The Buddhist Monks and Nuns of FPMT

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with monks and nuns during the retreat in Mexico, April 2008

The Sangha, the community of Buddhist monks and nuns, is the oldest monastic tradition going back to the time of the Buddha, nearly three thousand years ago. By becoming a monk or a nun, one abandons the ways and appearance of a lay person and adopts the appearance and ways of an ordained person by keeping a number of vows.

Khenrinpoche Lama Lhundrup with some of the teachers and monks of Kopan Monastery

The first community of monks established by Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche was at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, in 1971 when 25 monks moved down from the Solukhumbu region of Nepal to the small hill overlooking Boudhanath to pioneer a program of study, meditation, and communal living; this was the beginning of the largest community of FPMT monks today.  The core of the Himalayan Sangha remains at Kopan Monastery, the original monastery of the FPMT. Nearby is the Khachoe Ghakyil Nunnery, home to the community of nuns associated with Kopan Monastery. Monks and nuns from the age of seven come from all over Nepal and the Himalayan countries such as Tibet, India, Bhutan, Sikkim, and even Mongolia to attend this Gelugpa monastery, one of the best in Kathmandu valley, to receive a classical monastic education.

International Mahayana Institute Sangha

From the early days of the FPMT organization, students have been inspired to dedicate their lives to the practice of the Buddhist path by taking the vows of monks of nuns. In the years since the founding of International Mahayana Institute (IMI) in 1974 at Kopan Monastery, several monastic communities have been established around the world, in Australia, France, India, Italy and Taiwan.  The monks and nuns of IMI continue to serve as teachers, retreat leaders, center directors, spiritual program coordinators, editors and counselors in FPMT centers worldwide.  They tirelessly help bring the benefit of Buddhist teachings to all of us.

	From the bottom of my heart I would like to thank very much all the Sangha who for so many years, not only living in, guarding, your vows, but able to benefit others - doing retreat continuously for many years or doing social service, doing hard work at the center, doing service to sentient beings and teachings of the Buddha, which is service to our guru, His Holiness Dalai Lama.
–Lama Zopa Rinpoche, April 2007

The Lama Yeshe Sangha Fund was established to provide support for the IMI Sangha community. Donate to the IMI Sangha/Lama Yeshe Sangha Fund

International Mahayana Institute (IMI)
399 Webster St
San Francisco, CA 94117
USA
www.imisangha.org
director@imisangha.org
Director Ven Carol Corradi

Links to Monasteries

• Thubten Shedrup Ling, Australia
• Nalanda Monastery, France
• Shedrup Zung Drel Ling, A house for Western FPMT monks following the Geshe studies at Sera Monastery in the south of India.
• Takden Shedrup Targye Ling, A project of Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Italy
• Kopan Monastery, Nepal
• Losang Drakpa Monastery, A project of Chenrezig Institute, Australia
• Thubten Shedrup Ling, Nepal
• Mu Gompa, Nepal

Links to Nunneries

• Chenrezig Nuns Community, A project of Chenrezig Institute, Australia
• Shenpen Samten Ling Nunnery, A project of Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Italy
• Khachoe Ghakyil Nunnery, Nepal
• Jinsiu Farlin, Taiwan
• Rachen Nunnery, Nepal