Drepung Monastery (wylie: 'bras spungs dgon ),(literally “Rice Heap” monastery), located at the foot of Mount Gephel, is one of the "great three" Gelukpa university monasteries of Tibet. The other two are Ganden and Sera.
Drepung is the largest of all Tibetan monasteries and is located on the Gambo Utse mountain, 5 kilometers from the western suburb of Lhasa.
Freddie Spencer Chapman reported, after his 1936-37 trip to Tibet, that Drepung was at t...
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Drepung Monastery (wylie: 'bras spungs dgon ),(literally “Rice Heap” monastery), located at the foot of Mount Gephel, is one of the "great three" Gelukpa university monasteries of Tibet. The other two are Ganden and Sera.
Drepung is the largest of all Tibetan monasteries and is located on the Gambo Utse mountain, 5 kilometers from the western suburb of Lhasa.
Freddie Spencer Chapman reported, after his 1936-37 trip to Tibet, that Drepung was at that time the largest monastery in the world, and housed 7,700 monks, "but sometimes as many as 10,000 monks."
It was founded in 1416 by Jamyang Choge Tashi Palden (1397-1449), one of Tsongkhapa's main disciples, and it was named after the sacred abode in South India of Shridhanyakataka.
Drepang was the principal seat of the Gelugpa school until the Great Fifth Dalai Lama constructed the Potala and it retained the premier place amongst the four great Gelugpa monasteries.
Drepung was known for the high standards of its academic study, and was...
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