THE MONKS AND NUNS OF THE FPMT

One of the first monks at Kopan Monastery, Ven. Thubten Samphel, talked to Mandala about his thirty years at the monastery.

I’m originally from a tiny village called Lawudo in the Solu Khumbu area of Nepal. This is the same village as Lama Zopa Rinpoche. I don’t remember when I became a monk. I think I was 15, and I took ordination from Lama Zopa, probably in 1970. I wasn’t really practicing anything yet. At that time, Kopan wasn’t established yet, and Rinpoche had gone from Tibet into India. After being in India for a while, he moved to Nepal.

Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche had plans to build the Lawudo gompa, but no actual work had begun. Soon after that, about 20 or 30 monks joined together, and this gathering created the basis for a school in Lawudo. We learned the Tibetan alphabet, writing, reading and some English. After that we moved to Kopan.

Kopan was different from what it is now, though! The old gompa – not the new one people see now – was just the shell at that time. There was nothing inside. It was totally empty, and they hadn’t even made doors or windows yet. On the other side of the building was the Chenrezig gompa, which was the original house on the hill where the king’s astrologer used to live. About 15 of us stayed together in there. We stayed at Kopan in the winter and in the summer we went to Lawudo. The majority of monks were from Lawudo, but some were Tibetan, especially the younger ones.

Since then I’ve been at Kopan, although I’m in Taiwan now. I was there for 30 years. Basically I studied philosophy, the five major Tibetan Buddhist texts of this tradition, and I also studied the various rituals. Along with that I learned formal Tibetan chanting, plus all the prayers and tunes. It’s still the same today, except at that time there were no real classes set up, no formal program.

When Lama Lhundrup came in 1972, he and the other lamas taught us and educated us. Kopan was poor, though, and living conditions were very difficult. The monks’ living conditions were worse compared to the current situation. At the beginning, I was a normal monk, studying and doing the normal jobs. Later Lama Yeshe and Lama Lhundrup asked me to be in charge of the gompa. I did that for seven years, after which they asked me to be the Kopan librarian. I occupied that position for about eight years.

My first opportunity to travel outside of Nepal came in 1988, when I visited Hong Kong with Geshe Lama Konchog for a month’s vacation. I was Geshe Lama Konchog’s translator, although I was speaking with broken English! I was also fundraising for Kopan’s library, and we were fortunate to find a generous sponsor who supported the project.

After that, Lama Lhundrup and Geshe Lama Konchog asked me to go to Taiwan. I lived with Geshe Lama Konchog for one month, then went back to Kopan. During that time in Kopan, we had invited a tantric ritual master from Gyume Tantric College, a teacher named Geshe Lobsang Donden. He taught us how to make sand mandalas and to perform various rituals. We made several mandalas in Kopan. At the same time we toured Hong Kong in an exhibition organized by an English man and woman. The same group of monks – there were five of us – visited Taiwan for the mandala exhibition. We created Chenrezig’s mandala in Taipei, Amitabha in Taichung and Medicine Buddha at the Heruka Center. We stayed in Taiwan for six months.

Last year, when Lama Zopa Rinpoche was here, he asked me to stay in Taichung. I am now teaching Tibetan language around Taiwan, and helping out with chanting and rituals where people need it. For me the Taiwanese culture isn’t so different from the Sherpa or Tibetan lifestyle. The way of doing things, and especially the way of thinking – because it’s Buddhist here, too – are similar.

I think Kopan Monastery is a very good place for monks and nuns to study, as well as for the Westerners. Kopan is the mother of the FPMT – it is a very important place. All of the activities and centers started from there. The Kopan monks and nuns are also very important – they are very dedicated to the lamas, who gave them their education. Those of us who lived there will never be able to repay their kindness. There is a strong sense of family at Kopan.

Within a few years Kopan will develop a lot. They already built a new monastery and new living rooms for the Sangha. For old students who go, it has completely changed, it’s a new city. It’s really good. Also the numbers of monks are increasing and there aren’t enough accommodations, because there are more and more people.

I feel that young Western Sangha should go study in Kopan with the monks and nuns. They will be able to learn Tibetan, and will get educated in the philosophy and other topics at the same time. They can do many activities for the FPMT centers with this kind of background. It depends on the individuals’ thoughts. If people are educated in many different places, they won’t get as strong a feeling for what the FPMT is. But if they study in the FPMT, there will be more support from within the organization. That is my feeling.