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Sera Monastery
The Sera, Gadan and Drepung Monasteries
are known as the 3 great monasteries of Tibet. All belonging
to the lineage of Gelugpa started by Je Tsong Khapa in early
15th century and all are within Lhasa, capital of Tibet. Contrary
to common understanding, these great monasteries are not places
of worship and rituals but are in reality monastic universities
providing religious education to the monks from age 8 to up
to 70 in some cases. Though Gadan monastery is the spiritual
head quarter of the lineage, it was the Drepung monastery
that has the highest number of monks in the past, before the
political changes took place in Tibet. Drepung used to have
7,700 monks, Sera 5,500 and Gadan 3,300. These are the official
numbers but the actual numbers of monks have often exceeded
these numbers in the history. Drepung at its peak hosted over
10,000 monks. Sera-Je, just one of the 3 Colleges of Sera
Monastery, hosted over 6,000 between the 1930's and 1950's.
Each monastery has its own syllabus and
monastic rules, besides the common monastic rules as prescribed
by the Buddha for monasteries. Here is a rough description
of different aspects of Sera Monastery before communist
time. The other 2 monasteries would have their own unique
characteristics in some aspects but the main description
would be the same for them otherwise.
Sera was established by Jamchen Choje
Sakya Yeshe in 1419 on the request of his teacher Je Tsong
Khapa. Sakya Yeshe was the close disciple of Tsong Khapa
who was invited to become mentor of the Chinese emperor
on behalf of Tsong Khapa and who taught extensively in China,
particularly in the Imperial court, converting many royal
members and in Wutaisan. He was one of Lama Tsong Khapa's
8 close disciples who were known as the eight flagpoles
upholding the teachings. When he returned to Lhasa from
China, he bought along gifts from the emperor, including
a set of Tangyur (canons of teachings spoken by Buddha)
commissioned by the emperor, a set of 16 arhats, a sandalwood
statue of the Buddha. These became the treasures of Sera,
along with a Hayagriva statue said to have once spoken and
a Chenrezig statue which belonged to the famous nun, Gelongma
Padma, lineage founder of the set of 11 faced Chenrezig
practices including the Nyunglay practice, transmitted directly
by Chenrezig to the nun in a vision.
There is a beautiful story related to
the set of Tangyur texts. When Sakya Yeshe returned from
China, there has been an accident and the texts granted
by the emperor felt into a big river as he crossed it. He
thought the texts were lost and carried on the journey.
Before his return however, an old man with attendants came
to Sera and presented the set to the monastery and said
that he was delivering it for Sakya Yeshe. Upon being told
the story later, Sakya Yeshe examined the texts and found
that they were still not completely dried and it was believed
that the old man was a Naga (water spirit) king. There is
another story relating to another set of canons kept at
Sera as monastic treasures. A monk once prayed very sincerely
in front of a statue that one day he would be able to afford
to commission the printing of a wood block set of texts.
The next day he found a mysteriously appeared full set of
ink, blocks and paper underneath the altar and printed this
set of texts, which was presented to Sera. This set is known
as 'the mysteriously appeared canon'. Most of the treasures
listed above are still being preserved at Sera today.
Of the 3 great monasteries, Sera is the
closest to the Potala Palace at Lhasa and is 3 kilometers
away from it. The entire monastic complex occupied 2 square
kilometers. The rock formations behind the monastery bear
close resemblance of the 8 auspicious symbols. Behind Sera,
there is the Choding hermitage where Je Tsong Khapa lived
and retreated and composed many important texts. There is
also a throne where he used to teach and next to it there
is a small spring sacred to White Manjusri. It is believed
that the spring water is good for healing stomach ulcers
and for improving wisdom. Higher up the hill, there is a
house where Marpa's handprint could be seen. A few kilometers
away is the Pabongkha palace, which was a retreat used by
the Tibetan king Songtsen Gonpo and his 2 wives. It was
here that Thomi Sambhota invented Tibetan at the request
of the king, using Sanskrit as the blueprint. As he came
out of the retreat, people gathering at this house asked
him to demonstrate his works and the newly invented written
language. He wrote on the wall in Tibetan the mantra of
the Buddha of Compassion, Om Mani Padme Hum, and it has
become the first use of the Tibetan language. To this day,
the mantra could be seen. At the foot of this house, there
is a natural pattern of an eye on a rock. This is said to
be one of the 3 Dakini eyes which could be seen around this
area. The house was also made famous by its later resident,
Pabongkha Rinpoche. Not far from the house is the Pabhongkha
cave which is said to be a holy place of the Dakinis. A
natural pattern of an eye (second of the 3 eyes) could be
seen in the cave and on the roof there is a natural pattern
of a triangular 'Dharma source'. Pabongkha Rinpoche spent
most of his days in this cave retreating.
The monastery comprises two independently
functioning colleges, Sera-Je and Sera-Mey. Sera Mey was
first established in Tibet in 1421 by Kunkyen Jangchub Boompa,
also a disciple of Je Tsong Khapa. Over the centuries the
monastery has produced many great scholars. Until 1959 the
college housed nearly 5,000 monks.
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