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Welcome to

Background

With the support of H.H. the Dalai Lama and senior lamas of all the major lineage traditions, Gompa - Tibetan Monastery Services has been established as a not-for-profit partnership of charitable organisations, with more than seventy participating monasteries, nunneries and international teaching centres. The primary aims of the Gompa partnership are:

To help build a closer connection between the monasteries and nunneries of India and Nepal and their followers worldwide and with all those who have an interest in classical Tibetan knowledge, practice, culture and arts around the world,

To help in the development of educational resources available in the monasteries and nunneries and to help support the range of social welfare and environmental projects both within each partner monastery and nunnery and within the local communities which they serve,

To provide a purpose built, advertising-free, not-for-profit alternative to commercial media platforms such as Facebook and YouTube.

As of February 2024, Gompa’s online services have raised over GBP £460,000 (USD $600,000) in additional support for the partner monasteries and nunneries. These funds are helping to support many hundereds of monks and nuns along with playing an ever-increasing role in supporting education and social welfare, both in the partner monasteries and nunneries and the local communities which they serve.

Since its formation, Gompa - Tibetan Monastery Services has:

webcast over 275 courses and teachings and other special events at forty-three different partner monasteries and nunneries and international webcast hosts,

arranged over 1,025 sponsored prayers and pujas to be performed at the partner monasteries and nunneries,

transferred over 9,000 individual offerings or donations to the partner monasteries and nunneries, with no transfer fees.

Advisory Council of Gompa - Tibetan Monastery Services

[Select here to see the current partner monasteries and nunneries] [Select here to see messages from senior lamas.]

In partnership with over seventy monasteries and nunneries, the services provided by Gompa so far include:

• the opportunity to support and participate in special events at the partner monasteries and nunneries throughout the year, such as major pujas and ceremonies, enthronements, prayer flag raising and animal releasing activities, with the option to view webcasts of select special events;
• online arrangement of personally sponsored prayers and pujas at the partner monasteries and nunneries, with the option to view photographs or videos of the sponsored prayers and pujas;
• year round high production quality webcasts of current courses and teachings by eminent rinpoches and senior teachers at the partner monasteries, nunneries and international centres;
• continuous year round access to the Gompa’s extensive library of past teachings by eminent rinpoches, senior lamas and teachers;
• an online service for sending offerings (together with personal wishes or dedication) with no transfer fees to the partner monasteries and nunneries, at any time, or for auspicious monthly puja days (e.g. Tara, Medicine Buddha, and Protector puja days or Bon feast offerings days, etc) or for sending donations in support of special monastery or nunnery community projects.

As advised by the senior lamas, the Gompa partnership aims to make it as easy as possible for all those with an interest, to participate in the teachings, rituals and ceremonies held at the monasteries and nunneries; to sponsor prayers and rituals at times of special significance or difficulty in life; and to make meritorious offerings on auspicious days or special occasions, just as one could do if the monastery or nunnery was in your own village, town or city.

Gompa's online services are specifically designed for connecting with the dharma activities of the lamas and the monasteries and nunneries. The services are free from advertising (unlike the commercial channels such as Facebook, YouTube and Google) and the webcast channel has been especially created as an appropriate environment for the webcasting of the teachings and the other special events held at the monasteries and nunneries. Also, the personal data gathered on the Gompa site is never sold or shared nor used for marketing and advertising – as it is on commercial channels.

All of the Gompa partnership’s high definition recordings of teachings and special events are archived, and copies of the recordings are distributed to the partner monastery and nunnery libraries, so that the recordings can continue to play an educational role for current and future generations. In addition, all the Gompa webcasts are freely available to view by the over 20,000 monks and nuns at the partner monasteries and nunneries in India and Nepal.

Gompa - Tibetan Monastery Services is also supporting a new, vitally important initiative recently established under the auspices of H.H the Dalai Lama: the creation of the Tibetan International Digital Library. The Tibetan International Digital Library has been formed in order to provide an unprecedented digital library platform offering unified access to, and archival conservation for, the major Tibetan cultural resource collections worldwide. See www.tidl.org for details.

Management and Initial Funding

Gompa is managed, in partnership with the major Tibetan monasteries and nunneries of India and Nepal, by Tibetan Monastery Services Ltd, UK, a subsidiary of the Orient Foundation for Arts and Culture, registered charity #287817, see www.orient.org.

Initial funding for the launch of Gompa was raised by the Orient Foundation for Arts and Culture, in part from supporters of the Private Office of H.H. the Dalai Lama and also from the Foundation's own trustees.

Gompa keeps its operating costs to a minimum and sets its requested member support donations and fees for services as low as possible based on the requirement to sustainably provide, develop and expand the online services over the long term. Any additional revenue generated through member-supporter contributions and the provision of services is donated towards the development of multimedia educational resources, in support of the partner monasteries and nunneries in India and Nepal; and towards the archival conservation of, and provision of access to classical Tibetan knowledge and arts study resources for scholars, students and the Sangha worldwide.

Sustaining and Developing Gompa – Tibetan Monastery Services

Gompa is now primarily dependent on its member-supporters in order to be able to continue to provide its services and thereby continue to raise sponsorships and donations in support of education and social welfare at the partner monasteries and nunneries and the local communities which they serve.

We invite you therefore to please support the continuation and expansion of Gompa - Tibetan Monastery Services by joining Gompa as a member-supporter and/or giving a gift of Gompa membership and/or by donating to Gompa.

We are also currently seeking donations, grants, or loans to help complete the development of the special 'Diamond Path' service – please see the link on the homepage. If you would like to know more detail about this important new service and how you can help to support its development, please write to us at: admin [at] gompaservices.com.

Network of Partner Monasteries and Nunneries

In India, Gompa's online services are available from the partner monasteries and nunneries at Dehradun, Bylakuppe, Hunsur, Mundgod, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Bodhgaya, West Bengal, Sikkim and Ladakh, and in Nepal, in the Kathmandu valley, and at Lumbini, Lapchi, Nubri, Dolpo, Pokhara, Mustang and Namo Buddha. Online services from further partners in India and Nepal are continuously being added. [Select here to see current partner monasteries and nunneries]

The Gompa head office is at Dehradun (North India) with offices and webcast hubs also at Mundgod (South India) and Kathmandu (Nepal).

Dehradun staff: Dhundup Tashi (Area Manager for India and Nepal and English Liaison), Lobsang Palden (Coordinator for India, and Media Producer), Urgyen Tenzin (Webcaster), Tashi Dondup (English Liaison and Webcast Assistant).

Mundgod staff: Karma Phuntsok (South India Coordinator and Webcaster)

Kathmandu staff: Tenzin Wangchuk (Nepal Manager and Webcast Assistant), Yangchen Lhamo (Chinese Liaison and Nepal Coordinator), Tsering Tashi (Webcaster).

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