Tashi Tchhoi Kuntsholing Gumba, Gangutia T.E. Kalchini in Jalpaiguri District India

Founded in  the auspicious Purnima of Phagun 1936 , this sacred Buddhist shrine is  the  oldest in the Dooars . Two ordinary tea workers, late Ekle Lama 'Pakrin' & late Singhbir Tamang 'Ghising' had felt this intense need to establish a place of prayer for the local Buddhist community and so had built it . This bound the community closer & also spread a gradual understanding of the tenets of this ancient religion of peace & tranquility. The establishment of this shrine thus aptly earmarkekd the beginnign of a new era in the  history of Buddhism in these remote parts far flung from the centres of Buddhism & little visited by Buddhist masters .

As time passed , with te Gumba as an important centre numerous Bhiksus had come as visiting  and thus had established an important link with Maha Bodhi Societies , welfare homes, Buddhist institutions & vital centres in south-east Asia . Some deprived children had been placed in such homes who had later been very successful in their lives. Buddhist texts for free distribution  had been mailed in from Buddhist  centres as far as Rangoon & Mandalay , translated into Nepali and distributed for free to promote deeper understanding of Buddhism .
The holy festival of Buddha Purnima began to be observed each year, young children entered monkhood & thus the local Buddhist community grew in the sublime blessings of the enlightened one .

Interestingly , the idols of Lord Buddha, Chengrezi 7 Guru Rinpoche that still sanctify the sanctum sanctorum are made of clay, hand moulded in the village by a local 'Khayaba' .
The sixteenth sets of the sacred  'Bum'  is believed to have been bought from someone in the entourage of His Holiness the Dalai Lama who had visited the Dooars just after his arrival in India . And, on of the most sacre aspects of the Gumba is the holy Bodhi tree in the foreyard .

It is believed to be a sapling of the very Maha Bodhi tree of Bodha Gaya beneath which Lord Buddha had attained enlightenment  . Many miraclells have been associated with this sacred tree -- any body committing anything sacrilege to the tree is believed to meet with gruesome ends. Once, someone from the village had tried to chop off the branches, he had fallen  off mysteriously  and had died painfully . Another one had tried to chop off its roots; he had suddenly taken ill &  only after prayers at the Gumba had somehow recovered . And there is this immemorable  on when the chortens were being  shifted, the fold & valuables that came off them were bundled & placed safely inside the monastery for fear of being  stolen. And   then somebody did steal them , but then a few days later the bundle had been left on a flowering bush . Who stole it is still a mystery, but why did he return it , still remain a greater mystery .

May the enlightened on bless one & all & may the sanctity of the Gumba spread until eternity to lead generations towards enlightenment & tranquility  .
       
By.... Aswini Tamang