Negodong Nunnery
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Negodong Nunnery is a historical hermitage, belonging to
Sera Monastery Sera Monastery ( "Wild Roses Monastery"; ) is one of the "great three" Gelug university monasteries of Tibet, located north of Lhasa and about north of the Jokhang. The other two are Ganden Monastery and Drepung Monastery. The origin of its ...
. It is located in the northeastern
Lhasa Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Region in Southwest China. The inner urban area of Lhas ...
suburb known as
Dodé Valley The Dodé Valley or Dog bde is a northern suburb of Lhasa, Tibet. A number of historical hermitages belonging to Sera Monastery Sera Monastery ( "Wild Roses Monastery"; ) is one of the "great three" Gelug university monasteries of Tibet, locat ...
(''Dog bde''), northeast of Sera,
Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...
.
Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
scholar of the Sera Jé College's (''Grwa tshang byes'') Gomdé Regional House (''Sgom sde khang tshan''), Nam mkha’ rgyal mtshan. It was initially founded as a monastery with seventeen monks but later allotted for exclusive use as nunnery to provide personal security to the nuns who were then residing in a remote nunnery at ''Gnas nang'' (higher valley to the east), away from the present location at ''Gnas sgo gdong'' (about an hour's walk).


Geography

The nunnery situated in a mountainous landscape has assigned religious significance to each of the hills surrounding it. The black rocky mountain, in the shape of a triangle, to the east of the nunnery, is said to represent the protector deity of the nunnery, ''Lha mo nyi gzhon''. This mountain is also credited as the “Three Great Mountains” (''Ri chen gsum'') on the periphery of Lhasa. The Northern boundary of the nunnery is known as the Soul-Mountain of Juniper Forests" (Shug pa’i nags bla ri), for the reason that juniper trees were in abundance here (higher slopes of the mountain still have some juniper trees). Two other hill peaks were used to hoist religious flags and to make burnt junifer offerings on the third day of the
Tibetan New Year Losar (; "new year"William D. Crump, "Losar" in ''Encyclopedia of New Year's Holidays Worldwide'' (McFarland & Co.: 2008), pp. 237-38.) also known as Tibetan New Year, is a festival in Tibetan Buddhism. The holiday is celebrated on various d ...
. The water sources sourced here are two springs with the names, the Ravine Spring (''Grog mo chu mig'') and the Sound-Catcher (or Ear) Spring (''Sgra ’dzin chu mig'') which are stated to have some curative properties.


History

The known history of the place is linked to the Jé College's (Grwa tshang byes) Gomdé Regional House (Sgom sde khang tshan), Nam mkha’rgyal mtshan (1532–1592) who built it initially as his retreat. Its conversion into a formal monastery is conjectured as some date in the eighteenth century, after the Mkhar rdo was founded an dit was founded with some seventeen monks initially. Its conversion into a nunnery is related to the security concerns expressed by the nuns who were the staying in a remote area called the Gnas nang. Their security concern was resolved by interchanging their home with that of the monks who were then staying at Gnas sgo gdong. This switch happened in the 1930s or early 1940s; however, the exact year is not clear. Concurrently, a Tibetan government's money printing press (''ngul gyi par khang'') was also shifted from Dog bde and located close to the nunnery. However, the Khardo Lama's estate bought the entire complex of buildings here resulting in creation of a larger estate facility, where the nuns were also housed. Following the creation of the larger facility as the Khardo Lama's estate, the Tibetan Government intervened and impounded all the properties of the Rwa sgreng, the owner of the estate, due to some impropriety of a serious nature. Subsequently, the nuns were moved back to their original residence (which had been converted into a mansion). The Tibetan government thereafter, around 1949–50, demolished all the estate buildings, and then shifted the nuns to the printing press building. After 1959, the nunnery was almost destroyed. However, a dedicated nun of the Negodong Nunnery went round the country seeking financial help to rebuild the nunnery, which is now seen rebuilt. The nunnery now functions as a practice centre (''sgrub sde'') along with
Khardo Hermitage Khardo Hermitage is a historical hermitage in Tibet, belonging to Sera Monastery. It is located north of Lhasa Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level Lhasa ...
(Mkhar rdo ri khrod) and Gnas nang.


Structure

The buildings of the nunnery complex consist of two temples; the front one with a porch and another bigger one with an assembly room and a chapel to keep scriptures, known in Tibetan as 'Bka’ ’gyur lha khang'. A kitchen and a storage room were part of the complex. Nuns were provided with a dormitory, a three storied building, located behind the main temple. A reception room, an office room for the administrator (a senior nun), and a protector deity chapel form part of the main temple, all located on the second floor. More buildings have been built in recent years to the north east of the temple, which form the housing complex for the nuns and it has an adjunct chapel. Prior to 1959, the main idol, donated by the Seventh Dalai Lama
Kelzang Gyatso Kelzang Gyatso (; 1708–1757), also spelled Kalzang Gyatso, Kelsang Gyatso and Kezang Gyatso, was the 7th Dalai Lama of Tibet, recognized as the true incarnation of the 6th Dalai Lama, and enthroned after a pretender was deposed. The Seventh D ...
(Da lai bla ma sku phreng bdun pa bskal bzang rgya mtsho), was that of Lokeshvara, which was carved out of sandalwood and crowned by an image of
Padmasambhava Padmasambhava ("Born from a Lotus"), also known as Guru Rinpoche (Precious Guru) and the Lotus from Oḍḍiyāna, was a tantric Buddhist Vajra master from India who may have taught Vajrayana in Tibet (circa 8th – 9th centuries)... According ...
. However, given that the previous monastery and its artefacts were largely destroyed, the idols are now new. Lha mo nyi ma gzhon is the protector deity of the nunnery.


References

{{Buddhist monasteries in Tibet Sera Monastery Gelug monasteries Buddhist nunneries in Tibet Chengguan District, Lhasa Buddhist monasteries in Lhasa