Moving to Gyuto in Bomdila

After 4 years in Dalhousie, Gyuto moved to Bomdila in remote north east India. As Ven Jampa has also told us the monastery site in Bomdila was in a jungle with no houses, roads or utilities. Over the next 10 years while Ngawang completed his monastic studies, he worked on many aspects of the construction but his main task was cutting down trees and clearing the land for the new monastery. Although the jungles of Bomdila were a major culture shock after the mountains of Ladakh, Ngawang said he worked hard to make it home.

His schedule at that time was:

• 3 am Puja and prayers
• 7 am lunch
• 8 am woodcutting
• 2 pm Puja and prayers
• 4 pm memorization and rituals
• 6 pm woodcutting
• 8 pm dinner
• 9 pm memorization and rituals
• 11 pm bed

In the monastery there are many responsibilities and the monks perform them in rotation. Ngawang was a Gegu – monk disciplinarian – three times.