Thekchok Ösal Monastery
THEKCHOK ÖSAL · BHUTAN
Bhutan · A Guru Rinpoche Pure Land seat established by Khenpo Nima
Bhutan · Thekchok Ösal Monastery
Thekchok Ösal Monastery is the seat founded by Khenpo Nima Rinpoche in his Bhutanese homeland. Modelled on the Pure Land of Guru Rinpoche, it is the root of the lineage carried by the resident khenpo of Longchen Buddhist Centre (Hong Kong).
Origins
Across the region of Khenpo Nima Rinpoche's homeland, more than a dozen villages had once stood without a single monastery. Moved by this, the khenpo made the aspiration to build a monastery in the form of Guru Rinpoche's Pure Land, resolved to train the sangha, to preserve the sacred sites of Guru Rinpoche, and to keep the flame of the Dzogchen lineage passing on from one generation to the next in this place.
A Temple of the Three-Kaya Pure Land
The monastery is built in accordance with the meaning of the three kayas of Dzogchen, and is divided into three storeys: the first floor is the hall of the nirmanakaya Pure Land, the second floor the hall of the sambhogakaya Pure Land, and the third floor the hall of the dharmakaya Pure Land. Rising tier upon tier, it symbolizes the stages of realization that ascend from nirmanakaya, through sambhogakaya, to dharmakaya.
The Guru's Footprints Foundation
In 2013, in order to continue his aspiration to support the education of the sangha in his homeland and the building of the seat, Khenpo Nima Rinpoche founded the "Guru's Footprints Foundation," dedicated to constructing monasteries, training the sangha, supporting dharma assemblies, and preserving Buddhist culture.
The Ancestral Seat and the Hong Kong Centre
The resident khenpos of Longchen Buddhist Centre (Hong Kong) all come from the system of Bhutanese seats presided over by Khenpo Nima Rinpoche. The Dzogchen Longchen Nyingtik and Namchö Sky Dharma transmitted at the Hong Kong centre are of one unbroken lineage with this ancestral seat, their source clear and traceable.