Menri Monastery

---

title: "Menri Monastery" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1405-establishments-in-asia", "bon", "tibetan-buddhist-monasteries-and-temples-in-india", "buddhist-monasteries-in-himachal-pradesh", "buildings-and-structures-in-solan-district", "1967-establishments-in-himachal-pradesh", "buildings-and-structures-in-sirmaur-district", "15th-century-buddhist-temples-in-china"] description: "1405 Tibetan monastery, refounded in India" topic_path: "science/chemistry" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menri_Monastery" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary 1405 Tibetan monastery, refounded in India ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox religious building"]

Field	Value
name	Menri
religious_affiliation	Tibetan Buddhism
rite	Bon
map_type	Tibet#China
coordinates
map_caption	Location within people's Republic of China
map_size	250
location	Namling County, Tibet Autonomous Region
founded_by	Nyamme Shérap Gyeltsen (, 1356–1416)
consecration_year	1405
established
::

|name = Menri |image = |image size = |alt = |caption = |religious_affiliation = Tibetan Buddhism | rite = Bon |map_type = Tibet#China |coordinates = |map_caption = Location within people's Republic of China |map_size = 250 |location = Namling County, Tibet Autonomous Region |founded_by = Nyamme Shérap Gyeltsen (, 1356–1416) |consecration_year = 1405 | established = |footnotes = |name = Menri |tib= སྨན་རི་ |wylie= sman ri Menri Monastery ( — "medicine mountain") is the name of a Bon monastery in Tibet that has been refounded in India. The name derives from the medicinal plants and medicinal springs on the mountain.{{cite web | last = Berzin | first = Alexander | author-link = Alexander Berzin (scholar) | title = A Brief History of Menri Monastery | publisher = Study Buddhism | year = 1991 | url = http://studybuddhism.com/web/en/archives/study/history_buddhism/buddhism_tibet/Bon/brief_history_menri_monastery.html | access-date = 2016-06-06}} Menri became the leading Bon monastery in the Tibetan cultural region. The abbot of Menri is recognized as the spiritual leader of Bon.

History

Menri Monastery was established in 1405 by Nyammé Shérap Gyeltsen (, 1356–1416) from Gyarong (Gyelrong), on the slope of Mount Shari Phowa () in Topgyel (), Tsang.

Nyammé Shérap Gyeltsen had been the eighteenth abbot of an old monastery also called Menri. The first monastery at Menri was founded in 1072 as Yéru Wensakha Monastery (). It was destroyed by a flood in 1386.

The new Menri Monastery, established in 1405, was founded in the Bru lineage of Bon and the Yéru Wensakha tradition. "Many of the monks who succeeded [Nyammé Shérap Gyeltsen] were also from Gyarong." The monastery practiced Yungdrung Bon, and was known "for its strict practice of monastic rules, which set a standard for other Bon monasteries." Rinchen Gyeltsen was the second abbot.

The monastery had 32 abbots between its founding and 1966. The administration of the monastery is the subject of an article by Per Kvaerne.

Sanggye Tendzin (1912-1978) served as lopön at Menri, and "was also in charge of printing important works of Dzogchen."

The administration of the monastery is the subject of an article by Per Kvaerne.

Menri Monastery in India

thumb|Menri Monastery, India In 1967, Menri was refounded at Dolanji in Himachal Pradesh, India by Lungtok Tenpai Nyima and Lopön Tenzin Namdak. This monastery has recreated the geshe training program, and is home to over two hundred monks. Menri in India and Triten Norbutse Monastery in Nepal now host the only two geshe programs in the Bon lineage.

References

References

1. Achard, Jean-Luc. (March 2010). "Nyamme Sherab Gyeltsen".
2. (13 August 2013). "The Tibetan History Reader". Columbia University Press.
3. Andrew N. Woznicki. (2006). "Transcendent Mystery in Man: A Global Approach to Ecumenism". Academica Press, LLC.
4. (13 August 2013). "The Tibetan History Reader". Columbia University Press.
5. (13 August 2013). "The Tibetan History Reader". Columbia University Press.
6. Achard, Jean-Luc. (March 2010). "Sanggye Tendzin".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::