Chemrey Gompa in Ladakh

Chemrey Gompa is located about 45 km Southeast of Leh in Ladakh. It belongs to the Drugpa Kagyü (monastic order), which is in Tibet one of the eight orders though a minor one, in Bhutan it is the leading order, and in Ladakh Hemis Gompa with 350 monks is supposed to be very rich. Chemrey Gompa has been founded in 1664 [1]. In Chemrey however it only serves for approximately 20 monks and also the young apprentices of the Drugpa order as residence [2]; according to J. Mattausch there are 110 monks at Chemrey [3]. One of the attractions of the Chemrey Gompa is a reasonably high image of Padmasambhava. Besides they also have a precious collection of scriptures with the title pages in silver and the text in gold letters. 

Lama Tagsang Raschen founded Chemrey Gompa in 1664 to increase the sphere of influence of the Drugpa order. For this purpose the location of the monastery on a hillcock is ideal as it is easily to be seen from afar.


 

Padmasambhava is the name of Guru Rinpoche in Sanskrit; Tibetan: པདྨ་འབྱུང་གནས།, Chinese: 莲花生大士. Padmasasbhava had been invited to Tibet in th 8th century and founded (together with other scholars) the Tibetan form of Buddhism. He is venerated in Tibet as the second Buddha [4]. He also helped to construct Tibet's first monastery (Samye), which I have visited, but haven't written about so far. There is an elaborated iconography on his appearance, dress, seat, surroundings and more. The Vajra Guru mantra [Om Ah Hum Vajra Guru Padma Siddhi Hum] is ascribed to him; Tibetan pronunciation: Om Ah Hung Benza Guru Pema Siddhi Hung. 

 


Links and References:

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemrey_Monastery

[2] http://www.buddhist-temples.com/buddhist-monastery/ladakh/chemrey.html

[3] Mattausch, Jutta: Ladakh und Zanskar (Reiseführer) (Deutsch). 2017.

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padmasambhava

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