The monastery began as a simple one-story factory building on seven acres of land overlooking the Hudson River in the town of Wappingers Falls, New York, just 75 miles north of New York City. A small group of sangha members worked twelve-hour days alongside Lama Norlha Rinpoche to lay foundations and construct walls, learning the necessary skills as they went. Over the next several years, the main house was renovated and expanded, and by 1982 two retreat houses, one for men and one for women, had been completed and were ready to host the first traditional three-year retreat in North America.

Since 1980, we have been immensely fortunate to welcome a number of great lamas and spiritual heads of all traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, who have visited, blessed, and given teachings and empowerments at PTC. In addition to many visits from our spiritual director Guru Vajradhara His Holiness Chamgon Kenting Tai Situpa, PTC has also hosted His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama; both the 16th and 17th Gyalwang Karmapas; Kyabje Dorje Chang Kalu Rinpoche and his successor, the current Kalu Rinpoche; Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche III; Gyaltsap Rinpoche; Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche; Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche; Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche; Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche; Sakya Trizin Rinpoche, and Ringu Tulku Rinpoche.

Our founding abbot, Lama Norlha Rinpoche, passed away in 2018 after a long illness. Our current resident lamas, from Sherabling Monastery in India, are Lama Tsering, who serves as three-year retreat master, and Lama Norgyal, who was one of the principal chant leaders at Sherabling and is now the resident lama of Palpung Thubten Choling. A number of resident monastics and lay practitioners, including several three-year retreat graduates, lead programs and see to the day to day running of the monastery.

PTC also serves as an active dharma community and meditation center with both local and worldwide reach, providing opportunities for students at all levels. For more than two decades our teaching staff has offered an Introduction to Buddhist Meditation on Monday evenings, and over the past decade many local students have participated in a Tuesday evening study group to discuss the foundational texts of Tibetan Buddhism. To date we’ve completed The Jewel Ornament of Precious Liberation (with commentary Path to Buddhahood), The Great Path of Awakening, The 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva and Tai Situ Rinpoche’s Awakening the Sleeping Buddha. Currently the group is reviewing the new translation of Gampopa’s Ornament of Precious Liberation. All weekly programs are being offered in person and on Zoom, free of charge. Details about these programs as well as special teachings and chanting events can also be found on our event calendar. If you would like to participate remotely, please use our online event registration form.

Palpung Thubten Choling maintains the traditional practices, rituals, and customs of the Kagyu Lineage. Daily practices, called tsokpas, with their accompanying rituals, are chanted in the shrine rooms and retreat houses in Tibetan. Monthly practices, such as Dorje Pagmo, Guru Rinpoche and the dharma protector Gonpo Bernachen are conducted on the appropriate days of the Tibetan lunar month, accompanied by music played on traditional Tibetan instruments – cymbals, drums, long horns, and reed horns. Twice a year residents and visitors perform the traditional dokpa practices to remove obstacles and invite auspicious conditions, including the three-day practice of Tara Yuldok, and Sherab Nyingpo, an elaborate, day-long version of the Heart Sutra. Several times a year, especially at Saka Dawa in the spring and Lhabap Duchen in the fall, residents and visitors participate in the nyungne fasting practice of Thousand-Armed Chenrezig, lasting from two to 16 days. And, of course, every year the festivities of the Tibetan New Year, Losar, are observed according to the Tibetan lunar calendar, with the date generally ranging from late January to early March.

From its beginning as a one-story factory building in the 1970s, PTC has grown continuously into the fully functioning Tibetan Buddhist monastery it is today. The first physical expansions, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, were the construction of the two three-year retreat houses that are still in use 40 years later, and the addition of a second story to house the original shrine room. Later the original building was further expanded to include a spacious dining room and additional rooms at the front of the house, which are now the library and resident housing. The Enlightenment Stupa for World Peace was constructed in the 1990s, and our new main monastery building, the Maitreya Center, with its vast Maitreya Shrine Hall, was competed in 2016. We had the honor of hosting the 2016 North American Kagyu Monlam in the Maitreya Center, graced with the presence of Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche as the presiding host.

The three-year, cloistered seminary retreat program to train serious students in the core teachings and practices of the Kagyu Lineage, has been a major focus of Palpung Thubten Choling since its founding in 1982. Nine cycles of retreat have been completed to date, with the tenth cycle expected to commence in spring 2022. Prospective retreatants will begin formally training for retreat at the monastery in December 2021.

Three-year retreat graduates offer instruction in meditation, traditional rituals, and Tibetan language at the monastery and its affiliated centers located throughout the Eastern United States. They also serve as mentors in the Dharma Path Program.

A pioneering online Dharma curriculum, the Palpung Thubten Choling Dharma Path program was created in 2006 under the direct guidance of Lama Norlha Rinpoche to meet the needs of serious meditation practitioners who do not have the circumstances to participate in the traditional three-year retreat. Designed to provide an opportunity for significant personal development in the basic meditation practices and contemplation techniques of the Kagyu Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dharma Path program serves as an in-depth curriculum for lay practitioners as well as an excellent preparation for dharma students who aspire to do a three-year retreat.