Tharpa Choeling Nunnery

The Tharpa Choeling Nunnery is located in a small town in the District of Mustang, within the Himalayan mountains, 3802m above sea level on a site occupied by the ruins of the former nunnery built by the 1st Shangpa Rinpoche.

This is the one of the places where the 1st Shangpa Rinpoche stayed and turned the wheel of Dharma in a previous life. He was also responsible for the building of many monasteries and stupas in that area. Many of the older practitioners and lay devotees were his past life disciples including the Mustang King Jigme Palbar Bista.

Under the invitation of the Mustang King and some of his disciples, Rinpoche made his first trip back to Muthinath in March 1994. That this trip was a blessing, was indicated by many auspicious signs and omens. Rinpoche's devotees, especially his past life disciples have a deep respect and profound devotion to him, and hoping that he would consent to turning the wheel of Dharma here, they donated a piece of land at Muktinath to him, where the nunnery now stands.

The Nunnery consists of the Shrine Hall, nuns quarters and a retreat room for Rinpoche. The ground breaking ceremony was held on 13 July 1995.

Presently, there are about 24 nuns (Tibetan : Ani ) staying at this nunnery. Despite the hard living condition, the nuns maintain a simple and disciplined life. Retreat lamas are sent to teach the nuns traditional ritual practices as well as to give instruction for retreats. The nuns are also taught to read and write various languages including tibetan and English.

All the nuns have to first complete the Four Foundations practice before they can proceed with other studies on the teachings.

The construction of the nunnery has been completed and the opening ceremony was held on the 4 October 2000.

Kangyur Recitation at Tharpa Choeling, Vesak 2002

Presented below are a set of images sent to us by Lama Losa of the Kagyur recitation in Muthinath at Tharpa Choeling Nunnery, Nepal. The recitation took place during the month of Vesak, Saga Dawa, 2002.

New Images from Mustang

Presented below are four new images that Rinpoche has sent to us which were taken in November 2002.

The Story of the 'Guru Rinpoche Fountains'

In the distant past, Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava) visited this holy place in Muktinath, Mustang, accompanied by 84 Siddhas. In order to leave something behind, they each poked a stick into the ground. Miraculously, from those 84 holes, 84 springs of water came out from the ground. This water was therefore believed to be blessed holy water, and it tasted both sweet and cooling.

When the first Shangpa Rinpoche visited this holy place, he made the pipes which you see in the image above, which now direct the flow of water. Nowadays, many pilgrims come to sample this blessed water.

New Images of Tharpa Choeling Nunnery

Rinpoche has sent us these images from Muktinath, taken during his visit in October 2004