Ganden Monastery

I wanted to write about Ganden Monastery during the past nine years. This time in Tibet I didn’t visit Ganden, but there’s still a story to be told. In 1998 I could still see damage, which was due to the destruction of most of the monastery. Ganden was founded in 1409 by Tsongkhapa, and belongs to the Gelugpa (the sect with the yellow hats), so it’s the oldest of the three big Gelugpa monasteries, the others are Drepung (founded in 1416) and Sera (founded in 1419).

Ganden Monastery had been in ruins after the destruction by the People's Liberation Army in 1959, after Tibetan's protest in Lhasa on March, the 10th and the flight of the 14th Dalai Lama to India. Some people think that the destruction took place during the Cultural Revolution (文化大革命), but this has been a later event and the young revolutionaries didn’t have the necessary equipment.

With time going on Ganden has been restored. I once walked the kora, which runs above 4300 m (14,100 ft), where I didn’t run for sure. One could an can visit the monastery, which is half a day trip or a day trip from Lhasa.

Part of the kora

 

Pilgrims from afar

Golden Bell, 

maybe to war off evil spirits, 

maybe a symbol of power like a banner

Monks before a meeting

 

Links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganden_Monastery

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