In 1959 a small group of Bon monks set out on foot from Tibet with the intent to establish a new permanent religious center. In the mid-1960s, Lopon Tenzin Namdak acquired a beautiful piece of land in Dolanji, India that would become Menri Monastery, the new spiritual and administrative world center of Bon.
Menri Monastery was founded in 1405 in the Tsang Province of Tibet. Following the Chinese invasion of Tibet, several monks fled Tibet and re-established Menri Monastery in India. The monks built a monastic community of mud buildings on terraces carved from a hillside. The overall project was conceived, designed and overseen by the 33rd Abbot of Menri, His Holiness Menri Trizin Lungtok Tenpai Nyima.
Over the next five decades Menri evolved from camp to campus, becoming Bon’s new administrative and spiritual world center. This world center of Bon is now a gleaming campus of Tibetan-style temples, a library, a university, a medical school, housing for monks, and Redna Menling Nunnery. Guest facilities welcome scholars and visitors from around the world.
Menri represents the spirit and energy of the Bon tradition and values. The monks and nuns who live and learn there represent the future of Bon. Many residents and visitors regard the Menri Monastery complex as a “Shining City on a Hill”.