Ganden Monastery

One of the "big three" Gelug university monasteries of Tibet is Ganden Monastery (also spelled Gaden or Gandain), Ganden Namgyeling, or Monastery of Gahlden. It is in Lhasa's Dagzê County. Sera Monastery and Drepung Monastery make up the other two. The Gelug order's founder, Je Tsongkhapa Lozang-dragpa, established the Ganden Monastery in 1409. After 1959, the monastery was completely demolished, although it has since been partially reconstructed. In 1966, Tibetan exiles founded a second monastery in Southern India with the same name and traditions.

More than twenty significant churches with enormous Buddha sculptures may be seen in Ganden. The biggest chapel could accommodate 3,500 monks. The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, who was born in 1935, passed his final degree exams at Ganden in 1958 and says he has a particularly strong bond with Tsongkhapa. A guesthouse is operated by the monastery for guests. Near a sizable plaza, a white structure with a gold-capped roof houses Ganden's primary assembly hall. There are several gilded images of Tsongkhapa in the main chapel. Alongside the main meeting hall is a maroon and ochre chapel with a statue of Sakyamuni Buddha and an area for manually printing religious scriptures on wood blocks.

Location: Wangbur Mountain, Dagzê County, Lhasa Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, China