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UPDATE November 6, 2023
Tempa Lama will be presenting our gift to the nunnery during this upcoming visit to Menri Monastery later this month!
Help us support flood and landslide repairs at Menri Monastery’s nunnery!
This July, parts of Northern India – including the state of Himachal Pradesh where Menri is located – experienced the highest Monsoon rainfall in decades, resulting in severe flooding and landslides. At the end of his visit to Olmo Ling, Geshe Tsewang Ngodup – general secretary of the Yungdrung Bon Monastic Center at Menri Monastery – asked for our assistance with necessary repairs following the recent flash floods and landslides.
The heavy rainfall and resulting landslides has destroyed buildings, roads, bridges and other infrastructure across northern India, forcing thousands to flee their homes and schools to close. Fortunately, Menri Monastery has not experienced any casualties. However, multiple landslides and heavy rainfall caused major damage on buildings across the monastery grounds.
Olmo Ling’s efforts to help focus on the Redna Menling nunnery. The dirt road providing access to the nunnery has been blocked by a landslide and needs urgent repair.
India has witnessed intensified weather patterns in recent years, with the monsoon season becoming more erratic and less dependable. The monastic community at Menri is aware of these changes and is carefully assessing ways to stabilize its infrastructure and surrounding hillsides, including by carefully (re)planting trees.
Donate towards repair work at Redna Menling!
The dirt road that provides access to the nunnery has been damaged and blocked by a landslide. The Menri monastic community is responsible for this road as it is on land owned by the monastery. Menri is asking for our help to carry out urgently needed repairs and tree replanting so that vehicles can again access the nunnery, the hillsides can be stabilized, and further building damages are avoided.
The total costs for repair and tree planting for hillside stabilization are estimated at $39,900. Besides Olmo Ling, other Bon communities around the world are all contributing towards raising the required amount. Every gift, large or small, is important and will be gratefully received by the nuns!Raised so far: $2,121.63
Thank you so much for your generosity and support!
To donate by check, please send your check to Olmo Ling, 1101 Greenfield Ave, Pittsburgh PA 15217 with a note “nunnery flood repair”.
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More about the nuns and Geshe-mas at Redna Menling
The nunnery is located on the opposite side of the valley of Dholanji (where the monks reside). It is the only Bonpo nunnery outside Tibet. It houses about 80 nuns. About 20 senior nuns are studying the 12 year academic program of Geshe degree at the Bon Dialectic School of the Nunnery, which was started in 2010 by His Holiness the 33rd Menri Trizin. More than 60 young girls are attending Sambhota Tibetan School in the village, while also training in the life of an ordained nun.
The academic program at Ratna Menling Nunnery is exactly the same as that of the monks, including the study of philosophy, logic, Tibetan literature and calligraphy, poetry and grammar, astrology, Tibetan Medicine, rituals and meditation. The nuns also intensively study and practice the Bon traditions of Sutra, Tantra and Dzogchen.
In March 2022, the first five nuns, Geshe Sherab Palzin Geshe Samten Palzin, Geshe Tsultrim Sangmo, Geshe Phuntsok Tsulzin, and Geshe Tongyi Wangmo graduated as Bon Geshes (Geshe-mas) – pictured below and to the right!