Dungkhar Ugyen Choling goenpa in Khar Gewog, Pema Gatshel was restored to its former glory a few years ago by the government and handed over to the people.
If the government had not carried out the renovation, the lhakhang would be in ruins today. People of Khar are grateful for the timely intervention by the government and now locals can easily conduct any kind of rituals without the hardship of not getting religious practitioners.
“It was very hard for us. There wasn’t a proper lhakhang here. Even though, we have to perform annual tshechu and other important ritual activities,” Ugyen Thinley, from Khar, Khargewog, said.
They thank the government for reviving their historic 400-year-old monument which is now far better than in the past. Later civil servants of Khar and Ex-Chief Justice decided to hand over the goenpa to Gangtey truelku. Now people are happy to have a monastic school of Peling in their village.
“Civil servants of our village approached Gangtey Truelku to take over the Goenpa, thinking that most of the religious practitioners are old and could not take care of it. Fortunately, Truelku accepted thinking that this is one of the sacred places of Peling. Truelku established one small monastic school and appointed one Khenpo here,” said Jangchub Namgay, from Khar, Khar Gewog.
“In the past, we only perform offering to the local deities during the time of annual tshechu. After that, no one stays here except the caretaker. But now the monks and khenpo make daily offerings to the local deities. We have very potential monks now and we perform monthly tshechu and we conduct rituals for both the dead and living in the goenpa,” Ugyen Thinley, also from Khar, Khargewog, added.
There are 25 monks in the goenpa including two teachers. The civil servants of the two chiwogs and Ex-Chief Justice fund the daily meals for the monks. The goenpa was established in 2013. It is also connected with farm road recently.
