About Kopan Monastery

Perched on a hilltop on the outskirts of Kathmandu, Kopan is a monastery in the Gelug tradition of Tibetan Mahayana Buddhism under the guidance of Lama Zopa Rinpoche.  It is about a half-hour drive from the city centre.  A spectacular view of the city and the whole valley is seen from the monastery.Kopan was established in 1969 by Lama Thubten Yeshe, and Lama Zopa Rinpoche as a centre of Buddhist teaching in response to a strong wish expressed by their Western students for spiritual guidance and for a place of study. Kopan was also conceived as a place of study for young people of the Solu Khumbu area of Nepal, and is now home to more than 500 monks and nuns from the Himalayan region, under the guidance of Geshe Lama Lhundrup as abbot. Thousands of people have studied the Buddha Dharma here at Kopan since the first meditation course in 1970.  They came in search of inspiration, to get to know Buddhism and explore the spiritual dimension of their life, to attend short meditation courses or the now famous one-month meditation course, or for private study and retreat.  Some of those who attended the courses here have gone back to their countries to establish Dharma centres there, working selflessly to facilitate the spread of Buddhist teachings to other countries. Most of the students are foreigners.