TRITEN NORBUTSE BÖNPO MONASTERY

Inaugurated in 1995, the Triten Norbutse Monastery was established in Swayambunath, nearby Kathmandu, Nepal, from the Venerable Lopon Tenzin Namdak Rimpoche with the purpose to preserve the Bönpo culture and religion outside Tibet.

The original Triten Norbutse monastery, founded in the XIV century in the Tsang province of Central Tibet, was completely destroyed during the Cultural Revolution and since then the Bönpo education in Tibet focuses primarily on basic practises. For this reason Lopon Rimpoche aims at training Bonpo monks in exile so that they can eventually bring the precious teachings back to Tibet.

A thirteen-year study course ends in a Geshe degree (an equivalent to a Theology Ph.D.) within the Bön religious system. It includes a large spectrum of Bönpo traditions: Sutra, Tantra, Dzogchen as well as dialectical debate, cosmology, Tibetan grammar and calligraphy, Sanskrit grammar, drawing of mandalas, Bönpo medicine and all the traditional sciences.

During the week every monk is subjected to an exhaustive oral examination by Lopon Rimpoche and the Geshe Masters. Each monk, in turn, asks questions to the examinee, and the examination can last even five or six hours.
Upon the successful completion of the thirteen-year program, some of the Geshe go back to Tibet in order to share their knowledge and experience with younger Tibetan generations.

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