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Gendun Gyatso
The 2nd Dalai Lama, Gedun Gyatso, (, "Sublimely Glorious Ocean of Spiritual Aspirants", 1475–1542) was also known as Yonten Phuntsok, or Gedun Gyatso Palzangpo. He was ordained at Tashilhunpo Monastery at Shigatse, and later resided at Drepung Monastery in Lhasa. He was posthumously entitled as the 2nd Dalai Lama. Early life Gedun Gyatso was born as Sangye Phel () at Shigatse near Tanak, in the Ü-Tsang, Tsang region of central Tibet. His father, Kunga Gyaltsen (1432–1481) (), was a vow-holding Ngakpa of the Nyingma lineage and a famous Nyingma tantra, tantric master. His father and mother, Machik Kunga Pemo (), were married and farmed as a family. According to scholar Gene Smith, "the rebirth of the First Dalai Lama as the son of ''Grub chen Kun dga' rgyal mtshan'' [Drubchen Kunga Gyaltsen] resulted in the end of a hereditary line of ''Shangs pa Bka' brgyud pa'' [Sangpa Kagyupa] lamas." While he was a young boy, he was proclaimed to be the reincarnation of Gendun Drup, 1st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, Darjeeling, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh, as well as in Nepal. Smaller groups of practitioners can be found in Central Asia, some regions of China such as Northeast China, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and some regions of Russia, such as Tuva, Buryatia, and Kalmykia. Tibetan Buddhism evolved as a form of Mahayana, Mahāyāna Buddhism stemming from the latest stages of Indian Buddhism (which included many Vajrayana, Vajrayāna elements). It thus preserves many Indian Buddhist Tantra, tantric practices of the Gupta Empire, post-Gupta Medieval India, early medieval period (500–1200 CE), along with numerous native Tibetan developments. In the pre-modern era, Tibetan Buddhism spread outside of Tibet primarily due to the influence of the Mongol Emp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lobsang Gyatso
The 5th Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso (; ; 1617–1682) was recognized as the 5th Dalai Lama, and he became the first Dalai Lama to hold both Tibet's political and spiritual leadership roles. He is often referred to simply as the Great Fifth, being the key religious and temporal leader of Tibetan Buddhism and Tibet. He is credited with unifying all of Tibet under the Ganden Phodrang, after Gushri Khan's successful military interventions. As an independent head of state, he established priest and patron relations with both Mongolia and the Qing dynasty simultaneously, and had positive relations with other neighboring countries. He began the custom of meeting early European explorers. The 5th Dalai Lama built the Potala Palace, and also wrote 24 volumes' worth of scholarly and religious works on a wide range of subjects. Early life To understand the context within which the Dalai Lama institution came to hold temporal power in Tibet during the lifetime of the 5th, it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sera Monastery
Sera Monastery ( "Wild Roses Monastery"; ) is one of the "great three" Gelug gompa, 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 name is attributed to a fact that during construction, the hill behind the monastery was covered with blooming wild roses (or "sera" in Tibetan). (An alternate etymology holds that the location that was surrounded by raspberry shrubs called 'Sewa' in Tibetan, that formed like a 'Rawa' in Tibetan, meaning "Fence".) The original Sera Monastery is responsible for some 19 hermitages, including four nunneries, which are all located in the foothills north of Lhasa. The Sera Monastery, as a complex of structures with the Great Assembly Hall and three colleges, was founded in 1419 by Jamchen Chojey of Sakya Yeshe of Zel Gungtang (1355–1435), a disciple of Je Tsongkhapa. During the 1959 revolt in Lhasa, Sera monastery suffered severe dam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ganden Monastery
Ganden Monastery (also Gaden or Gandain) or Ganden Namgyeling or Monastery of Gahlden is one of the "great three" Gelug university monasteries located in Dagzê County, Lhasa, Tibet. The other two are Sera Monastery and Drepung Monastery. Ganden Monastery was founded in 1409 by Je Tsongkhapa Lozang-dragpa, founder of the Gelug order. The monastery was destroyed after 1959, but has since been partially rebuilt. Another monastery with the same name and tradition was established in Southern India in 1966 by Tibetan exiles. Location Ganden is northeast of Lhasa. The monastery lies in a hilly natural amphitheater. There are dramatic views over the valleys from the ''kora'' route around the monastery. Ganden Monastery is at the top of Wangbur Mountain, Dagzê County at an altitude of 4,300m. Its full name is Ganden Namgyal Ling (''dga' ldan rmam rgyal gling''). ''Ganden'' means "joyful" and is the Tibetan name for Tuṣita, the heaven where the bodhisattva Maitreya is said to res ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sera Monastery
Sera Monastery ( "Wild Roses Monastery"; ) is one of the "great three" Gelug gompa, 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 name is attributed to a fact that during construction, the hill behind the monastery was covered with blooming wild roses (or "sera" in Tibetan). (An alternate etymology holds that the location that was surrounded by raspberry shrubs called 'Sewa' in Tibetan, that formed like a 'Rawa' in Tibetan, meaning "Fence".) The original Sera Monastery is responsible for some 19 hermitages, including four nunneries, which are all located in the foothills north of Lhasa. The Sera Monastery, as a complex of structures with the Great Assembly Hall and three colleges, was founded in 1419 by Jamchen Chojey of Sakya Yeshe of Zel Gungtang (1355–1435), a disciple of Je Tsongkhapa. During the 1959 revolt in Lhasa, Sera monastery suffered severe dam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monlam Chenmo
