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Emory University
[ needs writing ] Sera monastery is one of the three great Gelukpa university monasteries of Tibet. The other two are Gaden monastery and Drepung monastery. Sera mean ‘enclosure of roses'. The original sera monastery is about 5km north of the Jokhang in Lhasa. It is now in south India after the Chinese occupation in 1959.
Drepung Monastery is one of the “great three” Gelukpa university monasteries of Tibet. The other two are Gaden and Sera. Drepung is the largest of all Tibetan monasteries, and indeed at its peak was the largest monastery of any religion in the world. It was founded in 1419 by Jamyang Chojey, a direct disciple of Je Tsong Khapa, the founder of the Gelukpa School. It is located on the Gambo Utse Mountain, 5 kilometers from the western suburb of Lhasa. At its largest, before the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1959, the monastery housed fifteen thousand celibate monks. It was known for the high standards of its academic study, and was called the “Nalanda” of Tibet, a reference to the great Buddhist monastic University of Nalanda.
Drepung is divided into what are known as the seven great colleges-Gomang, Loseling, Deyang, Shagkor, Gyelwa or Tosamling, Dulwa and Ngagpa. It can be somewhat useful analogy to think of Drepung as a university along the lines of Oxford or the Sorbonne in the middle ages, the various colleges having different emphases, teaching lineages, or traditional geographical affiliations.
Today the population at the monastery located in Tibet is much smaller with merely a few hundred monks, due to population capping enforced by the Chinese government. However the institution has continued its tradition in exile within south India relocated to land in Karnataka state given to the Tibetan community in exile by Prime Minister Nehru. The monastery in India today houses over five thousand celibate monks, with around 3000 at Drepung Loseling and some 2000 at Drepung Gomang. Hundreds of new monks are admitted each year, many of them refugees from Tibet.
Sera Monastery
Sera monastery is one of the three great Gelukpa university monasteries of Tibet. The other two are Gaden monastery and Drepung monastery. Sera mean ‘enclosure of roses'. The original sera monastery is about 5km north of the Jokhang in Lhasa. It is now in south India after the Chinese occupation in 1959.
History
Sera monastery was founded in 1419, by Jamchen Chojey (Sakya Yeshe), a disciple of Tsong Khapa. Like Drepung and Ganden monasteries, it had three colleges. Sera Mey Dratsang built 1419, which gave basic instruction to the monks. Sera Jey Dratsang, built in 1435, was the largest, and was reserved for wandering monks, especially Mongol monks. Ngagpa Dratsang, built in 1559, was a school for the teaching of the Gelukpa Tantras.
Sera housed more than 5000 monks in 1959. Although badly damaged, it is still standing and has been largely repaired. It now housed a few hundred Buddhist monks.
After the Chinese invasion of Tibet and the destruction fo the majority of the monasteries in Tibet, Sera monastery was reformed in Bylakuppe, India near Mysore.
Because none of the monks of the Ngagpa Dratsang (Tantric College) survived the invasion, only the Sera Mey College and Sera Jey College were reformed in India.
Drepung Monastery
Drepung Monastery is one of the “great three” Gelukpa university monasteries of Tibet. The other two are Gaden and Sera. Drepung is the largest of all Tibetan monasteries, and indeed at its peak was the largest monastery of any religion in the world. It was founded in 1419 by Jamyang Chojey, a direct disciple of Je Tsong Khapa, the founder of the Gelukpa School. It is located on the Gambo Utse Mountain, 5 kilometers from the western suburb of Lhasa. At its largest, before the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1959, the monastery housed fifteen thousand celibate monks. It was known for the high standards of its academic study, and was called the “Nalanda” of Tibet, a reference to the great Buddhist monastic University of Nalanda.
Drepung is divided into what are known as the seven great colleges-Gomang, Loseling, Deyang, Shagkor, Gyelwa or Tosamling, Dulwa and Ngagpa. It can be somewhat useful analogy to think of Drepung as a university along the lines of Oxford or the Sorbonne in the middle ages, the various colleges having different emphases, teaching lineages, or traditional geographical affiliations.
