When times began to change in Tibet, among the many lamas and tulkus who left their homelands for India and Nepal, there was a Kagyu lama named Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche. It is thanks to the inspiration of this great being that our monastery, Tergar Ösel Ling, first came to be.

Kyabje Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche was a highly realized scholar and practitioner, holding both Mahamudra and Dzogchen lineages. He was also the father of our abbot, the seventh Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche.

Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche obtained the land for the new monastery around 1986, and in 1990, the main temple was completed. He bestowed on it the name Ngédön Ösel Ling, 'Place of the Definitive Meaning, Clear Light.' At the time he entrusted it to the care of his son Drubwang Tsoknyi Rinpoche; later he instructed Kyabje Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche to take responsibility for it as well.

Until 2010, Drubwang Tsoknyi Rinpoche took principal charge of the monastery. He looked after it in all respects, including overseeing the construction of a large extension.

After Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche had completed his studies, he went on to have a new assembly hall built at Tergar in Tibet, the 'mother' Tergar monastery. Then, upon the urging of Jamgön Tai Situ Rinpoche who advised that there was a need for a Tergar monastery in exile. Rinpoche considered that it would be a good way to accomplish his aspiration to protect the continuity of the teachings. Therefore, proceeding step by step, Jamgön Tai Situ Rinpoche provided a piece of land in Bodh Gaya, India in 2001, construction of the main temple began in 2003, and 2006 saw the inauguration of Tergar monastery in India.

Having thus established a new Tergar monastery, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche observed that in order to further preserve and propagate the teachings, it would be important for Tergar to include a monastic college (Tib. shedra). Thus the intention to create a Tergar shedra was formed. Rinpoche's older brother, Kyabje Tsoknyi Rinpoche, repeatedly requested that Rinpoche establish the shedra at Ösel Ling, under Tergar's name, and take over responsibility for the monastery.

In this way, respecting the wishes of his elder brother as well as the counsel of his lamas, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche officially took charge of Ösel Ling in a formal ceremony on the third day of the first month of the female earth ox year (February 16, 2010), and inaugurated the shedra. The monastery's name was expanded to Tergar Ngédön Lungrik Ösel Dargye Ling, 'Flourishing Place for the Clear Light of the Definitive Meaning of the Scriptures and Reasonings.'

Intending that this monastery be, first and foremost, a focal point for study of the major scriptures of the Buddhadharma, Rinpoche personally and wholeheartedly shouldered the responsibility for the monastic college in all matters, both inner and outer. Thus began Tergar monastery in Nepal.

In 2015, Nepal suffered great loss and damage in a powerful earthquake. Ösel Ling was not spared: the original temple and monks' quarters were badly damaged. Therefore, after emerging from his wandering retreat, Rinpoche raised funds from devoted sponsors around the world, and began to rebuild the monastery. Due to their kindness, construction of a grand new temple and new monks' quarters is currently well underway.

To enlarge the picture of Tergar further, we note that besides the three Tergar monasteries of Tibet, India, and Nepal, presently flourishing under Kyabje Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche's guidance there is also a school for children in Rinpoche's birthplace of Nubri, Nepal, as well as, Tergar meditation groups all around the world. In all of these varied contexts, Rinpoche tirelessly carries out his activity. This consistently revolves around the theme of teaching Buddhist meditation practice in order to foster world peace, assuage the hardships of modern society, and encourage mental health.

In the seventeenth century, one of the twenty-one great treasure revealers (Tib. tertön) with the name 'Nüden', appeared in Tibet: he was Rigdzin Mingyur Dorje Drakpo Nüden Tsal. This great tertön established what became the first ‘Tergar,’ in a camp of yak-hair tents in an outer area of Do Kham, on nomad land. Ever since then, regardless of the external flourishing or restrictions of the teachings and activities, their continuity has been maintained without lapse at Tergar.

As it was before, so it is now. In modern times, now that the teachings are once again flourishing, Tergar has been renewed in Tibet and established outside Tibet. In order that the greatest aspirations of the Buddhist teachings and activities be accomplished, we remain steadfast with hope to be of service for the well-being and benefit of all sentient beings. May we preserve the continuity of the teachings without degeneration, and ensure that they are offered to people in a way that resonates with their modern circumstances.