Zongkar Choede Monastery is located at
Gurupura in
Mysore District in
Karnataka. It was established in the year 1972, in the presence of the Dalai Lama. This monastery contains the artifacts and the wooden statue of Goddess Tara, recovered from the original Zongkar Choede Monastery in Tibet.
Zongkar Choede Monastery houses and educates young Tibetans from India and Nepal. It houses living quarters, community kitchens and prayer halls. The monks are taught Tibetan monastic chanting, ancient Tibetan monastic ritual of mask dance, art of making butter sculpture and the world-renowned sand mandala (a symbolic representation of the Universe or a part of the Universe, said to remove the negative forces). The study also includes Buddhist logic, art of Thangka painting and making of traditional Tibetan incense making.
The monastery also houses a school, which was established in 1995. This school provides young Tibetans with free basic and modern education. The subjects that are taught include Tibetan grammar, Tibetan History, English language and Mathematics. Another establishment inside the monastery is the Gyumed Tantric University, which is involved in Tantric Buddhism.
Zongkar Choede Monastery is dependent solely on the donations received from the devotees.
