Tengboche Monastery in Khumbu

Tengboche Monastery is one of the most famous and old monasteries in Khumbu Valley, the monastery is surrounded by beautiful mountains of the unrivaled backdrop of Mount Ama Dablam and many more snowing peaks. This is spiritual a leasing Buddhist center in the Everest region with a residing Rinpoche who blesses the pilgrims, mountaineers, and travelers-walkers.

Every autumn month October/November, Tengboche Monastery hosts the colorful Mani Rimdu Festival, which is the most important for Buddhist celebration with a religious gathering of meditation, songs, ritual dance, and enactments of the lives of legendary figures. Visitors are welcome to participate in the festivities and many trekkers and climbers book their trek and climbing to coincide with the festival. It is the popular trekking route to the Everest Base Camp Trek, Everest 3 high passes, Cho La pass, and Island Peak climbing.

 Spiritual Tengboche Monastery in Khumbu, Nepal, Everest
 

Spectacular Mountain Views and Flora-Fauna

Spiritual Tengbuche Gompa is surrounded by beautiful vegetation such as pines, azaleas, and colorful rhododendrons is makes it more attractive the monastery, the area is covered by a famous national park called “SAGARMATHA” every trekkers must have Sagarmatha National Park permit which cost IPR 3000 per trekkers, tour, and climbers. From the monastery you can see very nearer mountain views of Mt. Everest, Ama Dablam, Thamserku, and many more Himalayas are more attractive for visitors, it has many rest houses and lodges as well as spacious camping sites.

Bond with Trekking Trail

From the Tengboche monastery, we can continue the trek to the Island peak base camp to summit the peak, crossing Kongma La pass at 5535m, which is the first pass toward the Everest 3 high passes trail. Walk to Pheriche, Kala Patthar, and the hamlet of Gorakshep then easily reach the Everest base camp 5,364m then can summit Kala Patthar 5,545m known for outstanding views of Mt. Everest and many others in Khumbu Himalayas, it is advisable to take time to acclimatize and avoid rapid gain in altitude to avoid high altitude mountain.

History and Architecture

The monastery was built by Gulu in 1916, it was destroyed by an earthquake in 1934 and was subsequently rebuilt. Tragedy befell the monastery again when it was engulfed by fire in 1989. It was re-established with the help of devoted volunteers from the area with international assistance. The resulting structure is a great work of stone masonry on display. Complete with an extended courtyard and spacious halls to facilitate religious rites and activities. Also located within its vicinity is a nunnery as Vajrayana Buddhism doesn’t distinguish between sexes.

Trekking to Mt. Everest Base Camp 5,364m through the beautiful Tengboche Monastery

A Heritage within a Heritage

Heritage in its own right, Tengboche Monastery falls within the Sagarmatha National Park—a UNESCO World Heritage Site—immersed in a Himalayan panorama and offers magnificent views of nearby summits of Everest, Nuptse, Lhotse, Ama Dablam, and Thamserku. Not to mention this region is home to a wide range of Himalayan floras and faunas. Tengboche also forms the end point of the “Sacred Sites Trail Project” a circular trek inside the park, passing clockwise through ten monasteries, caves, Hermitages, and Nunneries, starting from Namche Bazaar and ending at Tengboche Monastery.

Exploring the way of the Sherpa

Spiritual Sherpa Life in Solukhumbu, Nepal

Tengboche is a central hub for insightful resources into the life of the Sherpas, who migrated from Tibet around six hundred years ago, and they constitute the primary indigenous people inhabiting the region, among others. Buddhist monasteries have always been paramount in unifying the Sherpas in their spiritual, economic, and day-to-day life. A visit to the monastery, which comprises the most important of the sacred places in the entire region, will only deepen the visitors’ understanding of Sherpa culture, pride, and traditions.

Mani Rimdu Festival- Very Colorful

The festival is the most important festival of the Sherpa community, each year, Tengboche Monastery hosts the delightful Mani Rimdu Festival on the tenth lunar month of the Tibetan calendar, corresponding to the month of October-November also falls in the autumn season is one of the best trekking seasons in Nepal, many tourists visit the Khumbu region to trek to Everest Base Camp and to witness the festival which lasts for nineteen days. It is a religious festival of religious involves ceremonies and meditation, rites, songs, dances, and enactments of legends, and is characterized by vibrant colors and noses that take center stage in one of the most spectacular settings.

