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The monestary was established in
1416 by Tsong Khapa's disciple Jamyang Qoigyi, who
was versed in both Esoteric and Exotoric Buddhism
and became the first Kampo there. With the support
of plutocrats, it developed as the richest monastery
of Gelugpa and became the mother temple of Dalai
Lamas. In 1546, the third Dalai was welcomed as the
first Living Buddha into the monastery. At the
invitation of |
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Mongolia's king, he went to Qinghai
Province to preach. He was dignified with the title
'the third Dalai Lama' the first and second Dalai
were entitled, too. It is the very place that the
second, third, and the fourth Dalai Lama held the
Sitting-in-Bed Ceremony, as well as the residence of
the fifth Dalai before his nomination by the
government of the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911).
The ground of the monastery is organized on the
caves and temples for Jamyang Qoigyi, together with
two magnificent white pagodas. The buildings of the
monastery are centered on these pagodas, The major
buildings are Ganden Potrang, Coqen Hall, the four
Zhacangs (or Tantric colleges), and Kamcuns.
The Ganden Potrang, in the southwest corner of the
monastery, was built under the supervision of the
second Dalai Lama Gendun Gyaco around the year of
1530. It became the residence of the second, third,
fourth, and the fifth Dalai Lamas. After the fifth
Dalai Lama moved to the Potala Palace, it was served
as the meeting place for the local regime for both
politics and religion. |
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Sera Monastery |
Sera, one of the three largest
monasteries of Gelugpa, sits at the foothills of
Tatipu. It is as prestigious as Drepung and Ganden,
which both have longer histories. Sera, in Tibetan,
means "Wild Rose Garden" since opulent wild rose
woods once grew around it. A legend says that Tsong
Khapa and his two disciples traveled in the area,
spreading their religion. One day, they heard a
horse whinnying underground when they were taking a
walk in the rose woods. They dug up a statue of
Hynagriva (a horse-headed demon-god) and Tsong Khapa
began construction of a monastery to enshrine
Hynagriva. However, the truth is that in 1414,
Jamchen Chojey (or Sakya Yeshe), one of Tsong
Khapa's disciples, visited Emperor Chengzu as Tsong
Khapa's emissary. The Emperor Chengzu granted him a
title of Dharma King of Great Mercy, sutras, and a
set of sandalwood Arhats. In order to preserve them,
Tsong Khapa instructed Jamchen Chojey to build a
monastery to house the treasures. The Sera monastery
was completed in 1419.
Sera is designed around a Main Assembly Hall, or
Tshomchen in Tibetan, which is the grandest hall of
Sera, occupying a floor space of 1,000 square
meters. The four-storied hall has four chapels in
which Arhats, Manjushri, Tsong Khapa, and Chenrezi
are enshrined. Later, a huge Maitreya was enshrined
in the hall during the reign of the Seventh Dalai
Lama. The valuable Buddhist sutras that Jamchen
Chojey brought back from Beijing are kept in a sutra
pigeonhole adjacent to the hall. |
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Samye Monastery |
Situated in Dranang, Samye
Monastery was completed in 779 under the patron of
Trisong Detsen. At the time of Samye's construction,
Buddhism had been transmitted into Tibet, but there
were no formal Buddhist priests or rituals. Trisong
Detsen decided to invite Santarakshita and
Padmasambhava, both Buddhist figureheads in India,
to promote Buddhism in Tibet and participate in the
construction of a monastery. Padmasambhava chose the
construction site while the design was done by
Santarakshita. After the construction was completed,
Buddhism became the official religion in Tibet.
Learned monks from inland China and India were
invited to Tibet to translate Buddhist sutras into
Tibetan. Trisong Detsen selected seven nobles to be
the first monks in Tibet. Samye became the first
formal monastery that established "triratna",
referring to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha,
or Buddhist priesthood.
Samye means "unimaginable" in Tibetan. It was said
that when Tritsong Detsen asked for suggestions
about the construction of the monastery,
Padmasambhava, exerting his magic power, showed the
king an image of a monastery in his palm. That is
the origin of the name.
The monastery combines the styles of China, Tibet
and India, and the layout was designed to represent
the ideal universe described in Buddhist scriptures.
"Utse", the Great Hall symbolizing "Sumeru" in
perfect Buddhist universe, is the largest structure
in the monastery. The Sun and Moon chapels encircle
the large hall, and four "stupas" of different
styles stand at each corner of the room. These "stupas"
are colored in red, white, black and green to
represent the four Heavenly Kings. Four larger halls
and eight smaller ones, evenly distributed around "Utse,"
represent the oceans in that universe. The monastery
is secluded from the outside world by a circular
wall with thousands of Buddha statues sitting on it.
This wall represents a mountain near the border of
the universe. |
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