Statue of the Buddha in Namgyal Monastery

Namgyal Monastery () (also often referred to as "Dalai Lama's Temple") is in Mcleod Ganj, Dharamsala,

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It is the personal monastery of the

14th Dalai Lama The 14th Dalai Lama (born 6 July 1935; full spiritual name: Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, shortened as Tenzin Gyatso; ) is the incumbent Dalai Lama, the highest spiritual leader and head of Tibetan Buddhism. He served a ...

. Another name for this temple-complex is Namgyal Tantric College. The monastery's key role is to assist with rituals involving the

Dalai Lama The Dalai Lama (, ; ) is the head of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. The term is part of the full title "Holiness Knowing Everything Vajradhara Dalai Lama" (圣识一切瓦齐尔达喇达赖喇嘛) given by Altan Khan, the first Shu ...

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

. Its main tantric practices reportedly include those of

Kalachakra ''Kālacakra'' () is a Polysemy, polysemic term in Vajrayana, Vajrayana Buddhism and Hinduism that means "wheel of time" or "time cycles". "''Kālacakra''" is also the name of a series of Buddhist texts and a major practice lineage in History of ...

, Yamantaka, Chakrasamvara, Guhyasamaja, and

Vajrakilaya In Tibetan Buddhism, Vajrakilaya (, also ; or Vajrakumara (; ) is a wrathful heruka yidam deity who embodies the enlightened activity of all the Buddhas. His practice is known for being the most powerful for removing obstacles and destroying th ...

Early years

Founded in either 1564 or 1565 as Phende Lekshe Ling (on the foundations of the since defunct monastery called Phende Gon) by the second Dalai Lam Gendun Gyatso, Namgyal Monastery was renamed in honour of the female long-life deity Namgyälma in 1571. Since the completion of construction on the

Potala Palace Potala Palace ( Tibetan: པོ་ཏ་ལ་ཕོ་བྲང Chinese: 布达拉宫) is the name of a museum in Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in China, built in the ''dzong''-style. It was previously a palace of t ...

(begun by the Fifth Dalai Lama), Namgyal was traditionally housed in the red section at the top of that building in

Lhasa Lhasa, officially the Chengguan District of Lhasa City, is the inner urban district of Lhasa (city), Lhasa City, Tibet Autonomous Region, Southwestern China. Lhasa is the second most populous urban area on the Tibetan Plateau after Xining ...

Since 1959

Following the Tibetan uprising of 1959, Namgyal Monastery relocated to Dharamshala, India, where it continues, active, to this day. According to Namgyal's website, Namgyal (Dharamshala) has "nearly 200" monks (up from 55 in 1959), representing all four main Tibetan monastic lineages. In 1992, on the advice of the present Dalai Lama, Namgyal established an American branch in

Ithaca, New York Ithaca () is a city in and the county seat of Tompkins County, New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York (state), New York, Ithaca is the largest community in the Ithaca metrop ...

, including within it the Namgyal Monastery Institute of Buddhist Studies. On 8 February 1996, the monks of Namgyal Monastery's Institute of Buddhist Studies offered their first "Blessing of Cyberspace" as part of the "Twenty-four Hours in Cyberspace" event. In 1998, Namgyal incorporated a Tibetan monastery in Bodhgaya, India, called Gendhen Phelgyeling. That monastery is now known as Namgyal (Bodhgaya), and has 45 monks. Namgyal (Dharamsala) also manages a temple in

Kushinagar Kushinagar (Pali: ; Sanskrit: ) is a town in the Kushinagar district in Uttar Pradesh, India, east of Gorakhpur on National Highway 27, Kushinagar is a Buddhist pilgrimage site, where Buddhists believe Gautama Buddha died. Etymology Acc ...

(since 1967), and an elderly home in

Simla Shimla, also known as Simla (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Himachal Pradesh, the official name until 1972), is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared the summe ...

(since 1992). Whether the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

has maintained an institution with the same name inside Tibet is unclear.

References

External links

Namgyal (Dharamshala)
- The home monastery in Mcleod Ganj, India
Namgyal (Bodh Gaya)
- Gendhen Phelgyeling branch in Bodh Gaya, India
Namgyal (Ithaca)
- Institute of Buddhist Studies branch in Ithaca, New York, USA {{Authority control Buddhist monasteries in Tibet 1575 establishments in Asia Religious organizations established in the 1570s Gelug monasteries Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and temples in India Buildings and structures in Dharamshala 14th Dalai Lama 1950s establishments in Himachal Pradesh Temples in Himachal Pradesh Buddhist monasteries in Himachal Pradesh

Early years

Since 1959

See also

References

External links