Shechen Monastery () is one of the "Six Mother Monasteries" of the

Nyingma Nyingma (, ), also referred to as ''Ngangyur'' (, ), is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The Nyingma school was founded by PadmasambhavaClaude Arpi, ''A Glimpse of the History of Tibet'', Dharamsala: Tibet Museum, 2013. ...

tradition of

Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, D ...

. It was originally located in

Kham Kham (; ) is one of the three traditional Tibet, Tibetan regions, the others being Domey also known as Amdo in the northeast, and Ü-Tsang in central Tibet. The official name of this Tibetan region/province is Dotoe (). The original residents of ...

, Tibet, but was destroyed in the late 1950s during the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

and was rebuilt in Nepal in 1985.

History

The original Shechen Monastery was located southwest of Langduo Township in

on the route to Dzogchen Monastery in what is now Dêgê County, Garzê Prefecture,

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. It was founded in 1695 by the first Shechen Rabjam Tenpé Gyaltsen, though it is sometimes claimed to have been built by Gyurme Kunzang Namgyal, the second Shechen Rabjam, in 1734. It became extremely influential in the 18th and 19th centuries, with up to 160 satellite monasteries dotting the hillsides. The monastery was destroyed in the 1950s as part of the Communist Chinese government's

. In the 1980s,

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Tashi Paljor () (c. 1910 – 28 September 1991) was a Vajrayana master, Terton, scholar, poet, teacher, and recognized by Buddhists as one of the greatest realized masters. Head of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism f ...

transplanted the rich tradition of the original Shechen Monastery to a new home near the great Stupa of Boudhanath in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Shechen Monastery today

The monastery serves as the main seat of the Shechen tradition in exile. There are more than 300 monks at Shechen Monastery. The monastery teaches music, dance, painting and Buddhist philosophy. Its elementary school provides "a modern education for children between five and fourteen years of age." The present Head is the seventh Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche, the grandson of

Dilgo Khyentse Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Tashi Paljor () (c. 1910 – 28 September 1991) was a Vajrayana master, Terton, scholar, poet, teacher, and recognized by Buddhists as one of the greatest realized masters. Head of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism ...

. Prominent members of the monastery include the Yangsi (Tib.ཡང་སྲིད reincarnation) of

, Khandro Lhamo, Matthieu Ricard and Changling Rinpoche.

Footnotes

References

* Dudjom Rinpoche and Jikdrel Yeshe Dorje. ''The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism: its Fundamentals and History''. Two Volumes. 1991. Translated and edited by Gyurme Dorje with Matthew Kapstein. Wisdom Publications, Boston.

External links

Shechen Monastery in Nepal - the main Shechen website

Shechen Monastery in Tibet

Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche's profile at Rigpa wiki
{{Authority control Buddhist temples in Tibet Buddhist temples in Nepal 1695 establishments in Asia Religious organizations established in 1695 Buddhist monasteries in Tibet Tibetan Buddhist temples in the Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Nyingma monasteries and temples 1985 establishments in Nepal Buddhist monasteries in Sichuan