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Drepung Gomang Monastery

Tour Goal

•   To share compassion and wisdom of Tibetan buddhism.
• Generate funds to insure the survival of this culture-in-exile.  These funds will be directly utilized by the monks of the Drepung Gomang Monastery.  They will be used to house, feed and educate everyone wishing to study at this monastic center of higher learning including orphans and refugees fleeing Chinese occupied Tibet

Brief History and Description

  In 1416 AD, Drepung Monastic University was founded in Tibet by Jamyang Choje, the closest disciple of the Great Je Tsong Khapa, the founder of the Gelukpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism.  At the time, it was the largest Buddhist University in Tibet, Gomang being the oldest of the now existing four colleges.  At its height, over 3300 monks from all parts of Tibet, Russia, Mongolia, and other parts of the Himalayan Region studied here.  Eminent scholars, philosophers and mystics known throughout Tibet and its neighboring countries were educated here.  Today these gentle, learned Lamas continue to carry Buddha’s wisdom and message of inner peace and compassion to the world.

  When communist China completed their invasion of Tibet in 1959, 5500 monks had been studying at Drepung Gomang, near Lhasa, the capital.  Only about 100 were able to follow His Holiness the 14^th Dalai Lama into exile in India, with the goal of preserving and maintaining cultural identity and religion.  Ten years later, 60 monks succeeded in re-establishing Drepung Gomang monastery in a Tibetan settlement in South India, on land donated by the Indian government.  

  Close to 1500 monks are currently studying at the monastery, with about 150 new arrivals annually.  In 1998 there were 221 from Tibet alone.  Children as young as six years old continue to flee Chinese-occupied Tibet to South India and arrive at the monastery penniless to study their own language, culture, and religion freely.  Monks from India, Nepal, Bhutan, the Czech Republic, New Zealand, Mongolia, and Russia are also arriving at the monastery.  The University provides facilities to everyone wishing to study the great texts in a monastic setting.

  Study at the University is rigorous.  Every year, six days a week, over 46 weeks per year, the students memorize texts for an hour and debate for 2 hours in the morning.  After lunch, they have 3 hours of classroom and another 2 hours of debate.  After dinner, the debate practice continues sometimes stretching till morning.  The traditional education of novice starts from the memorizing of scriptures and learning of elementary texts.  The mode of instruction is mainly through discussion or dialogue between the teacher and the student, using a dialectical method or inquiry.  After more that 20 years of extensive study in Pramana, Madyamika, Abhidarma and related subjects, a monk sits before the Gelukpa Board Examination, after which her may be honored with a geshe degree.  The geshe degree is equivalent to a Ph.D. in Philosophy from a western university.