We want to have more nuns become good scholar-practitioners. So for that reason, now is the time to put effort into Nagi Gompa, a very remote, quiet and nice place. Whoever wants to become a nun, whatever their nationality, we’d like them to have the opportunity to study the Buddhadharma intensively, Sutra and Mantra. At the same time, we want to have, not only our three-year retreat, but also six and nine-year retreats, too. These are our deep wishes. I want people to know this and to know how important our monastic sangha is.
– Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche
High above the emerald-hued Kathmandu Valley, to the north, you can see a cluster of buildings–the nunnery hermitage named Happy Mind (Nagi Gompa, now renamed Tsungon Nangkyi Gompa). It is a very apt name as it reflects the stress-less faces of the women who have come to live there, training in how to be free from the inside, filling that freedom with boundless love and compassion.
The nunnery lies below the daunting Tara Bir Cliff, which is sacred to the female buddha of compassion. Tara is practiced daily by all the nuns.
Nagi Gompa was given to Kyabje Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche in the early 1960s by His Holiness the 16th Karmapa and over the years thousands of pilgrims walked up from Kathmandu to receive the meditation master’s precious instructions known as “guidance through personal experience.” Since then it has been expanded several times, most recently with new quarters for nuns and guest retreatants.
During the devastating earthquake on April 25, 2015, the three-year retreat center and other structures suffered extensive damage and must be rebuilt.
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