Mani Rimdu Festival in Tengboche Monastery is Fall Every Autumn on the Khumbu Valley-Everest trek route

Mani Rimdu: The meaning attributed to “Mani Rimdu” is that ‘Mani’ means ‘part of the chant of Chenreziq’ and ‘Rimdu’ means small red pills that are blessed during the festival. The red pills are blessed repeatedly and distributed to all those who attend. In the festival, performed by local monks in traditional religious attire and masks, the dance symbolized the victory of Buddhism over the ancient ‘Bon’ religion. The festival is a tradition passed on from its mother monastery, the Rongbuk. It begins with an elaborate depiction of the mandala diagram made with colored sand, this sand is extracted from a specified location in the hills and the mandala takes four days to draw’ it is then covered and is central to the religious festival that lasts for the next 10 days. The program includes 16 dance numbers with interludes for comical effect. Finally, after all the devotees have left, the monks perform a fire rite to dispel all harm to the world This is an important event attended by the local Sherpa community. Many families of Sherpa travel a long journey to witness or even participate in the events.

At the end of the festivities, the resident Tengboche Rinpoche of the monastery blesses the general public after which the ‘Mask Dances’ are deities as manifestations of the legendary Guru Rinpoche, the founder of Tibetan Buddhism; the dance numbers also display the defeat of demons and the initiation of Buddhism to Tibet. Thus, Tengboche Monastery and Mani Rimdu (festival) are major attractions for tourists in the Khumbu region.

Connection with Sagarmatha National Park and Tengboche Monastery

Nepal Himalaya's connection with many national Parks, Sagarmatha National Park (SNP), established in July 1976, is the second-most popular national park in Nepal and is significant on a global, cultural, and environmental scale. With four peaks over 8000 meters, SNP is one of the world's most popular mountain tourist destinations. Tengboche Monastery also lies in the territory of Sagarmatha National Park. That’s why it’s sometimes also referred to as heritage within a heritage site. Sagarmatha National Park is known to have a wide range of species including endangered and rare Snow Leopard and Panda.

Sagarmatha National Park is a national park in Sagarmatha Zone, the highest elevation on Earth. It is located at the head of the Khumbu Glacier, in the Solukhumbu District of Nepal, near Mount Everest and Lhotse Base Camp. The park also includes Khumbu and Gokyo Valley which is now a part of Sagarmatha National Park. The latest survey has estimated that more than 30,000 people visit Sagarmatha National Park every year, making it one of the most visited parks in the world. It is also a UNESCO-declared world heritage site. It was gazetted as a place of incredible importance by UNESCO in 1979.

The best time to visit Tengboche Monastery

Tengboche Monastery is also known as the ‘DAWA CHOLING GOMPA’ or Lamas Gulu’s Hermitage because the monastery was first built in 1916 by Lama Gulu and later reconstructed after a fire by Nawang Tenzing Jangpo it is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Solokhumbu District of Nepal and is also one of the most famous monasteries in all of Asia, especially in the mountaineering zone

The best time to visit the monastery is during the festival time when there is a celebration of Mani Rimdu is held. The festival is celebrated between mid-October to mid-November period. So, planning at this time can be beneficial in terms of the experiences and cultural attractions you witness in the Khumbu highlands of Nepal. Both seasons (spring and autumn) are the best times to visit Tengboche Monastery, in these seasons, the weather and climate are moderate, the temperature is fine and visibility is better. So, you can explore the mountain vistas and the corresponding culture of Sherpas in Nepal. 

If you are planning the Everest Base Camp trek? Tengboche Monastery is a wonderful plan. Also, you can even combine  Gokyo Lakes- Everest Base Camp, and Tengboche Monastery in the Khumbu region. Everest Three Passes Trail could make a great deal if you want to explore and do an adventurous high-altitude trek experience in the Everest region of Nepal even more experienced travelers can submit the Island Peak and Everest Base Camp Trek would be the best combination of activities including touching the Tengboche Monastrey.