“The First Drupon Dechen Rinpoche created a renaissance at Tsurphu [after the Chinese Cultural Revolution in Tibet], like the great Lama Gongpa Rabsel, who revived Buddhism from downfall in Tibet following its persecution by King Lang Dharma in the 8th century.”
For New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, I was fortunate to be able to spend time chanting prayers in among the mountains of lovely Chiang Mai, North Thailand, at the second Kagyu Monlam Thailand (31st December 2024 -3rd January 2025). The monlam gathering was held near Doi Suthep mountain, at a Vipassana centre and temple called Wat Ram Poeng [1].
The Monlam was led by Drupon Dechen Rinpoche, a young 24 year old Tibetan tulku personally recognised in 2001 by, and close to, the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, and whose previous incarnation was considered to be a highly realised practitioner in Tibet, who had been a former retreat master at Tsurphu Monastery. In 1966, the 1st Drupon Rinpoche, on the advice of the 16th Karmapa, left Tibet and went to Nepal and Ladakh, and founded Mahay Monastery. During that time, the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa sent a letter to Rinpoche thanking him for all his Dharma activities, and assigned Drupon Dechen Rinpoche the task of returning to Tibet to renovate Tsurphu Monastery. (Tsurphu had been completely destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. By the 1970s, it was crumbled to dust and in ruins.) In 1981, after fully handing over his Mahay Monastery, Ladakh to Khentin 11th Tai Situpa Rinpoche, Drupon Dechen left with his retinue for Tibet to begin rebuilding Tsurphu. The 16th Karmapa, Rigpe Dorje personally gave responsibility to him for Tsurphu and its renovation when he left Tibet, and stated in a letter that he was his ‘alter-ego’. In one online biography it is said that: “
It was interesting to read about Mahay Monastery in Ladakh because I had no idea this was a Karma Kagyu monastery and also, when I searched for more information about it online, I was surprised to see that the monastery FB page has a photo of the 14th Dalai with a very young child, Drupon Dechen Rinpoche. There had been no posts on that page for twenty years (since 2015) so who is running and owning it since that time, and why a photo of the 14th Dalai Lama on that page and not 12th Tai Situpa or 17th Karmapa, who manage and control the monastery until Rinpoche is a suitable age to take it over?
Although I have seen Rinpoche at previous Kagyu Monlams in Bodh Gaya before, this was the first time I attended an event he was leading and met him in person. His innocent, joyful and open energy was palpable. The umdze/chant master, Karma Samten (Rumtek Monastery) for the event was also excellent, in particular his chanting of the Amitayus mantra was brilliant and powerful indeed.
In this brief article here, I share some photos and experiences of the Monlam and place where it was held, and meeting fellow scholar-researcher on women in Vajrayana Buddhism. Dr. Tenzin Dhadon who was a participant. This is followed by some photos of the delightful L’Amour Cafe next door, with Frida Khalo, roses and vintage style galore, as Mary Poppins sang, these are a few of my favourite things!
I conclude with a new translation offering of a Praises for the 17th Karmapa, Crown Prince of the Land of Snows, composed and published by Drupon Rinpoche (when he was 17 years old) on his personal FB page in 2017 (a page that is also not active since 2018, although perhaps that is a healthy and good thing, as so many monks and nuns seem to spend all their time on Facebook these days! ha ha). A pdf of the Praise can be downloaded here: Crown Prince of the Land of Snows Praise to 17th Karmapa (2017).
As I was driven back to the old town Chiang Mai in a taxi, a song came on the radio, Enchanted. I had not heard it before and asked the taxi driver about the song, and it was Taylor Swift. Am not a huge fan of Swift or her music at all, but it seemed like the perfect lyric song for the ending of the small but very sweet and joyful second Kagyu Monlam Thailand…”All I can say is, it was enchanting to meet you.”
Music? Buddhist Thai Monks Chanting Dhammacakka Sutta, Enchanted by Taylor Swift and Don’t Worry be Happy by Bobby McFerrin.
The Wat Ram Poeng Vipassana Centre in the hills of Chiang Mai
Although I have now stayed several months on and off in Chiang Mai (see articles here), a lovely small Buddhist city with many Buddhist temples, cafes, trees, flowers and more in the northern mountains of Thailand, I had not visited the temple Wat Ram Poeng before. It is a 20 minute car ride from the centre of the Old Town Chiang Mai, nestled on the secluded edges surrounded by woods and hills, and often hosts Vipassana courses/retreats in English for foreign visitors there. Next to the temple buildings is an old stupa around which people mindfully circumabulate (see photos below).
The Kagyu Monlam Thailand 2025
The Kagyu Monlam Thailand officially started on 30th January, but I was able to go the following afternoon I was surprised to see only three or four laypeople and about twenty Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns (mainly from Rumtek Monastery). I expected there to be more people, from Thailand and other Karma Kagyu followers in SE Asia. However, the 12th Tai Situpa had been hosting some events in Malaysia, which may have been the reason for not many Karma Kagyu followers there. However, as the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa recently advised, whenever a Kagyu Monlam is held, it is important that all the Karma Kamtsang monastics and lay followers come together to support and attend it.
