We thought to share with you some of our preliminary findings on an ongoing research project to map the geographical history of Jonang monasteries and sites.

Jonang Site Clusters

Since 2004, we at Jonang Foundation have conducted textual and field research on places and institutions affiliated with the Jonang Buddhist tradition. This is enabling us to track the historical migration and spatial presence of the Jonangpa across the Tibetan plateau. There are at present almost 50 sites located on the map out of the nearly 100 sites that we have documented to date, a considerable set for an institutionalized Tibetan order that was thought by many to be extinct. Each site is marked on Google Earth with an exact co-ordinal location, providing a resource to researchers and interested members of the community.

Further iterations of this Jonang sites project include a digital 3D replica of Taranatha's Takten Phuntsok Ling Monastery as well as of the Dzamthang Monastery complex in Amdo, extensive galleries of wall mural paintings and local features extent at Jonang monasteries, and a fully populated interactive satellite map of Jonang sites with historical descriptions. All of this is integrated online with our biographical database of Jonang lineage masters and an online museum of Jonang material culture with galleries of artifacts including art, relics and ritual implements.

The project can be visited at these urls,

Jonang Sites Map

Jonang Sites Updates

*This project is working in collaboration with students at the University of Alabama under the supervision of Professor Amy Holmes-Tagchungdarpa.

Tibet Primary School 08.2012

In the summer of 2004, we decided to build a schoolhouse for children from local families and orphans in the nomadic region of eastern Tibet. A year later we had constructed a temporary school made of cinder blocks and inexpensive materials to house the more than 35 students who were sent by their parents for an education. By the spring of 2006, we broke ground for the construction of Losal Ling Primary School or The Oasis for Clear Learning.

As of this August, we are proud to announce that the construction of Losal Ling is now complete! There are presently over 100 students living there and studying full-time. The school has the capacity to educate up to 300 students, and is becoming a major center for learning in this remote area of Tibet.

To learn more about or support the operating of our schools, see the Education Projects page.

We have released the teaser clip for our Jonang Nuns Project. This project was setup in 2007 in order to provide care and greater support for Tibetan women practitioners of the Jonang tradition in Tibet. The video was taken and edited by our collaborator on this project, Jessica Benjamin. Please take a look,

Kalkha Rinpoche Passes in Mongolia

Jetsun Kalkha Rinpoche

With profound sadness, we at Jonang Foundation report the loss of His Eminence the 9th Kalkha Jetsun Dhampa Rinpoche, Dorjee Chang Jampel Namdrol Choekyi Gyaltsen. Jetsun Dampa Rinpoche was 80 years old. He passed away earlier today in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

Kalkha Rinpoche was born in Lhasa in 1932 and conducted much of his studies at Gomang College of Drepung Monastery before departing Tibet for India after 1959. He spent several years working at the radio station in Darjeeling and then eventually settled in Madhya Pradesh with his family. In 1991, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Dalai Lama appointed him the spiritual head of Buddhism in Mongolia. Though he was unable to live in Mongolia until recently, he expressed his wish publicly to spend his final days there.

The title of "Kalkha" was first bestowed by the Fifth Dalai Lama on the Mongolian-born Lozang Tenpai Gyaltsen (1635-1723) in the year 1642. He was declared as a tulku or reincarnation of the Jonangpa master Taranatha. This line of incarnations continued up until the late 9th Kalkha Rinpoche. In 1997, the Dalai Lama appointed Kalkha Jetsun Dampa as the head of the Jonang tradition in exile, based at Takten Phuntsok Ling Monastery in Shimla.

See the related article on Phayul.com

Do you have a Facebook account? Then join us! Become a fan of Jonang Foundation. Join the Jonang Foundation Cause. Participate in the Jonang Tibetan Buddhism group. Become a Member of the Jonangpa.com Blog.

We hope to generate some positive activity and build a network of supporters via Facebook. Feel free to invite like-minded friends and get involved.

