Ganden Monastery

Ganden Monastery


Just 40 km outside Lhasa, Ganden sits at 4500 metres above the Kyi-chu valley. Founded in 1409 by Tsongkhapa, it was almost totally destroyed by the Red Guards by artillery fire and bombing in 1959 and 1966. Rebuilt in the 1980's, more is being done every year.


Ganden (which means 'joyous')was the first Gelugpa monastery and the seat of this major Buddhist order. The views of the valley and the hour walk around the kora provide an amazing experience.






 There is a special place on the kora where sky burials are done, and while walking by several vultures flew overhead presumably waiting for something to happen...

Sky Burial site
The main Chapel, assembly hall




In addition there is a meditation cave on the kora where Tsongkhapa, the founder, had a hermitage with butter lamps and an image of Sakyamuni on the side.

Tsongkhapa's Hermitage










Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Shigatse and Tashilumpo

Image
After an exhilarating day at Rongbuk and Everest Base Camp, we had another long drive to get to Shigatse, the second largest city in Tibet, staying at the Van Ray Hotel. The heaters did not work very well here, breakfast was poor but it was an easy walk to the main street and Tashilumpo Monastery the next day. The afternoon was free for our first open afternoon. Tashilumpo, one of the six great Gelugpa institutions (along with Drepung, Sera and Ganden), was founded in 1447 by the first Dalai Lama. It became the seat of an important lineage - that of the Panchen Lama. The Panchen Lama's role is to help in the search for the next Dalai Lama. The Kora around Tashilumpo takes about an hour and provides great views of Shigatse and the valley in which it sits. Lots of shopping and seemed to be more prosperous than I remember from 2006.
Read more

Mt. Everest, Rongbuk and Base camp

Image
A long day on the bus (380kms) took us on paved highways over several high passses - Khamba La (4996m) with views of Yamdrok Tso (4400m), one of 4 holy lakes in Tibet. Lunch in Nangartse and then over the Karo La pass (5193m), Simi La (4611m) and a stop in Gyantse (3980m) to see the Kumbum (a 32m high chortan under renovation), Pelkor Chode monastery and the Gyantse fortress. Arrived in Shigatse, Tibet's second largest town (3900m) at 8:30pm, got a quick shower and off to bed! Up early the next day to drive to Shegar (Xegar) at 4408m. It was a good, paved road from Shigatse and driving out to see Sakya monastery, however road construction closures prevented us from continuing. Disappointed, however, this gave us an opportunity to visit the Tonggar Chode Monastery, a much smaller, but beautiful new building completed in 2009. We had a Chinese lunch in Lhatse and then over Gyatso La (5205m) and the first views of Mt. Everest. Arrived in Xegar 5:30pm - the sun was warm b...
Read more