Sera and Drepung - Tibet Part 5

SERA MONASTERY: The Sera Monastery is situated just a few kilometers outside the Holy City of Lhasa, the Seat of the Gods. In past days there were more than 5.000 inhabitants which has been reduced to a few hundreds nowadays. But still the huge number of buildings and alleys give the impression of a small city.
But dont think of monasteries as stonage anymore. Ive seen monks with mobile phones and as an entrance ticket you get a CDRom, I couldnt believe it! One of the most interesting things to me were the Debating Classes,taking place everyday in Sera. A big number of monks come together and discuss their philosophical and religious standpoints. Each argument is stressed by clapping with your hands. Most of the times it is a one-on-one, sometimes there are two or even three monks discussing with only one opponent. In the end they reach a uniting conclusion.
Really fascinating!
In addition I did the Kora around the monastery in 2006 - it is a great experience, you pass along the skyburriel rocks, minor temples and hermitages and great rock carvings. But sometimes you have to climb like a goat, so it can get really exhausting! I once lost the track, it got smaller and smaller untill I realized that this was just a goat way......
DREPUNG MONASTERY: Within close distance around Lhasa you can find the major monasteries of the Gelugpa Order. Drepung is still the biggest one with round about 600 monks today. In the past it was the largest monastery of the world with more than 10.000 monks. Dont get lost in the narrow alleys embraced by beautiful decorated buildings because it got the size of a small city! But you can still see many ruins of destroyed buildings from the cultural revolution. The surrounding is also worth to take a look at. On the left side you can take a hike up to the pitoresque stone paintings. Behind the monastery on the ascent of the mountain you can see a rock plateau where the traditional sky burial took place.
In one sentence, Drepung is a MUST!

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Tibet
• Lhasa
• Sera
• Drepung
• Monastery
• monks
• kora