News Archive

by Jon Ransohoff Our pilgrimage to Surmang Monastery in August 2018 was a challenging and enriching adventure. All of us felt blessed with an experience of intimacy with the place and people of Surmang even without the Shedra consecration. Guided by Conscious Journey, we fellow travelers collaborated in stirring pot

The largest program yet for children at Surmang in Tibet, with 250 participants, culminated in a celebration just before Losar (Tibetan New Year) in February. Family members joined the children in the shedra courtyard to witness singing, dancing, presentation of gifts (school backpacks and books), and celebratory khatas for the

This August, the long-awaited consecration of the Surmang Shedra will take place. This will be a festive occasion with music and dance as well as dharma teachings August 3-5, with additional teachings offered on August 6-7. Thousands of local Tibetans will attend and the Twelfth Trungpa, Chökyi Senge Rinpoche, has

The Konchok Foundation is delighted to announce the consecration of the Surmang Shedra on August 3, 2018. This represents the culmination of a fifteen-year effort to build and launch the shedra (monastic college) at Surmang Dutsi Til monastery in Tibet. The Twelfth Trungpa, Chökyi Senge Rinpoche, has personally invited donors

Once again, the Pema Chödrön Foundation has stepped forward to help Surmang. In combination with two anonymous donors, they have generously given $147,000 and challenged the sangha by offering to match 1:1 donations toward the 2018 fundraising campaign. The Matching Grant Campaign is designed to: • support the growth of

Two Konchok Foundation board members, Lyndon Comstock and Jessie Litven, were part of a group of Westerners who visited Surmang Dutsi Til this summer. A major purpose of their trip was to meet with Chöseng Trungpa Rinpoche (left with Lyndon Comstock) to learn about the remarkable progress made in his

These photographs from Surmang Dutsi Til, taken by Wendy Nelson and Eric Savage, show how much the monastery has grown, since the Konchok Foundation began construction on the Surmang Shedra over a decade ago. The new Kargenma building is nearing completion and stands high on the hilltop above the monastery,

The 30th anniversary of the parinirvana of Chögyam Trungpa XI Rinpoche was marked with a three-day practice period at his home monastery in eastern Tibet in early April. Chöseng Trungpa XII Rinpoche, assisted by Aten (Chetsang) Rinpoche, led approximately sixty monks, twenty-five nuns, and two hundred lay people during this

As part of the commemoration of the thirtieth anniversary of the parinirvana of Chögyam Trungpa XI Rinpoche, two videos have been uploaded to the Konchok Foundation youtube channel. This is the first appearance of these videos on the internet; they were previously only available in DVD format. Glimpses of Chögyam

We would like to express our grateful recognition of Dr. Rita Gross, who passed away in November 2015, for her significant bequest to the Konchok Foundation. The bequest is to support monks and nuns at Surmang Dutsi Til and at Wenchen nunnery. Rita was a pioneer in the study of