Place · Gelug monastic university · China
Drepung Monastery, Lhasa
Also known as Drepung Gompa
Drepung ('Rice Heap') monastery on the slopes of Mount Gephel outside Lhasa, founded by Jamyang Choje in 1416 under Tsongkhapa's blessing, was the largest monastery in the world before the Cultural Revolution — holding about 10,000 Gelug monks in training by the mid-20th century. It was the primary seat of the Dalai Lamas before the fifth Dalai Lama shifted to the Potala in the 1640s. Three of its four principal colleges have been re-established in exile at Mundgod (Karnataka), where the resettled Drepung now holds about 5,000 monks. The annual Shoton (yoghurt) festival begins at Drepung with the unveiling of a giant thangka of Shakyamuni on the hillside.
- Function
- Learning & scholarship
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 29.677, 91.044
Connections (4)
- Site withinLhasa
Drepung is one of the great monasteries of greater Lhasa — the political and religious capital of Tibet from Songtsen Gampo's 7th-century reign to the Chinese annexation of 1950. Lhasa carries the Potala, the Jokhang and the three great Gelug seats (Drepung, Sera, Ganden) in its immediate landscape.
- PatronageJe Tsongkhapa
Drepung monastery was founded in 1416 by Jamyang Choje, Tsongkhapa's direct disciple, under Tsongkhapa's blessing and became the largest monastery in the world before the Cultural Revolution. It was the primary seat of the Dalai Lamas before the fifth Dalai Lama shifted to the Potala in the 1640s.
- Life routeTenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama
Drepung was the primary seat of the Dalai Lamas before the fifth Dalai Lama shifted to the Potala in the 1640s; the 14th Dalai Lama received his main scholastic training at Drepung Loseling college in the 1950s.
- Institutionalised atGelug — the Yellow Hat school
Drepung Monastery is one of the three great seats of the Gelug school.
On these journeys
Sources
Standard reference.
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