Riwoche Monks and Nuns Project

The Riwoche monks and nuns have fled Tibet and gone into exile in hope of finding the opportunity to study and practice dharma in freedom.

Riwoche Monks

Because of the restrictions put on the Riwoche Monastery and Shedra in Tibet by the communist Chinese government, monks began to leave Tibet. As there was no Riwoche Monastery for them to go to in Nepal or India, they scattered to various Buddhist monasteries in India to attend shedra, monastic college. The Venerable Khenpo Sonam Rinpoche set up the sponsorship program to support them in their studies, and make it possible for them to keep their monastic aspirations.

H.H. Phakchok Rinpoche, the young incarnation of the Riwoche Taklung Kargyu Tibetan Buddhist lineage is now grown and attempting to prepare a monastic centre in Nepal for the Riwoche monks. Eventually, he plans to have this first group of monks, when they are khenpos, to become the teachers of the younger monks that arrive from Tibet. The wisdom teachings of the Taklung Kargyu lineage will then be preserved.