By Ven. Henri Charpentier

Nalanda Monastery in Lavaur, France, has a community of 18 monks. We live in harmony and have a strong refuge in the Triple Gems. But we have had our difficult times ….

The monastery started in 1982. Lama Yeshe had asked Geshe Jampa Tegchok to be our abbot, and so for 10 years we had an amazing teacher living with us. The community of monks, sometimes as many as 20, studied with Geshe-la and lived a monastic life together.

Then His Holiness the Dalai Lama appointed him as abbot of Sera Je Monastery in south India. After his departure there was a big gap at Nalanda, and many monks left. Slowly the monastery became empty of the older monks who had experience in the Dharma and monastic life. We had no one left to lead our pujas, so we had to learn all the tunes from a tape recorder. At some point there were only seven of us here, left alone. This time was incredibly hard for us. At one point I thought that the monastery would disappear due to the lack of monks.

On top of that we were told by the local authorities that we had to completely rewire the whole monastery. The few monks who were here had to work so hard: our building, a chateau, is 200 years old. It’s been a hard time.

But now, when I look back, I can see that this time has been very precious. Due to our motivation and our devotion to Lama Zopa Rinpoche, who has been guiding us, we have been able to create a strong community, based on faith and devotion to the Three Jewels. This unique and hard experience has been wonderful for us because now I can say that a monastery is reborn. Due to our determination and strong motivation we have been able to continue a strong practice in the monastery.

Because of this effort, many monks have been attracted to Nalanda and the result is that now we are 18 monks living in harmony. And our abbot, Geshe Jampa Gyatso from Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa in Italy, kindly visits us from time to time. We can see how important it is to build a community that is not dependent only on the teaching program or a resident teacher but on a strong refuge in the Triple Gems. Now that the community is strong and stable, we will be able to receive our new teacher.

What we have in mind is to have three different groups of activities: teachings, retreat and work. A monk can join one of these groups and concentrate all his energy on it and later, if he wishes, he can join one of the others. With this in mind, we will build two more retreat cabins, and to encourage donations we are making holy objects like small stupas, big stupas and statues that we will offer to sponsors.

I would like to thank our precious Guru Lama Zopa Rinpoche who always has been with me during this time. I want to thank too all the previous directors of Nalanda: Thubten Gyatso, John Feuille, Tubten Pende, Mike King, Neil Huston and Jean-François my present assistant for their incredible work, because it is due to their kindness I have been able to continue their work.

May the monastery increase, may the Western Sangha stay stable, may all beings be free of sufferings.