Gebchak lamas with 3-year retreat nuns (L to R: Tsogyal Tulku Rinpoche, Tsoknyi Rinpoche, Yogin Pema Drimey, Wangdrak Rinpoche)
When Gebchak Gonpa was established by the first Tsangyang Gyamtso in 1892, it was the first nunnery in the region. Tsangyang Gyamtso was inspired to build Gebchak by his root guru, the first Drubwang Tsoknyi Rinpoche, a renowned master and visionary for the potential of nuns and female Dharma practitioners. True to this vision, Gebchak Gonpa soon became the ‘Mother Nunnery’ to many branch nunneries with a unique tradition of female yogic practice that continues to flourish in Nangchen today.
In the early days of Gebchak Gonpa, some of the most devoted and accomplished of Tsoknyi and Tsangyang Gyamtso’s disciples became distinguished as the ‘Nine Lamas of Gebchak’. Over later generations some of these Nine Lamas moved away and settled at branch nunneries.
Ani Lama Chemchok with Tsangyang Gyamtso and Wangdrak Rinpoches
Today, several of these Nine Lamas live nearby Gebchak Gonpa and remain a part of the nunnery’s ongoing ritual schedule.
The Gebchak nuns rely on and request their lamas for necessary empowerments, spiritual support and material welfare. The nuns adhere to strict rules in the nunnery in order to preserve their intensive spiritual practice system with purity and integrity. The lamas support them in this by acquiring outside support for their food, healthcare and other material needs.
