The mission of the Gyuto Vajrayana Center is to preserve and promote Tibetan Buddhism and to support the Tibetan community in the Bay Area.

The Gyuto Vajrayana Center is a branch monastery of the Gyuto monastery and is the only Tibetan Buddhist monastery of its kind in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was founded in 2000 by Ven. Thupten Donyo, a senior Gyuto monk, with the intent on bringing the tantric traditions of the Gyuto monastery to the Bay Area. Upon arriving in San Francisco, Ven. Donyo was encouraged by many Gyuto friends who offered their help to set up the non-profit Gyuto Vajrayana Center in San Jose, California.

Activities

With a growing base of members from which the Dharma can flourish, Ven. Donyo wishes to build a Tibetan Monastic Community Center, to continue provide free teachings and to support the local Tibetan community in the San Francisco Bay Area. We would like to request that all of our members and friends pray for us to reach our goal by 2015. The Gyuto Center hosted His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 2007 for two days of teaching in San Francisco and H.H. very much encouraged Ven. Donyo to work hard towards the vision of a monastic community center for the Bay Area.

In order to preserve the Tibetan Buddhist traditions, the Center provides weekly teachings on Buddhist philosophy and discussions on mind training to improve quality of life, translated into English, Chinese and Vietnamese. Staffed by 4-5 monks from Gyuto monastery, the Center also offers services like consultations based on Buddhist thoughts, prayers, traditional funeral services, house blessings and purifications. Tibetan language classes are also offered by the monks and the Center provides needed support to the Bay Area Tibetan community.

We reach out not only to the different schools of Tibetan Buddhism but to Buddhist practitioners of every nationality as well. The Center will provide a spiritual base for the local Tibetan and Mongolian Communities. Non-sectarian outreach, such as hosting students of local universities and even Boy Scout troops, is part of the activities of the Center.

Ven. Donyo’s Message to His Dharma Friends:

"I thank all of our Dharma friends for being very generous and kind to the monks and the monastery."