In late May and early June 2026, the Tergar Osel Ling Monastery Grand Opening brought the global Tergar community to Kathmandu. For Tergar Schools, it was an invitation —
May 25: A Blessing Before It All Began
A week before the grand opening ceremonies, Tergar Schools gathered for an evening with Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche.
It was a teacher appreciation dinner, quiet, warm, and intimate. Our Board of Directors – Matthew Zumwalt, Dr. Cortland Dahl and friends from the Tergar Mandala joined. Rinpoche graced the school with his presence, offering his blessings to the teachers and words of encouragement for everything they do, and for what lies ahead as the Tergar Schools Model of Learning continues to take root and grow.
For the teachers, it was a moment to feel the significance of the work they show up for every day. For Rinpoche it was a change to meet with them directly appreciate what they do, and to send them forward with his blessing.
It set the tone for everything that followed.
May 29 & June 5: The School Opens Its Doors
On two mornings during the grand opening period, we invited visitors to come see the Kathmandu campus,Tergar Schools’ pilot school, and the place where Mingyur Rinpoche’s vision for education is being lived every day.
We led our guests through the classrooms, the spaces between, the textures of an ordinary school day. Followed by lunch with students and staff. Then a presentation on the school and what’s coming in Yolmo. Guests experienced what it sounds and feels like when this model is being lived, day to day, in our Kathmandu school.
We hosted two visits. Seeing the school through the eyes of people encountering it for the first time reminded us of something we can sometimes take for granted: what we’re building here is worth sharing.
May 30: Journey to Yolmo
The day before the main ceremonies began, a group set off for the Yolmo valley.
It was a rainy morning. In less than two hours from our breakfast point in Kathmandu, we were standing on the land where Tergar School Yolmo will be built, a residential campus for 600 students, set in one of the most sacred valleys in Nepal, a place Mingyur Rinpoche has long held in his heart.
For most, it was the first time they had stood on that land. Visitors walked the property, saw the early foundations taking shape, and were given an orientation to the vision: residences, a gompa, spaces designed to embody the values of awareness, love, compassion, and wisdom. The weather cleared as we arrived. Together, we shared songs and prayers, and took a moment to imagine all that this place will one day become.
To stand there with people who believe in this vision, who had traveled from across the world to be part of something larger than themselves, was a gift we won’t forget.
May 31: A Guided Moment, Offered by Our Students
The first day of the grand opening ceremonies was full. Inspiring speeches by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche and His Holiness Tai Situ Rinpoche, sacred offerings, vibrant cultural performances — the monastery alive with celebration and meaning.
And then our students came to offer something of their own.
Four students, ten minutes, one quiet gift to people riding the energy of something historic.
14-year-old Karma Thapse opened with a settling practice: finding stillness in the body, noticing the weight of the muscles, the simple fact of breath moving in and out. Nothing complex. Just arrival.
9-year-old Sonam Dorje followed with a rhythm — and a sway. Tick tock, like a clock, until, I find my center, stop! The room moved with him, side to side, the chant drawing everyone back into their bodies.
14-year-old Karma Yeshi guided a wishing meditation, loving compassion, offered simply. Starting with oneself: I am doing great. I wish myself to be happy. Then widening outward, wishing happiness to friends, family, community, and finally all beings. We are all connected to each other. Compassion, he explained, is wishing to be free from suffering. Today, let’s wish for the world to be free from suffering.
8-year-old Urgyen Jigme closed with a fading tone — a practice of listening closely to the sound of a bell as it fades away, to help the mind relax and focus. He rang the bell, asked everyone to listen, and to raise their hand when they could no longer hear it.
This is what our students are learning to do. And on that day, they taught it. We could not have been more proud.
Watch our students lead the guided meditation here.
June 2: What We’re Doing and Why
On the third day of the opening, Executive Director Justin Kelley spoke to the gathered Tergar community about what Tergar Schools is trying to do, and why it matters.
He opened with a number: one in seven children worldwide will experience anxiety, depression, or a sense of disconnection. Between the ages of fifteen and nineteen, suicide is the third leading cause of death. These are children that we know. Children that we love. These are our children.
And then: Is there another way forward?
His answer was the Tergar Schools model or learning. Not as a program, but as a way of seeing, embedding awareness, compassion, and wisdom into how children are taught to understand the world and respond to it. Even mathematics, he explained, becomes a way of helping students see the patterns of interdependence woven through everything around them.
He described the Kathmandu campus as the starting point, where the model is being tested, refined, and lived. Yolmo as the next chapter: a school built in the mountains to embody the very values it teaches. And beyond that, a vision reaching across Tergar’s wider mandala, Bodh Gaya, the kindergartens in Nubri and Tsum, and eventually, internationally.
This is a movement, he said, as opposed to a series of schools.
We are grateful to be building it. And we are grateful to everyone who showed up this season — to walk the land, meet the teachers, sit with the students, and give what they could, in time, in heart, or in generosity — to carry this vision forward with us.
If you weren’t able to join us this year, we hope this gives you a sense of what it felt like to be here. The work continues, in the classrooms, on the land in Yolmo, and in every lesson our students and teachers build together.