Today the population at the monastery located in Tibet is much smaller with merely a few hundred monks, due to population capping enforced by the Chinese government. However the institution has continued its tradition in exile within south India relocated to land in Karnataka state given to the Tibetan community in exile by Prime Minister Nehru. The monastery in India today houses over five thousand celibate monks, with around 3000 at Drepung Loseling and some 2000 at Drepung Gomang. Hundreds of new monks are admitted each year, many of them refugees from Tibet.
Gaden monastery
Gaden monastery is one of the “three great” Gelukpa university monasteries of Tibet, located on Wangbur Mountain, Tagtse county, 47 kilometers from Lhasa. The other two are Sera Monastery and Drepung monastery. Being the furthest from Lhasa of the three university monasteries, Gaden traditionally had a smaller population with some 6000 monks in the early 20 th century. It was original monastery of the Gelukpa order, founded by Je Tsong Khapa himself in 1409, and traditionally considered to be the seat of Gelukpa administrative and political power. The Gaden Tripa or ‘throne holder of Ganden' is the head of the Gelukpa School.
Gaden monastery consisted of two colleges, Jangtse and Shartse, meaning North peak and East peak respectively. The Three main sights in the Ganden Monastery are the Serdung, which contains the tomb of Tsong Khapa, the Tsokchen Assembly hall and the Ngam Cho Khang the chapel where Tsong Khapa traditionally taught.
The Ganden Monastery was completely destroyed following the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1959, and since the 1980s has been re-building.
The Ganden monastery has been re-established in Karnataka, India by the Tibetan population in exile. The Ganden monastery is located in the Tibetan settlement at Mundgod. This settlement of Tibetan refugees is the largest of its king in India and was first established in 1966, from land donated by the Indian government.
In the Tibetan settlement near Mundgod are the Ganden and the Drepung Monastery. In 1999 there were in total about 13000 residents. The curriculum in Ganden monastery remains similar to the teaching of the pre-1959 Ganden monastery.
The Ganden monastery colleges Jangtse and Shartse have also been reestablished in India. They are named the Ganden Jangtse College and The Gaden Monastery. They are located in Karnataka south India.
Menri monastery
Bon is considered to be the oldest and native religion of Tibet and one of its five core spiritual traditions. Bonpo believe their culture to have originated in the land of Olmo Lungring (located in a larger country referred to as Tazig, a region probably to the west of present-day Tibet) and that it flourished as it moved eastward through the Kingdom of Zhang Zhung, which made up much of what is now western Tibet. The ancient roots of Bon religion derive from a profound respect for nature and emphasize the healing of physical and environmental as well as spiritual afflictions. As Indian Buddhism was being established in Tibet, many native Bon elements were incorporated into the incoming religion, resulting in a distinct religion known today as Tibetan Buddhism. In turn, Buddhist influences are abundantly evident in Bon religion as it currently exists. The two religions are distinct in many ways but share a strong and identical commitment to bringing an end to all suffering. Although they trace their origins to ancient times, Bonpo practice a living doctrine dedicated to perpetuating the teachings of their founder Tonpa Shenrab, who occupies a preeminent position in Bon culture similar to that of Sakyamuni in Buddhism. Tonpa Shenrab's teachings are collectively known as Yungdrung Bon or the "tradition of Eternal Wisdom" and include the Nine Ways of Bon that outline the laws of cause and effect on the path to spiritual liberation.
The first great revealer of treasure texts (gter-ston) in the Bon (Bon) tradition was Shenchen Luga (gShen-chen Klu-dga') (996-1035). He entrusted to his disciple, Druchen Namka-yungdrung (Bru-chen Nam-mkha' g.yung-drung), the responsibility for establishing a debating tradition for the study of the Bon texts. In 1072, Druchen's close relative, Drujey Yungdrung Lama (Bru-rje g.Yung-drung Bla-ma), established Yayru Ensaka Monastery (g.Yas-ru dBen-sa-kha dGon-pa) in the Central Tibetan district of Tsang (gTsang) for this purpose. The monastery was destroyed by a flood in 1386.
