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The
monastery of Tsho (=Ringmo), which consists of a small
group of nine houses, is situated at the steep eastern
shore of the lake, a fifteen minutes' walk away from the
village. Behind the monastery, the steep rock faces rise
and below it, the shore drops into the lake. The
founding story of this monastery called Thasung Tsholing
Gompa (mTha-bshi-mTha'-srung mTsho-gling-dgon), refers
to its special location. It is recounted that in the
early days there used to be a lot of hunters who drove
the game into this corner (mtha', 'end', 'edge', 'termination')
where the animals could not escape and thus were killed.
The lama Treton Tshewang Tshultrim established the
monastery to stop the killing and protect the place (mtha'
srung, 'protected edge'). Later, the monastery was kept
by a lama of the Thashi lineage (mTha-bshi rGyal-mtshen
Tsul-thrim) and his descendants (the prefix Tashi before
the gompa indicates the connection with the Tashi
lineage). It was handed on in an unbroken lineage until
the last generation, when the Tashi lineage lacked male
offspring. By marriage with a man from the Treton
lineage in Pugmo, the first gompa returned to Treton
lineage. Today several monks live at the monastery,
which is now led by the abbot Geshe Samdrup Nyima (Excerpt
about Thasung Tsholing Gompa from the MA thesis of
Marietta Kind 1999).
The
small community hall of the Gompa in Ringmo could not
fulfill the needs for larger rituals and festivals
anymore, therefore the abbot Geshe Samdrup Nyima started
to build a new community hall in 1996 with the support
of WWF. The first floor of the building was finished in
1996 and was inaugurated by a large ritual for the
Blessing of all Living Beings and the Empowerment of
Medicine performed called Mendrub (cf. the thesis of M.
Kind describes the whole ritual) with visitors from all
over Dolpo. The interior was not finished at the time
though. In 2000, with the support of Tapriza Verein and
Friends of Dolpa a beautiful bookshelf/altar has been
completed with three woodcarvers working for two months
to assemble it. The wooden shelves have been painted in
2000 by the young students of the Thanka painting
program for free. The next step includes the making of
statues and Wallpaintings. A lot of villagers have
already agreed to sponsor one of the statues or one of
the Wallpaintings. With further donations the interior
of the monastery can be completed in the near future.
The
organisation Tapriza Verein does not intend to replace
the education of the traditional monk pupils in the
monasteries with the formation of Tapriza Culture
School. It aims to keep both systems alive and therefore
supports several monasteries in their aims to preserve
cultural heritage and educate young monks and nuns.
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