Tibetan Monks of Gaden Shartse Monastery (Phukhang)

December 2025

The new Gaden Shartse (Phukhang) tour begins in 2026 with four full weeks of activities, beginning in Portland, with three separate week-long residencies in Lincoln City, Yachats, and Newport during February 2026! 

We have started our “pre-tour” fundraising and are planning to host the creation of three different sacred sand mandalas in each coastal location, along with cultural presentations, empowerments, healing rituals, Dharma talks, and house, land, business and personal blessings. 

You can help us in this auspicious and fun effort. Contact Lincoln County Friends of Tibet at 530-748-9365 or email LincolnCountyTibet@gmail.com or FB: LCFriendsofTibet.

As you're no doubt aware, we had an incredibly successful visit by the Jangchub Choeling Tibetan nuns at the Lincoln City Cultural Center in October of 2024.
Their week-long visit included a number of teachings by Geshema Yeshi Sangmo, as well as the creation of the beautiful Avalokiteshvara Sand Mandala; a meditation workshop; a cultural program that included the colorful Dakini dance and a slide show on life at the Jangchub Choeling nunnery, narrated by the translator and tour director, Chimé; and a demonstration of Tibetan sacred chant and music.
While in Lincoln City, they also did a number of house and personal blessings, and we even found time to get them to the beach (for most of them, their first time at an ocean beach!), shared a wonderful community potluck with many LC Friends of Tibet members and the nuns, and even went on a couple of foraging adventures for wild mushrooms and blackberries, much to the delight of the Geshema, who turned out to be a seasoned forager! (See PHOTOS GALLERY - Jangchub Choeling 2024)
We are deeply grateful for the help that the greater North/Central Coast community of Tibet supporters provided to make this extraordinary visit possible. Your smiles, your donations of time, money, and energy, and the love you offered the nuns are the essential ingredients of such a successful visit.
We especially want to recognize Niki Price, (now-retired) Director of the Lincoln City Cultural Center, as well as her wonderful staff (especially Judy), who all helped provide the essential support and help during the daily activities at the Center, and who made the nuns feel most welcome at the Center. 
We also want to extend a deep bow of gratitude to all the many Lincoln County Friends of Tibet volunteers and others who provided meals, greeted guests, set up and took down the chairs for the various events, put up posters, ran errands, etc, and especially to Julia Hay, who provided a more-than-welcoming home for the nuns during their stay. She even affectionately earned the title of "Mommy", given to her by the nuns for her loving care. 
Another deep bow of gratitude, too, to all of you who donated much needed funds for preparation for the visit through our GoFundMe page, and who continued to be financially generous throughout their visit. The funds raised during the visit far-exceeded our own, and the nuns’ expectations, and are essential for the ongoing survival of the Jangchub Choeling nunnery in Mundgod, India, and even more importantly, help ensure the survival of Tibetan culture during their long exile from their homeland.
The nuns safely returned to the nunnery in India, and have continued with their studies and practice, even as they are in the process of planning for the next visit to the United States. We don’t have any solid information as to when that might be or what it might be comprised of yet. It’s possible that it may be a teaching tour by two of the Geshemas (senior nuns), but we just don’t know yet. All we do know is that the nuns are planning a new tour as I write this.

Back in June of 2024, we also hosted a visit by our friends and almost-yearly visitors from the Tibetan Gaden Shartse Monastery in India. 
It too was incredibly successful, and drew large audiences to all the ceremonies, empowerments, talks, and workshops held at the Samaritan Center for Health Education in Newport. 
It was, once again, an incredibly successful visit, with great attendance at all the events, and with very generous financial donations for the monks. (See PHOTO GALLERY - Gaden Shartse 2024)