Even though it was a small gathering, the shrine was stunning indeed, with a magnificent Buddha statues and backdrop, with tormas, flowers and offerings, and the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa photo on the main throne. I made some flower offerings, and a single red rose for the guru, prostrated and took a seat with fellow devotees.
During the Monlam the presence of Avalokiteshvara and the energy of compassion pervaded the space, especially when chanting the heartfelt aspiration of Avalokita. Also, when chanting the the Protector Practice (chanted in the final sessions), I felt the blazing presence of the three roots, of the guru, 17th Karmapa, yidam Chakrasamvara and Vajravararhi, and the protectors,Mahakala and Rangjung Gyalmo. In particular, on New Year’s Day during the Protector practice, as well as the Dharma Blaze Aspiration chanting, I felt the presence/vision of both Guru Padamsambhava dawning/arising. The energy was unmistakable, a majestic presence, wide eyes and blazing on the throne, alternating between 17th Karmapa in union with consort. This was then followed by the Protector Rangjung Gyalmo in union with Mahakala and this was surprisingly one of the most intense protector practices I had ever attended.
As the union with Karmapa blazed bright and hot on the throne, visions of the Protector arose glistening, joyful yet wrathful. Supreme bliss joy, the beauty of Vajrayana as a practice, method and wisdom. Yeshe/Jnana came forcefully breathing like spitfire out of the mouth spontaneously, as the the four joys of the union manifested, with bodhicitta rising and falling, blissful ecstasy, wrath, joy and wisdom entering the sacred space. By the end, the final moving aspiration, sang by an umdze (chant-master), with a remarkable, moving and beautiful voice indeed, led to a culmination on both days of unbearable, spontaneous tears of joy and sadness, of heartbreak and loss at the Karmapa’s ongoing public absence from the Kagyu Monlams.
Final Day and Marme Monlam
On the final day of 3rd January, I went to speak to Drupon Dechen Rinpoche personally and gift him a copy of my specially commissioned and envisioned thangka artwork of Kagyu lineage female and male forefathers, with signed message on the back. Although I have seen him before at Kagyu events, this was the first time I was able to meet and speak to him privately, and he was very friendly, approachable, warm and has a sweet and lovely joyful energy to him too.
When the Marme Monlam finished, the abbot of the Temple Wat, Ajahn Suphan entered the shrine room and speeches were given by Drupon Dechen Rinpoche and the abbot who emphasised how he was happy for the Temple to be used for Buddhist chanting and events in all the traditions, and apologised that due to the New Year timing, if resources and food had not been satisfactory. He mentioned the founder of the Temple (the photo on the right side of the Buddha statue below) and how the founder would also have been happy that they were hosting such an event.
Group photos were then taken and gifts exchanged, including two stunning thangka artworks of Avalokiteshvara four-armed, and thousand-armed presented to the abbot by Rinpoche (see photos below).
Spontaneously meeting Dr. Tenzin Dhadon: Bhutanese nun and academic
While there I also had the auspicious and meaningful fortune to meet a nun scholar from Bhutan, Dr. Tenzin Dhadon, who is currently based in Malaysia as the Director of Education at Vajrayana Buddhist Council of Malaysia – VBCM , and one of the very few Asian-origin nuns to be writing and speaking about sexual abuse and survivors in Vajrayana and Mahayana Buddhism. We had an interesting discussion about such topics and the obstacles ourselves and work has faced, particularly by the monastic authorities and men in Bhutan [1].
I also spoke to her about my being a named survivor of lama abuse and how I had even been shunned and ignored (and denigrated) by the very academics and people publicly portraying themselves as advocates of women and survivors of such conduct, and how I felt that survivors’ voices and experiences were still not being heard, respected, shared or privileged by such people [2]. In particular, they seem to privilege anonymous (and thus less reliable ‘survivor voices’) and not the more reliable, brave and courageous voices of named survivors, and all the personal loss and attacks they face from speaking out. She seemed very open to further discussion and I hope we can meet again in the near future.
New Translation Offering of Praise to 17th Karmapa by Drupon Dechen Rinpoche
As another small offering for Drupon Dechen Rinpoche (and the guru, 17th Karmapa), here is my translation of a Praise he wrote to the 17th Karmapa in Tibetan in June 2017:
Crown Prince of the Land of Snows:
Birthday Wishes and Praises to the 17th Karmapa by Dechen Rinpoche (2017)
གངས་ལྗོངས་ཀྱིས་རྒྱལ་སྲས།
ཨོ༷་རྒྱན་སངས་རྒྱས་གཉིས་པ་མི་གཟུགས་སུ། ། འགྲོ་བ་འདུལ་བའི་ཆེད་དུ་འཇིག་རྟེན་འདིར། །
ཕེབས་ནས་སངས་རྒྱས་ཉིད་གྱི་འཕྲིན་ལས་མཛད། ། གསང་གསུམ་རྡོ་རྗེ་འཛིན་པ་ཁྱོད་ལ་འདུད། །
Orgyen, the Second Buddha, in human form,
Came to this world to tame beings,
Performing the activities of Buddhahood itself.
