Pokhriabong Lepcha Monastery, also popularly known as the "Boudha Terda Pema Lingpa Lepcha Community Gompa", is located in the Indian state of West Bengal, approximately 30 km from the town of Darjeeling at a place called Pokhriabong. The monastery follows the teachings and practices of the Nyingma school, which is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, founded by the Vajrayana revealer Guru Padmasambhava.
Location
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This was the first Buddhist monastery ever built in Pokhriabong. Historically, the Lepcha people were deep rooted in the cult of "Mun or Munism" also called 'Bongthingism' which is highly devoted towards nature worshiping. The Lepcha people assimilation with the Buddhist religion can be traced back to late sixteen century CE to the first half of the seventeenth century CE when a monk named Lhatsun Namka Jigme of Nyingma Buddhist order traveled from the north (Tibet) to the Sikkim and played important role in spreading the Buddhist religion among the native people of Sikkim and the Darjeeling region. Henceforth, the Buddhist religion became the main beliefs for the many Lepcha people of the Eastern-Himalayan region until the arrival of the western missionaries who were successful in converting many Lepcha people into Christianity.