ASIA PACIFIC
TASHI LHUNPO MONASTERY, TIBET | | Print | |
Tashi Lhunpo Monastery is seat to the Panchen Lama, the second most important spiritual leader of Tibet. The Panchen Lama Himself is a strong practitioner of Dorje Shugden. His main monastery Tashi Lhunpo has a long history of practicing Dorje Shugden which continues strongly until today. In 1447 the Monastery was founded by His Holiness the 1st Dalai Lama, Gyalwa Gendun Drup, in Shigatse, Tibet's second largest city. Readers' Comments
It is one of the four great monasteries of Central Tibet and was supervised and looked after by the Dalai Lamas and Panchen Lamas of the Gelugpa tradition. It has the glory of producing thousands of renowned scholars in the field of Mahayana Buddhist Philosophy and Tantra. During the lifetime of the 4th Panchen Lama, Lobsang Choekyi Gyaltsen, there were more than 3,000 monks in the Monastery and by 1959 there were 5,000, with another 2,000 monks affiliated to the monastery living outside Tibet. After the Cultural Revolution, Tashi Lhunpo Monastery was re-established in the Southern Indian state of Karnataka in 1972, under the patronage of the 14th Dalai Lama. The monastery has monks coming from Tibet and the Himalayan regions of Spithi, Khunu, Ladakh and Arunachal. Occupying a central position in the Tibetan settlement of Bylakuppe, there are over 300 monks including many Tulkus (reincarnate lamas) studying and performing various religious practices.
Kache Marpo Dorje Shugden/Kache Marpo oracle throne and clothes at Gangchen Ladrang, near Tashi Lhunpo Monastery
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