Drepung Gomang Monastery is pleased to announce the appointment of a new abbot: Geshe Lharampa Lobsang Samten. The appointment of an Abbot is done by His Holiness the Dalai Lama after the monastery submits the names of nominees voted on by the monks. The term of the Abbot is for six years.

May 13, 2003:  As required by tradition, former abbot, Geshe
Lharampa Tsultrim Phuntsok,  hands over the Official Seal & 
Letter of Responsibilities to the new abbot, Geshe Lharamapa 
Lobsang Samten during the Enthronement Ceremony

At the age of 14, he joined one the great monasteries in Central Tibet, Palden Ngari Datsang, as a novice monk, taking novice vows and ordination from then Abbot Lobsang Jigme and was provided the ordination name of Lobsang Samten. Under the residence teachers, Gen. Kunchok Gyaltsen and Kalsang, he studied reading and writing the Tibetan alphabet and also prayer recitation. At the age of 15, under Geshe Jamyang Gyatso and the great scholar Gen. Tsultrim Damdaul, he studied elementary Buddhist texts until he reached the Parchen class (Prajnaparamita: The Six Perfection).  From the age of 25 to 29, he studied  Namdel and under Tsangpa Gen. Sopa and others, he took part in Jamyang Gunchoe, having to travel with great difficulty for five days on foot with one month's ration.

At the age of 30, he escaped to India after the invasion of Tibet by China, walking days and nights as did the other Gomang monks.  They stayed at Buxar in Northeast India. Because His Holiness the Dalai Lama noticed that only a small number of the monk population from the three great monasteries was able to flee to India, he requested the Indian Government to allow these monks to study their texts in order to preserve the religion, but this was difficult to do. At Buxar, Lobsang Samten received Bikhu ordination (full ordination) from the then senior tutor of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Ven. Ling Rinpoche.

Upon the request of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to the Indian Government, the Indian Central Government allotted some lands to Tibetan refugees for cultivation in order to sustain themselves. As a result, monasteries such as Sera and Kagyu monasteries were re-established in Bylakupee; whereas in Mundgod, monasteries such as Gaden, Drepung, Sakya and Nyima were re-established. During that time for three or four years, Lobsang Samten also did farming while he studied the Five Major Buddhist Treatises under Gen. Tsultrim Gyatso and Mongolian Khensur Ngawang Lobsang.

In 1973, at the age of 44 he obtained the Geshe Lharampa Degree and at Monam Chenmo he gave his Geshe Lharampa examination debate in front of Great scholars (Geshe Damcha).  In 1983, he was appointed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama as the Discipline Master of Drepung Gomang Monastery for a period of two years. He also served as Lama Shunglenba (Education Supervisor) of the monastery for four years. From 1990 till 1995, he observed a Yamakanta retreat.  Now at the age of 74, he is providing dharma classes daily to students for  four to five hours.
 

Tenzin Drolma (Kristin Ouwehand) is a woman from Canada who teaches art and English to students at Drepung Gomang College.  She regularly takes notes on happenings at the monastery and has agreed to share some of them with those persons who may be interested in what occurs during daily life at a Tibetan monastery in south India.

Installment of the New Abbot

On the 13th of May, our new abbot was installed in an elaborate enthronement ceremony in the new prayer hall. Prayers started at 4 in the morning and continued until 6, then again from 6:30 to 8.  Hardhong Geshe Lobsang Samten is the new abbot, a thin, bespectacled monk, renowned for his knowledge of Buddhist philosophy. The abbot who has just stepped down is Geshe Tsultrim Phuntsok. He has finally completed 9 years in the office of abbot, and now can take a well deserved rest.The usual term is only 6 years, but as several projects were going on at the time he was to step down, he was asked to stay on by the monastery office for a further few years. In his term as abbot, Geshe Tsultrim Phuntsok has overseen many changes and improvements, not the least of which have taken place in the last three years, with the beginning of the tours abroad, and the building and inauguration of the new prayer hall.

The job of abbot in the monasteries here in exile is not an easy one,.  Nowadays, the abbot has to deal with the encroachment of the modern world, and has to make decisions as to what should and should not be encouraged and allowed. He maintains communication with our sponsors and is concerned with the running of the monastery kitchen to feed the ever growing numbers of monks. All of this is very different from Tibet, where the monasteries were isolated from, but supported by the local villages and community, and monks were provided with food by families or friends. There, too, the monasteries had their own estate grounds that allowed them to be mostly self-sufficient. Here in India, the local settlements are as poor or poorer than the monasteries so can provide little by way of support. Also, living as refugees means one has to live in accord with the local police and government, which involves a whole other aspect of diplomacy.

All of these are new concerns that an abbot has to deal with.  It isn't a job one can leave at 5 , and go home to have dinner, or weekends off!  Choosing a new abbot is a process that goes back through centuries of tradition. Several of the older monks are chosen by an election in the monastery, and then those names are sent to the Dalai Lama, who by divination  and other processes selects the one to be the next abbot. 

Following the Enthronement Ceremony, we all filed into the upstairs room of the prayer hall, to offer our congratulations and a silk scarf to the new abbot.  Afterwards, a celebration luncheon was held, attended by everyone who was everyone in the settlement, including all the lamas, geshes and office staff from all four colleges in the Drepung and Gomang monasteries, as well as the representatives from the local settlements and even the local Indian police.Prayers were held in the afternoon, as well.   Then a few days later, the new abbot made his way north to Dharamsala for a meeting with His Holiness.

The End of the School Term

The school term is over again for another year. The students did very well, considering how much time they lost with the Inauguration, the trip north to Bodh Gaya and then the month off for New Year. Exams were held under the new temple, in the debate ground, much cooler than the usual system of having them in the school hall.

Once all the stress of preparing, giving, writing and then checking the exam papers was over with, the teachers got together to elect next year's school monitors and the student to be awarded the annual prize for best behavior.   This year Thupten Tsering from Class 6 received the award. These elections are complex since they involve poring over the school's registers, where each student has a photo and a short file. The teachers then debate the pros and cons of each student, and eventually narrow it down to 4 or 5 faces. 

Once the elect were duly elected, matters turned to discussion of the two-day "picnic"-- the first day of which is always the graduation and distribution of exam results. Once the speeches were over, the children played games in the sun while the teachers sat in the shade sipping tea. Food was made and served in the school, with the kids sitting in long rows on the mats.  But games were a far higher priority than food, so scarcely had the blessings been said than the food was inhaled with alarming speed, and they  were off again to carry on their play.

In the coming two months, many of the kids who are from Ladakh (up in the northwest of India, between the borders of Pakistan and China) or from Sikkim in the northeast, will be going home to meet their families.  His Holiness will be giving teachings this year in Ladakh, so rather more than usual will be going home. For many of the students, their trip home takes from 10-14 days, as they can go by train only as far as Delhi, then by bus to Manali.  Many then have to walk for several days to get to their remote mountain villages. A few years ago, one of our students was killed when the bus he was in lost control and drove off the side of a cliff.

In the coming two months, the school will be open for the lay children from the surrounding villages to come and learn written Tibetan, and basic Buddhism, taught by some of the older school students or actual school teachers. This is one of the excellent programs that Gomang offers to the surrounding community.  It is important here in exile for the monasteries to work together with the community, something that was not traditional in the monasteries back in Tibet since they were usually far more isolated. However, here circumstances are different, and the cooperation between the camps and the monasteries, Gomang in particular, is quite good.

Any donations and contributions are gratefully received.  You will be remembered in the prayers of the monks.