Himachal: 40-year lease extension for Shimla’s Jonang Monastery
The Jonang Takten Phuntsok Choeling Monastery is a very small, modest monastery of more than one hundred monks. The majority of the monks also come from Tibet and Mongolia
The Himachal Pradesh cabinet on Monday approved the renewal of government land lease for the Jonang Monastery at Sanjauli’s Dingu Hills for another 40 years, giving a fresh lease of life to the only surviving centre of the Kalachakra lineage of Tibetan Buddhism in exile.
The approval was granted in favour of the Sangya Choling Association, Sanjauli (Shimla). Locally known as Takten Phuntsok Choeling, the monastery doubles as a Tibetan Buddhist school and is regarded as the head seat of the Jonang tradition in India. The institution was inaugurated by the Dalai Lama 35 years ago.
The Jonang Takten Phuntsok Choeling Monastery is a very small, modest monastery of more than one hundred monks. The majority of the monks also come from Tibet and Mongolia
The Jonang School is among the lesser-known traditions of Tibetan Buddhism but has more than 60 monasteries and 10,000 monks inside Tibet. In exile, the Sanjauli monastery is its only surviving institution in Himachal Pradesh.
Founded in 1962 by Lama Jinpa of the Gelug tradition as Sangye Choeling, the monastery was offered to the Dalai Lama in 1990 as a birthday present. Later that year, the Dalai Lama recognised Khalkha Jetsun Dhampa as the reincarnation of the great scholar Taranatha, the 27th throne holder of the Jonang School. Following this recognition, the monastery was renamed Takten Phuntsok Choeling and declared the head monastery of Jonang in India.