Tashi Menri Monastery (bKra-shis sMan-ri dGon-pa), located at Tobgyel (sTobs-rgyal) in Tsang, was built to replace Ensaka. It was established in 1405 by Nyammey Sherab-gyeltsen (mNyam-med Shes-rab rgyal-mtshan) (1356-1416), and became the main Bon monastery of Tibet.
The site of Menri is very extraordinary. When the founder of Bon, Tonpa Shenrab (sTon-pa gShen-rab), traveled to Kongpo (Kong-po), he stopped at Tobgyel. With his miraculous powers, he left his footprint in a rock, saying, "Little boy, in the future your monastery will be here." The mountain behind Menri is like a drawn curtain of white silk. In the middle of it, there is an expansive flat rock slab with the naturally formed figures of 1000 Buddhas, 80 vidyadharas (rig-‘dzin, holders of pure awareness), and 1000 dakinis. The mountains in front of the monastery have many naturally formed wondrous shapes. The surrounding mountains are covered with hundreds of types of medicinal plants and medicinal springs, from which the name Menri derives, which means "Medicine Mountain."
When Nyammey Sherab-gyeltsen first stayed at Menri, he asked his disciple, Rinchen-gyeltsen (Rin-chen rgyal-mtshan), to fill his monk's shawl with white pebbles, close his eyes, and walk, dropping a pebble every nine paces. Rinchen-gyeltsen did this, but after a short while a loud noise caused him to open his eyes. Nyammey Sherab-gyeltsen told him that where the pebbles had been dropped, there would be twelve divisions of the monastery and sixty monk's quarters. He explained that had Rinchen-gyeltsen finished dropping all the pebbles with his eyes never having opened, then everything that remained from the previous Ensaka Monastery would have been reestablished. But now that the replanting had not been carried out properly, then although the continuity from the former monastery would be maintained for a long time, everything would not be accomplished fully.
Nyammey Sherab-gyeltsen and Rinchen-gyeltsen wrote many texts and tried to establish a debating college at Menri, but were unsuccessful. Until the founding of the Bon debate monastery Yungdrungling (g.Yung-drung gling dGon-pa) in 1836, the Menri monks studied sutras through the debate technique at the nearby Sakya monastery of Druyul Kyetsel (Bru-yul sKyed-tshal dGon-pa) and could receive the Sakya Geshe (dGe-bshes) degree. They would study Bon tantra and dzogchen (rdzogs-chen, great completeness) teachings at Menri.
In 1947, Menri itself established a debating college. Although Ensaka had the debate tradition study of sutra, tantra, and dzogchen, Menri was only able to institute it for sutra. The monastery carried out a full calendar of tantric rituals and practice.
Menri Monastery had four colleges: Lingmey (gLing-smad), Lingto (gLing-stod), Lingkey (gLing-ske) and Lingzur (gLing-zur). The colleges had twelve divisions and all together, in 1959, between 400 and 500 monks. Menri had 250 branch monasteries, in all areas of Tibet except U, as well as in India, China, Bhutan, Sikkim, Nepal, and Mongolia.
In 1978, the debate college of Menri, Pel Shenten Menriling (dPal gShen-bstan sMan-ri gling), was reestablished in Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India. At present, there are 70 monks. The monks study not only sutra, but also tantra and dzogchen through the medium of debate. They study the traditional fields of knowledge of medicine, astrology, art, poetry, and grammar as well.
Sakya monastery
Sakya monastery, also known as dPal Sa skya or Pel Sakya (‘white earth' or ‘pale earth') is the seat of the Sakya or Sakyapa school of Tibetan Buddhism.
It is situated 25km southeast of a bridge which is about 127km west of Shigatse on the road to Tingri in the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China.
