Support and sponsor to rebuild Lepcha Mani Gompa in Kalimpong - India

Lepcha Mani Gompa is arguably the oldest Buddhist monastery in Kalimpong, India...  

It’s been built entirely from mud and wood, a common tradition in this area.  This mud monastery has lasted for over 300 years, the cornerstone for many monks and lay people in the area, until 2011, when an earthquake of a 6.9 magnitude --- cracked its foundation and walls.  

Not only is there structural damage to the foundation and walls, roof, with floorboards breaking apart, and electrical work that needs gutting out, but we have intricately hand-painted murals that will need to be redone. 

In the late 16th century, a certain devoted Lepcha man named Choezang was searching for his elder brother in neighboring Bhutan.  He came to a temple and shouted OM MANI PADME HUM, and the butterlamps began to rise and burn brighter.  
Taking this as a sign, the head lama of that temple bestowed teachings and empowerments upon him and re-named him Mani Choezang.
When Mani Choezang returned to Kalimpong he became famous for chanting OM MANI PADME HUM and got donations to build the Gompa. At that time, it was constructed from bamboo and leaves.  
One year, the gompa caught on fire, and everything was burned down with exception of the Buddha and deities statues, which were completely unharmed.  After that, the gompa became quite famous and was rebuilt from mud bricks—what’s left today.

About 100 years ago, the British took a sacred bell from the shrine in order to make a replica for their church. However, when they brought it to England, the sound was dampened, and for some reason, lost its tone. So they returned it to the gompa.  The monks did daily pujas, and after 15-20 days, the bright sound of the bell came back to life.
Today, the head lama managing Mani Lepcha Gompa is Lama Suk Tsering, the great-great-great-grandson of Mani Choezang. 
A soft-spoken lama, he recently completed the traditional 3 year, 3 month, 3 day retreat at Madhuban, in Kalimpong, under the guidance of Lama Kunzang Dorjee Rinpoche, in the lineage of Dudjom Lingpa.  Madhuban is known as the Bodhgaya of Dudjom Rinpoche followers.  Lama Suk Tsering and seven other monks have been displaced from living at the gompa-- all staying with family/friends until it’s safe to move back in.

Most Westerners will likely never get to Kalimpong.  After China’s invasion of Tibet in 1959, many high Tibetan lamas and devotees migrated and practiced here.  They blessed this place with some extraordinary palpable benefits.  By your contribution, you can make a connection with this sacred place and its people.  You don’t have to be a Buddhist to reap the good karma of having helped save this modest but special monastery. 

We need your help and financial support to fix the top roof because of heavy rains and humidity in the walls , we also need to fix our floor that is very damaged because of the heavy rains, we need to buy a large glass Cristal to put in our main shrine in order to protect our statues and images that are unique and very precious , and we need a wood furniture with glass to kept all our sacred texts and the complete collection of Longchenpa place and the Kangyur texts that are very rare and antique 🙏🏻

Please do kindly support our Gompa and help us to maintain and spread more and more the Dudjom Lingpa Lineage , Chatral Rinpoche Lineage and the Longchen Nyithik tradition 🙏🏻

We are sincerely grateful for your generosity and extreme kindness to help us keep maintaining our practice and be able to dedicate all our live to Dharma and its practice 🙏🏻

May all be auspicious to all of us , and may peace always prevail in this planet 🙏

Lama Suk Tsering - Mani Lepcha Gompa in Kalimpong

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