Tibetan Leaders Endorse Jonang

Tibetan Lamas at 11th Conference

Last week, during the 11th conference of Tibetan religious leaders that was held in Dharamsala, India, the Jonang was endorsed as a distinct and autonomous tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. This confirmation comes after years of petitioning the representative authorities in exile for official status. The next step in this deliberation process is approval from Tibetan Parliament. There is hope that the issue will be raised and approved during the congress of Parliament next spring.

Presiding over the conference, His Holiness the Dalai Lama strongly urged members to seriously consider the issue of granting status to the Jonang. Conference members who made this endorsement were the heads and high-ranking lamas of each of the Tibetan religious traditions: Sakya, Geluk, Nyingma, Kagyu and Bon.

The Jonang Buddhist tradition was established in the Jomonang valley in Central Tibet during the late 11th century and continues in an unbroken lineage of transmission up to the present day. Jonang Foundation serves as the international support organization and informational network for the tradition.

See the related article on Phayul.com

Pilgrimage to Tibet

Mount Kailash

Summer 2013: Dates to be Announced

A Cultural & Educational Expedition Hosted by Jonang Foundation

After an incredible heart-filling pilgrimage this summer through central Tibet with 19 pilgrims, we are happy to announce that our biannual pilgrimage to power places in Tibet will resume in 2013. Different from our previous pilgrimages, the 2013 expedition will have Tibet's most sacred mountain, Mount Kailash, as the apex of the journey.

This journey will take you through the ages and across the boundaries of cultural imagination to encounter the sacred sites of Tibet's living spiritual traditions. Meditation sessions, pilgrimage rituals, and discussions on Buddhist philosophy and Tibetan culture with Tulku Kunga Zangpo Rinpoche and Tibet specialists Dr. Michael Sheehy will be integral to the journey. All proceeds generated are contributed to educational and cultural preservation projects in Tibet hosted by Jonang Foundation.

Stay tuned for further information including the itinerary, costs, and registration details on our Pilgrimage page.

Jonang Publication Series III Released

Series III

The third set in the Jonang Publication Series (Jo nang dpe tshogs) is now available for purchase from Jonang Foundation. This ongoing series of select Tibetan Buddhist classics features important works by major Jonang authors from all genres of sutra and tantra. Each work in this series is chosen from the corpus of Jonang literature to reflect the contemporary scholastic curriculum within Jonang monastic universities inside Tibet. Several texts in this series are being made available in published form for the first time in centuries.

To view the 12 volumes, and purchase these fine Tibetan language (dbu can) books, visit the Series III page in the JF Shop.

See also, the Series I and Series II pages.

Interactive Jonang Sites Map

Working in collaboration with the University of Alabama, we at Jonang Foundation have developed an interactive satellite map of Jonang sites across Tibet.

“Thank you Michael and Amitabha Travel for the opportunity to go on this once-in-a-lifetime trip! If anyone wanted to experience the power places of Tibet, there could be no better itinerary. Riding into Lhasa on the bus from the airport and seeing the Potala on the start of the journey just set the tone for what was to follow –- a taste of things to come. The highlight of the trip for me was the Great Stupa of Jonang, because it encapsulated for me what Tibetan Buddhism was actually all about –- forgetfulness of the world, devotion to the teacher and the teachings and overcoming the obstacles on the way. It was not an easy journey because of the altitude and the cultural differences, but in a way those only enhanced the meaning of the trip. I embraced the culture and the sites, and it is an experience which is to this day indelibly imprinted on my mind. I would do it again in a heartbeat if I had the chance! While the stops at Tashi Lhunpo, Sakya and Samye were must-sees, the experience of the lesser-known power places such as Old Lhatse, Bodong and Zhalu were a treasure in and of themselves. If you want to experience the true Tibet, you have to see these places!”

From Malvin Artley, Australia
A JF 2009 Pilgrimage Member

For details about the upcoming 2011 Tibet trip, see Pilgrimage.