Looking at the examples from India and Tibet, how the great monasteries with their vast congregations benefited beings through upholding and spreading the Buddha's teachings, I feel we must do what we can to emulate them. Therefore, my wish is to create a very solid foundation for a sangha community filled with people who possess the three levels of precepts — outwardly observing the precepts of Individual Liberation, inwardly maintaining the Bodhisattva trainings, and, in their innermost heart, keeping the key points of Vajrayana's stages of development and completion. Why is this important? Because if just a single practitioner fully unfolds his or her buddha nature, I am certain he or she will bring benefit to countless others.

In accordance with Karmapa's wish, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche left his monastery in eastern Tibet and crossed over the Himalayan Mountains into neighboring Nepal where he journeyed in its northern regions. Shortly thereafter, Karmapa placed Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche in charge of Nagi Gompa, a nunnery situated high on the northern slopes of Kathmandu Valley. After settling there, he quickly expanded the nunnery to include a main temple and simple dwellings for about 80 nuns.

Early in 1972, Tulku Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche and Chokling Rinpoche joined their parents, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and his consort, Kunsang Dechen, in Kathmandu. Until that time, the brothers had been studying since childhood at Rumtek Monastery, seat of His Holiness Karmapa, in Sikkim. Within a short time, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and his family began construction of Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery on spacious farmland just north of the ancient legendary Stupa of Boudha Nath.

In keeping with its auspicious and promising beginnings, Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling swiftly blossomed in all directions. As the years passed, the ceremonial thrones of its serene main temple have been graced by the presence of a host of high Lamas of all four traditions. Each Losar (New Year) has ushered in a flourish of propitious activity. Under the capable, ever-present, ever-watchful direction of the distinguished family lineage of high Lamas, its unique mandala has evolved into a haven for Tibetan Buddhist clergy as well as an oasis for wayfarers seeking the heart of wisdom in the high Himalayas.

Most of the almost 300 monks and nuns residing at the monastery and at it affiliated nunnery, Nagi Gompa, respectively, are either orphans or come from poor Tibetan refugee families. Because more young men and women seeking ordination apply to the monastery and nunnery each year, the facilities of both enclaves are constantly undergoing expansion and renovation to provide simple living quarters, dining halls, classrooms, medical clinics and retreat facilities. All the expenses of food, clothing, shelter, education, and medical treatment have been borne exclusively by the personal finances of the family of Lamas, themselves, with the occasional supplement of contributions from concerned benefactors.