11
Oct
2018
Drepung Loseling Monastery in India – The Residence of all the Dalai Lamas
Drepung Loseling Monastery is located in Tibetan Colony, Mundgod, Karnataka India. There are over 5,000 celibate monks, with around 3,000 at Drepung Loseling and some 2,000 at Drepung Gomang. Hundreds of new monks are admitted each year, many of them refugees from Tibet.
Drepung in Tibet was modeled after the great monasteries of Classical Buddhist India, namely, Nalanda and Vikramalashila, and was an institution dedicated to the intense study of the traditional Buddhist arts and sciences.
History of Drepung Loseling Monastery
Drepung Loseling Monastery was founded in 1416 by Jamyang Choge Tashi Palden, one of Tsongkhapa’s main disciples, and it was named after the sacred abode in South India of Shridhanyakataka.
Drepung was the principal seat of the Gelugpa school and it retained the premier place amongst the four great Gelugpa monasteries. The Ganden Phodrang in Drepung was the residence of the Dalai Lamas until the Great Fifth Dalai Lama constructed the Potala.
Drepung was known for the high standards of its academic study and was called the Nalanda of Tibet, a reference to the great Buddhist monastic university of India.
Pictures of Drepung Loseling Monastery and Monks
Monk of Drepung Loseling Monastery using an umbrella in the rainy season.
Drepung Loseling Monastery from outside.
The art in the walls of Drepung Loseling Monastery.
The Monks in Drepung Loseling Monastery.
List of Drepung Loseling Monastery in the world
- Drepung Loseling Monastery in India
- Drepung Loseling Monastery in Atlanta
“The production by the monk-artists of Drepung Loseling Monastery is both highly professional and beautiful and expresses the purity and sophistication of the Tibetan sacred performing arts. I am deeply honored to be associated with it.” – Richard Gere