Monlam, also known as The Great Prayer Festival, falls on the 4th to 11th day of the 1st Tibetan month in Tibetan Buddhism. History The event of Monlam in Tibet was established in 1409 by Je Tsongkhapa in Lhasa, the founder of the Geluk tradition. As the greatest religious festival in Tibet, thousands of monks (of the three main monasteries of Drepung, Sera and Ganden) gathered fri chant prayers and perform religious rituals at the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa. The inaugural celebration attracted many devotees, and it has been performed for about 600 years. In 1517, Gedun Gyatso became the abbot of Drepung monastery and in the following year, he revived the Monlam Chenmo, the Great Prayer Festival and presided over the events with monks from Sera, Drepung and Ganden, the three great monastic universities of the Gelugpa Sect. "The main purpose of the Great Prayer Festival is to pray for the long life of all the holy Gurus of all traditions, for the survival and spreading of the Dha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drepung
Drepung Monastery (, "Rice Heap Monastery"), located at the foot of Mount Gephel, is one of the "great three" Gelug monasteries of Tibet founded by Je Tsongkhapa. The other two are Ganden Monastery and Sera Monastery. Drepung is the largest of all Tibetan monasteries and is located on the Gambo Utse mountain, five 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." All three were re-established in exile in the 1950s in the state of Karnataka in south-west India. Drepung and Ganden are in Mundgod and Sera is in Bylakuppe. History Drepung Monastery 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. Drepung was the principal seat of the Gelugpa school and it ret ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tsetang
Tsetang () or Zedang (), is the fourth largest city in Tibet and is located in the Yarlung Valley, southeast of Lhasa in Nedong District of the Shannan Prefecture in the Tibet region of China. It is the capital of Shannan Prefecture (which is also referred to as "Shannan City"). Tsetang has been the capital of the Yarlung region since antiquity and was the seat of the ancient emperors of Tibet and, as such, a place of great importance. In the 19th century, it is said to have comprised some 1,000 houses, a bazaar, a gompa and a fort. As the capital of Shannan, it is the second-largest settlement in the historical Ü-Tsang region. It lies at an elevation of above sea level and has a population of approximately 52,000 persons. It is only about to the northeast of the town of Nedong and they have now essentially merged into one city. Tsetang is situated near the flank of Mount Gongbori () where many ancient ruins (such as ruins of Gajiu Monastery) are located. It is know ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chokorgyel Monastery
Chokorgyel Monastery (; also, Chökorye, Chokhor-gyal) is a Buddhist monastery in Gyatsa County in Tibet, China. History In 1509 Gedun Gyatso, the 2nd Dalai Lama, had a meditation cave and founded a hermitage here. The Gelugpa monastery of Chokorgyel (), is a four-hour hike from the sacred lake, Lhamo La-tso, and about 115 km northeast of Tsetang and about 160 km southeast of Lhasa. The monastery is at an altitude of 4,500 m (14,764 ft), while the lake itself is at an altitude of about 5,000 m. (16,404 ft). It is a small, oval lake - no more than 2 square kilometres in size. The Dzungar Mongols severely damaged the monastery in 1718, although it was rebuilt immediately by the Regent Kangchene, although little, if anything ancient would have survived until the time of the arrival of the Chinese in 1959. It is said that Palden Lhamo, the female guardian spirit of the sacred lake, Lhamo La-tso, promised the 1st Dalai Lama in one of his visions "that she wou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lhamo La-tso
Lhamo Latso or Lha-mo La-tso () is a small oval oracle lake where senior Tibetan monks of the Gelug sect go for visions to assist in the discovery of reincarnations of the Dalai Lamas. Other pilgrims also come to seek visions. It is considered to be the most sacred lake in Tibet."Lhamo Latso Lake" It is also known as "The Spiritual-Lake of the Goddess", the goddess being Palden Lhamo, the principal Protectress of Tibet. Other names include: Tso Lhamo (mTsho Lha mo), Chokhorgyelgi Namtso (Chos 'khor rgyal gyi gnam mtsho) and Makzorma (dmag zor ma) and, on old maps, as Cholamo. Palden Lhamo and Lhamo Latso [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sacred Lake
Sacred waters are sacred natural sites characterized by tangible topographical land formations such as rivers, lakes, springs, reservoirs, and oceans, as opposed to holy water which is water elevated with the sacramental blessing of a cleric. These organic bodies of water have attained religious significance not from the modern alteration or blessing, but were sanctified through mythological or historical figures. Sacred waters have been exploited for cleansing, healing, initiations, and death rites. Ubiquitous and perpetual fixations with water occur across religious traditions. It tends to be a central element in the creations accounts of almost every culture with mythological, cosmological, and theological myths. In this way, many groups characterize water as "living water", or the "water of life". This means that it gives life and is the fundamental element from which life arises. Each religious or cultural group that feature waters as sacred substances tends to favor certai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gelug
file:DalaiLama0054 tiny.jpg, 240px, 14th Dalai Lama, The 14th Dalai Lama (center), the most influential figure of the contemporary Gelug tradition, at the 2003 Kalachakra ceremony, Bodh Gaya, Bodhgaya (India) The Gelug (, also Geluk; 'virtuous')Kay, David N. (2007). ''Tibetan and Zen Buddhism in Britain: Transplantation, Development and Adaptation,'' p. 39. Routledge. is the newest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It was founded by Je Tsongkhapa (1357–1419), a Tibetan people, Tibetan philosopher, Vajrayana, tantric yogi and lama and further expanded and developed by his disciples (such as Khedrup Gelek Pelzang, 1st Panchen Lama, Khedrup Je, Gyaltsab Je, Gyaltsap Je, Dulzin Drakpa Gyaltsen, and 1st Dalai Lama, Gendün Drubpa). The Gelug school is alternatively known as Kadam (''bKa’-gdams gsar-pa''), since it sees itself as a continuation of the Kadam (Tibetan Buddhism), Kadam tradition of Atiśa, Atisha (c. 11th century). The school of New Kadam, or New Kadampa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
