Qualla: Dzogchen Monastery https://qualla.com/dzogchen-monastery en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:37 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/w/j/w/q/dzogchen-monastery-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Dzogchen Monastery https://qualla.com/dzogchen-monastery Dzogchen Monastery: Introduction https://qualla.com/dzogchen-monastery/ Photo credit Mario Biondi writer, CC BY-SA 4.0. Twice burned to the ground. Twice rebuilt. Dzogchen Monastery has a relationship with destruction that would have ended most institutions, but this is one of the six mother monasteries of the Nyingma tradition, the oldest school of Tibetan Buddhism, and its community has treated each catastrophe as a test rather than a conclusion. Founded in 1684 in Kham, within modern-day Dege County in Sichuan's Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Dzogchen grew into the largest Nyingma monastery of all time before fire and political violence reduced it to ashes. Today it exists in two locations simultaneously: a reconstructed complex in its original valley in Tibet, and a thriving exile monastery in South India chosen by the Dalai Lama himself.

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Image: Mario Biondi writer | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/j/w/q/dzogchen-monastery-wp/wjwq-dzogchen-monastery-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Dzogchen Monastery: Five Hundred Monks and Thirteen Retreats https://qualla.com/dzogchen-monastery/ Photo credit Murimani, CC BY-SA 4.0. Pema Rigdzin, the 1st Dzogchen Rinpoche, founded the monastery in 1684. Over the following two centuries it became renowned for its Sri Singha Shedra, a monastic college established by Gyelze Zhenpen Taye during the time of the 4th Dzogchen Rinpoche, shortly after an earthquake n...

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]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/j/w/q/dzogchen-monastery-wp/wjwq-dzogchen-monastery-five-hundred-monks-and-thirteen-retreats.mp3 0:06 2 full Dzogchen Monastery: Fire, Rebuilding, and Fire Again https://qualla.com/dzogchen-monastery/ Photo credit Mario Biondi writer, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 1936 - the Fire Mouse year in the Tibetan calendar, a name that proved grimly apt - the monastery's main temple burned. The community rebuilt. Then in 1959, Chinese forces destroyed the entire complex, burning it to the ground for the second time in its history. This destructi...

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]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/j/w/q/dzogchen-monastery-wp/wjwq-dzogchen-monastery-fire-rebuilding-and-fire-again.mp3 0:06 3 full Dzogchen Monastery: The Dalai Lama's Choice https://qualla.com/dzogchen-monastery/ Photo credit Mario Biondi writer, CC BY-SA 4.0. Following the destruction of the 1950s, the Dzogchen community regrouped in exile. The 14th Dalai Lama personally selected the site for a new monastery at the Dhondenling Tibetan settlement in Kollegal, South India, on land near his own residence. Construction began in 1985, prec...

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]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/j/w/q/dzogchen-monastery-wp/wjwq-dzogchen-monastery-the-dalai-lamas-choice.mp3 0:06 4 full Dzogchen Monastery: Two Valleys, One Tradition https://qualla.com/dzogchen-monastery/ Photo credit Mario Biondi writer, CC BY-SA 4.0. Since the early 1980s, reconstruction has also been underway at the original site in Kham. The monastery now has 300 legally registered monks in residence, a nunnery, and roughly 750 others staying temporarily for varying periods. The complex includes a shedra for monastic study ...

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]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/j/w/q/dzogchen-monastery-wp/wjwq-dzogchen-monastery-two-valleys-one-tradition.mp3 0:06 5 full