Cooperating in the Renaissance of Mongolia’s Ancient Buddhist Culture

The struggle to revive Mongolia’s Buddhist culture had been coming to the attention of Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo, KPC Spiritual Director, for many years. After 70 years of repression under Soviet-style Communism, the love and reverence for Dharma was still present in Mongolia, a traditionally Vajrayana Buddhist country. Deeply moved by these unextinguished sparks of devotion, Jetsunma directed her students to help with the revival of Mongolian Buddhism. She asked them to focus especially on the re-invigoration of Padmasambhava’s lineages there. Learn more about the history and background of Mongolia’s ancient Buddhist culture here.  KPC then created the Mongolian Buddhism Revival Project (MBRP), and has maintained staff in Mongolia since early 2005.

The MBRP is most active in the following five areas:

Sponsoring Intensive Buddhist Training for Mongolians in India

To date, the MBRP has worked with Khamar Monastery in Eastern Gobi province of Mongolia to help send 19 young men and women for intensive Buddhist training in India.  Under the kind care and guidance of His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, these students are studying at Namdroling Monastery and Tsogyal Shedrup Dargyeling Nunnery. Learn more…

Re-introducing Lost Buddhist Texts

One of the biggest catastrophes of Mongolia’s religious purges in the 1930’s was the wholesale destruction of millions of volumes of Buddhist texts from monastery libraries. The MBRP has printed one entire set of the fundamental Nyingma scriptures (262 volumes), and offered it in 2007 to Khamar Monastery. Work to provide more texts and digital libraries across the country is in progress.
Learn more…

Teaching & Sponsoring Translations

At the request of a group in Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian capital, regular teachings on basic Buddhist subjects are offered to the general public. Some of the main KPC practices have been translated into the Mongolian language and are used for regular group chanting. Jetsunma’s volume on meditation, Stabilizing the Mind, has been translated into Mongolian and published.  The MBRP is also helping to produce the first-ever translation of Patrul Rinpoche’s classic work, The Words of My Perfect Teacher.
Learn more…

Organizing Lama Visits to Mongolia

The MBRP has been laying the groundwork for teaching tours in Mongolia by Palyul Lineage lamas. Providing an authentic transmission from Buddhist masters of a pure and unbroken lineage is an essential element for restoring lost practice lineages in Mongolia. One recent accomplishment is building a teaching throne to respectfully welcome the lamas.  Learn more…

Rebuilding Infrastructure

Before the Mongolian religious purges, more than 700 active monastic complexes were active across the country. By the end of the devastation, only three were left standing. The MBRP actively gathers funds to support the critical work of rebuilding Mongolia’s temples, monasteries, libraries, and stupas. Learn more…