsang. The students will sit for their annual examinations that are scheduled to be held from December 11.
