 The Rumtek Monastery or the Dharma Chakra Center is one
of the most important seats of the Kagyu lineage outside
Tibet. In the early nineteen sixties, His Holiness
the Sixteenth Gyalwang Karmapa founded this seat near
the three hundred year old Kagyu monastery built in
the sixteenth century by the Fourth King of Sikkim
under the guidance of the ninth Karmapa. The new Rumtek
monastery was built about two kilometers away from
this old monastery. Dharma Chakra Center includes
a beautifully structured main shrine temple and monastery
with monks' quarters, where the Karmapa resides and
where the most of the important relics are enshrined;
a three-year retreat center; a Shedra, or monastic
college, where the relics of the Sixteenth Karmapa
are enshrined; a nunnery; stupas; a protector's shrine;
institutions for the lay community; and other establishments.
The monastery holds annual events for the public.
Two of the most festive and important events are held
each summer and winter. In the fourth lunar month
of the Tsurphu Tibetan calendar either the Guru Rinpoche
or the Vajrakilaya Drupchen (great sadhana practice
retreat) take place. The
Rumtek Monastery is located in eastern Sikkim, 24
kilometers away from Gangtok, the capital of the
Sikkim, India. The best season to visit, in terms
of weather, is March to late May, or from October
to mid-December. The following languages are spoken
in the area: Sikkimese, Pahari (the local Nepalese
dialect), Hindi, Tibetan and English. |
