The 20th Century

Popo Ngawang

The Bodong tradition was already in decline before the Chinese occupation of Tibet. Even in the 1950’s there were not many scholars or learning centres left. In 1959, the situation further worsened. From 1959 until 1980 was the darkest in the history of this tradition.

In the late 1980’s, people from Porong who were living in Nepal and Switzerland began taking some initiative to construct a small Bodong monastery in exile. Led by Popo Ngawang, they slowly gathered a few monks who made the name of the Bodong tradition existent once again. However, in Tibetan Buddhism, having a monastery and a few monks is not sufficient reason to the revival of a tradition.

Audience with H.H. Dalai Lama

In 1992, an important meeting took place, during which further steps for the revival of the Bodong tradition were planned. Resulting from the far sighted guidance by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and the unshakable support and encouragement of Marlies Kornfeld from Switzerland, it became possible to construct a new monastery in Nepal. Due to the kind support from our friends in Belgium, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Sweden, and Finland, we were able to open the Bodong Research and Publication Centre in Dharamsala, India. The centre is playing a key role in planning the future curriculum for the monastery, in carrying out research as well as publishing the five major texts including rare prayer books from Bodong Panchen Chogley Namgyal’s writings.