I bow to you, the Vajra Holder of the Three Secrets.
ཁྱོད་སྐུ་གངས་ལྗོངས་བོད་ཀྱི་ཡུལ་དུ་བལྟམས། །ཁྱོད་ཀྱི་གསུང་ནི་འཛམ་གླིང་ཡོངས་ལ་ཁྱབ། །
ཁྱོད་ཐུགས་དུས་ཀུན་སེམས་ཅན་ཡོང་ལ་གཟིགས། །སངས་རྒྱས་མི་གཟུགས་ཁྱོད་ལ་བདག་བསྟོད་དོ། །
Your body was born in the land of Snows, Tibet,
Your speech pervades the entire world,
Your mind always watches over all sentient beings.
I praise you, the Buddha in human form.
ཁྱེད་ནི་འཛམ་གླིང་ཤར་ཕྱོགས་ཡུལ་དུ་ཕེབས། །འགྲོ་དོན་ནམ་མཁའི་ཉི་མ་བཞིན་དུ་ཁྱབ། །
བཀའ་ཆོས་ཟབ་མོ་མི་མང་ཡོངས་ལ་སྩལ། །འཇིག་རྟེན་མི་ཡི་སེང་གེ་ཁྱོད་ལ་འདུད། །
You came to the eastern land of Jambudvipa,
Your enlightened activities spread like the sun in the sky,
Granting the profound Dharma teachings to all the people.
I bow to you, the Lion of worldly beings.
འཁྲུངས་སྐར་བསུ་བ།
ཨོ་ཡིག་སྐྱེ་འགག་བྲལ་བའི་ཀློང་ཡངས་ནས། ། རྒྱན་པའི་ཆ་རྫོགས་སྤྲུལ་པའི་ཟློས་གར་གྱིས། །
འགྲོ་ཀུན་བྱམས་ཆེན་རྒྱ་མཚོའི་འགོད་པ་དང་། །འདུལ་བའི་བསྟན་པ་བསྲུང་སླད་ཟློས་གར་སྒྱུར། །
Celebrating the Birthday
From the vast expanse free from origin and cessation, Oṃ,
Through the fully adorned, illusory dance of emanation,
You establish all beings in the ocean of great love,
And display your dance to protect the Vinaya (discipline) teachings.
འཕྲིན་ལས་གཅིག་བསྡུས་རྒྱལ་བའི་ཡབ་གཅིག་ཉིད། །རྡོ་རྗེའི་ཁམས་སུ་འཁྲུངས་པས་སྐྱིད་པའི་ཉིན། །
དགའ་དད་སྤྲོ་གསུམ་འཁོལ་བའི་གླུ་དབྱངས་ཀྱིས། ། སྐྱིད་པའི་སྐུ་ཡི་འཁྲུངས་སྐར་དགའ་བས་བསུ། །
Sole embodiment of the Buddha’s activities, sole father of the Victors,
Born in the vajra realm, the joyous sun,
With bubbling songs of joy, faith, and delight,
We joyfully celebrate your happy birthday.
Thus, spoken by the one called Drupon Dechen Tulku.
ཞེས་པའང་སྒྲུབ་དཔོན་བདེ་ཆེན་སྤྲུལ་མིང་པས་སོ། །
Translated by Adele Tomlin, 4th January 2026, as an offering to Rinpoche and the completion of the Kagyu Monlam Thailand 2025.
Surroundings and the spectacular L’amour cafe with Frida Kahlo
I did not get much chance to explore the surrounding of that Wat, as I normally stay around the Old Town and its gorgeous Buddhist temples, for more on that see here and here. However, about a two minute walk just outside its main entrance, was a lovely cafe indeed. Full of roses, flower, artworks of flowers and of the famous female artist, Frida Kahlo, vintage chairs and furniture, it was like a cafe straight out of my dreams/imagination. I stopped there to have a cappuccino and take some photos for the memories and the sheer magical beauty of it.
APPENDIX
Biography of 1st Drupon Dechen Rinpoche
Endnotes
[1] I was told by a Tibetan monk from Rumtek Monastery at the event that one of the main Chinese sponsors of the event about a week before had been in terrible car accident with his family members and that was another reason it was decided to postpone it.
[2] For example, I explained how my own talk, on the female roots of Vajrayana and the male monastic takeover of its transmission and practice at the Vajrayana Bhutan conference in 2023, was never published unlike the other speeches on my panel by unqualified and unknown speakers, and no reason was ever given for that, even when requested. For more about that, see here.
[3] Even today, even though I am one of the very few named survivors, these advocates have never shared or shown any public support or concern for my case and testimony. The fact that she was not aware of my testimony is proof of that. How could someone working in that field not be aware of one of the very few public testimonies by a named survivor?