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Drepung Monastery
I visited India and Nepal for the first time on a Buddhist pilgrimage led by Shantum Seth in 2007. The following is from my 2008 trip to India, Nepal, and Tibet and describes a monastery in Tibet.
I ate breakfast at the rooftop restaurant, with its breathtaking views. The meal was an English breakfast with tea or coffee — no bottled water to be found. I thought I had time to go up to my room, but I couldn’t get the keycard to work. This was rather unfortunate since I hadn’t put on sunscreen before leaving the room.
Afterwards, I met up with my tour guide, Gyantzing, and the driver took us to Drepung Monastery, the fifteenth-century monastery we saw while driving yesterday. “Drepung” means “rice heap.” During the tour, I took a few notes:
Sacred items that are important to a Tibetan monastery:
Chortens (stupas)
Statues
Scriptures
Drepung is Tsongkhapa’s monastery, and he founded it in 1416. He’s a major figure in Tibetan history and legend and founded the Gelugpa sect, which is the Dalai Lama’s sect. He predated the Dalai Lama lineage. The Gelugpa sect was reformist, because Tsongkhapa frowned…