A HISTORY OF THE MONASTERY

After Guru Rinpoche and Jetsun Milarepa visited Kyimolung, the first in our line of guru forefathers, Chokyi Gyaltsen, settled in this sacred valley. He built the Serang monastery and firmly established the tradition of the Buddha’s teachings in this secret "valley of peace", as Kyimolung means in the local language.

Since then, up to the present day, an unbroken lineage of ten generations of gurus had propagated the teachings of Vajrayana Buddhism for more than 300 years, beginning with Chokyi Gyaltsen’s son Namkha Kunsang. This father-to-son tradition was maintained through nine generations and the lineage was finally passed on to Yeshe Thinley, and then to his son, Lama Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche. Lama Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche was the chief disciple of Khedrup Tenpei Gyaltsen, who was the previous reincarnation of Nuptul Tenpei Nyima Rinpoche. Khedrup Tenpei Gyaltsen was also Lama Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche's first guru, and he was the one who introduced Lama Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche to His Holiness Do Drupchen. After Khedrup Tenpei Gyaltsen passed away, Lama Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche requested His Holiness Do Drupchen to be his root guru.

Left: The old Serang monastery before Lama Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche initiated the reconstuction. Right: Khedrup Tenpei Gyaltsen, Lama Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche's guru.

By then, as the structure of the original monastery was already more than 400 years old, it gradually deteriorated into a state of serious disrepair. Thus in 1982, Lama Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche made a vast aspiration to take on the immense task of rebuilding of the monastery and spent his entire savings, property, and possessions as well as donations from benefactors, to complete the new monastery.

Upon the new monstery's completion in 1991, followed by an opening ceremony to commemorate this completion, His Holiness Do Drupchen bestowed the Serang monastery his blessings as well as a new name - Sangchen Rabten Norbuling. Today, the monastery continues to grow and expand. Currently, there are over 60 monks and 45 nuns who reside in the monastery.

A HISTORY OF THE LINEAGE

The monastery follows the Longchen Nyingthik tradition of the Nyingma school of Vajrayana Buddhism, a lineage that was transmitted by His Holiness Do Drupchen. Below is a flowchart to illustrate this precious lineage: