Dorje Shugden puja being done at Tashilunpo Monastery

There are many types of protection one can have, dependent on the spirit or malady, but one of the most powerful is relying on the benevolent protector DORJE SHUGDEN.

Dorje Shugden’s rites, rituals, prayers, meditations and protective mantras are hailed as one of the best. This practice is excellent to do daily to bless our premises as it is very effective. One can download a picture, keep in one’s home and ask for sacred protection. Many can attest that Tibetan protection is ancient and powerful.

Tibetan Buddhism and Tibetan High Lamas are the world’s experts for exorcism and casting out of spirits. In the east, where magic is prevalent even in today’s times, it is considered the best.

Many people who are afflicted with the Chinese mountain magic, Thai magic or Indonesian magic are very hard to cure. Spirits follow them and many disasters happen.

They always seek Tibetan Lamas for healing and getting rid of evil spirits, black magic or purifying unclean places. In the Tibetan tradition, people are very familiar with protection against negative forces, spirits, spells, and bad energy.

There is a wonderful practice that any layman can do, which is invoking upon a very powerful yet benevolent Protector – Dorje Shugden. We can do his prayer followed by mantra daily. This can be done in one’s home, before travels or during crisis situations.

Daily prayers to Dorje Shugden would be good also. Reciting prayers to Dorje Shugden, offering one’s fears and reciting the mantra daily is very powerful for protection against the most ferocious spirits or demons. This ancient protective practice from the High Tibetan lamas is the best.

Daily prayers and invocation to Dorje Shugden also bless the environment and give peace. When we do prayers to invite Dorje Shugden to our place and to bless and protect our abode, Dorje Shugden comes from holy power places throughout this planet, other realms and different Buddha Fields.

One of the power places that Dorje Shugden resides in is Shambala, a mystical land filled with spiritual practice and spiritual beings. So it is a very holy and sacred practice of Tibet.

Dorje Shugden’s sacred mantra is: OM BENZA WIKI BITANA SOHA

Recite this daily for blessings. This can be recited as much as possible. The pronunciation is not a worry.

Update

Black magic and spirit infestations are common occurrences in many parts of the world. Vajrayana Buddhism provides a number of effective solutions for such problems yet many have limited access to a qualified teacher who is able to grant the necessary teachings and initiations.

Fortunately, within the lineage and teachings related to Dorje Shugden, a practice to prevent and assist with such problems exists, and can be done safely by anyone who is afflicted by these negative energies without receiving initiation. This practice is that of the wrathful emanation of Dorje Shugden, known as Trakze or Karma Shugden.

May all who are afflicted by these negative energies be free from such sufferings quickly.

Trakze Practice for Protection Against Spirits or Black Magic

• Trakze Teachings (English) by H.E. Kyabje Tsem Rinpoche
• Trakze Prayer Text

The 5th On Gyalse Rinpoche was enthroned at the age of four. The following year, he was given the name Thubten Jigme Gyatso by the 7th Dalai Lama who also performed the first hair cutting ritual on him.

At the age of 10 years old, he was ordained as a novice monk. At 20, he received full ordination from the famous Gelugpa master Phurcho Ngawang Jampa. He went on to obtain his Geshe Lharampa degree in 1766 and met the Panchen Rinpoche at Tashi Lhungpo the following year.

On Gyalse Rinpoche received sutric and tantric teachings from some of the most illustrious teachers of the time, including Phurchog Ngawang Jampa, Panchen Rinpoche Palden Yeshe and Changkya Rolpa Dorje. At a later time, he also sought teachings and initiations – notably the Vajrayogini and Kurukulle initiations – from the famous Sakya Throne-holder Kunga Lodro.

Having excelled in his studies, he reached the highest level of study, Geshe Lharam – usually requiring over 30 years of study – when he was only 23. By the time he was only 26, he was already engaging in single-pointed meditation in a cave for three years.

Under his tutelage, On Gyalse Rinpoche produced some of the most erudite masters of his time including Longdol Lama Ngawang Lobsang, the 3rd Tagphu Lobsang Chokyi Wangchug and the 1st Dragri reincarnation, Dragri Gyatso Thaye, all of whom have gone on to give unexcelled teachings and write highly respected texts and rituals in their own right.

On Gyalse Rinpoche is also famed for having written a ritual on torma offering to Dorje Shugden performed through Yamantaka and is an adept of Tibetan poetry, which can be seen clearly in his written works and the rituals he authored.

Another notable work is a short incense offering called Sang Choe Dogyur Chibey Ga-tsoen She-Ja-Wa Shugsol, very powerful for clearing obstacles and for purification. This in particular is the practice of offering fragrance to Vajradhara, Buddha Shakyamuni, the Seven Patriarchs, the Six Ornaments, the 84 Mahasiddhas, Heruka, Hevajra, Yamantaka, Guhyasamaja and a vast number of protectors such as Dorje Shugden.

This showed very much that he had a strong reliance on and great reveance for this Protector Shugden. Lamas of such calibre would not compose texts to deities if it would be damaging to their students or practitioners in any way

During the later part of his life, On Gyaltse was bestowed the title Nomenhan and became a Yongdzin, or academic tutor, to the 9th Dalai Lama. This is no ordinary accolade as the term Yongdzin refers to the attainment of an enlightened state. Yongdzins are the most respected Lamas because the lineages they hold are passed on directly to the line of Dalai Lama reincarnates.

Great Collector of the Kangyur and Tangyur

Next in the line of Dorje Shugden’s previous incarnations is the prolific scholar Butön Rinchen Drub from Zhalu Monastery. He was born in western Tibet in the same area where Tashi Lhunpo Monastery would later be built.

As a child, Butön Rinchen Drub displayed all the extraordinary behavior of a high incarnated Lama. He was particularly noted for being able to perceive the holy face of Manjushri directly and to engage in conversation with him.

As a young man, Butön Rinchen Drub learned the ancient Sanskrit language with relative ease. From the time he began his education as a very young boy, he had a string of great masters as his tutors.

At the age of 18, he took ordination from the Abbot Rinchen Senge Pel, Sri Singharatna and Master Tseme Kyebu. He had numerous other teachers who were the greatest masters and Abbots of his time, and under their tutelage, he studied and mastered the breadth and width of Sutra and Tantra, thereby establishing himself as a learned scholar.

After completing his studies, Butön Rinchen Drub began to translate sacred Sanskrit texts and correct many existing translations. Slowly, he also became well known as a Lama.

Butön Rinchen Drub embarked on the ambitious project of compiling 500 years’ worth of translated teachings into the encyclopaedic Kangyur and Tangyur collections. These comprise the spoken teachings of Lord Buddha and the written commentaries by Buddha’s spiritual heirs. He did this because many of the great Buddhist centers of learning in India were destroyed during the onslaught of the Muslim invasion.

The remaining translations and various surviving scriptures were all that was left for Buddhism to survive on in Tibet. Butön Rinchen Drub’s contribution by compiling these translations was therefore a most monumental one which helped to preserve and propagate the teachings throughout Tibet. In addition to this, Butön Rinchen Drub also composed 26 prolific volumes of commentaries in the course of his life.

His Kangyur and Tangyur collections have become well-known by all the schools of Buddhism in Tibet, and continue to serve as an excellent reference for the vast breadth of Lord Buddha’s teachings. Along with his many accomplished disciples, this is the amazing legacy Butön Rinchen Drub left behind when he passed into clear light at his home in Zhalu Monastery.

The Virtuous Spiritual Master

The following incarnation, Ngawang Sonam Geleg Pelzang was born in Olka Ribug. From a young age, he was already reciting long Dharani mantras and had clear knowledge of his past life. Soon, students from his previous life came to take him back to his residence in Drepung to be taken cared of.

When he was three, he was brought to Kyisho. There, at the residence of the Lama, Paljor Gyatso, he offered a bit of his hair to this great Lama. In the same year, he recited the Guru Yoga on his throne at the Lhasa Prayer festival, thus filling everybody with tremendous faith.

He then entered Tashi Jong Monastery where he received his novice vows from his older brother, Paljor Sonam Lhundrub, and was given the name Ngawang Sonam Geleg Pelzang.

When he turned 14, the Fourth Dalai Lama Yonten Gyatso came to visit him when he first arrived back from Mongolia. When he turned eighteen, he went to Gaden Podrang of Drepung where, together with the Dalai Lama, he received teachings on the 45 empowerments of the Vajra Garland Mandala from Panchen Lobsang Chokyi Gyeltsen.

Upon turning twenty, Ngawang Sonam Geleg Pelzang received full ordination from the great Panchen Lobsang Chokyi Gyeltsen at Drepung. Later, in the summer of that year, he traveled to Tashi Lhumpo to study the great treatises.

His learning was said to have improved by leaps and bounds every day. In particular, he always gave excellent explanations at assembly – this delighted the Panchen Lama who always regarded him highly and often praised him as a virtuous spiritual guide.

Ngawang Sonam Geleg Pelzang went on an extensive pilgrimage to central Tibet, where he travelled to Tsang all the way from Sakya. He went through famous sites like Marlam Gongkar Dorje Den, Jampa Ling, Tsethang and travelled on to Olka and Gyal. From Gyal, he travelled to Kyisho with the Fourth Dalai Lama, Lord Yonten Gyatso, as Guru and disciple, offering him many teachings on Sutra and Tantra.

When the Omniscient Dalai Lama turned 21, he received his full ordination vows at Drepung from Panchen Lozang Chogyen who acted as abbot and Ngawang Sonam Geleg Pelzang as action master.

Ngawang Sonam Geleg Pelzang continued to give many teachings to thousands and led the chanting at the Great Prayer Festival in Lhasa. Unfortunately, when he turned 22, he contracted smallpox and passed into clear light. His holy remains were cremated, leaving many relics and deity images which were placed inside a statue of Buddha Amitayus.

Dorje Shugden’s practice initially began in the Sakya school when the “spirit” of Tulku Drakpa Gyeltsen first travelled there after failing to enter Tashi Lhumpo to meet his Guru.

One of Dorje Shugden’s previous incarnations was as Sakya Pandita. As such the Sakya patriarch at that time, Dagchen Dorje Chang Sonam Rinchen accepted him and officially enthroned him as a Dharma Protector. Then, Kunkhyen Ngawang Kunga Lodroe composed a praise that became the start of his practice in the Sakya School.

Meanwhile, the Fifth Dalai Lama and many other high Lamas tried to destroy him with various wrathful rituals but all their attempts failed. This appeared to be a deliberate attempt on the part of the Dalai Lama to publicly prove the indestructible nature of Dorje Shugden.

Eventually, realizing that Dorje Shugden had, in fact, arisen as a Protector and not as a spirit, the Fifth Dalai Lama composed a praise of Dorje Shugden and even crafted a statue of him with his very own hands.

This statue was made by the 5th Dalai Lama himself. It is still venerated daily in Phelgyeling Monastery, Nepal.

He entrusted this statue and practice to Phelgyeling Monastery, which then installed Dorje Shugden as its main Protector. Elders of the monastery today say that the practice became so widespread that even Nyingmapas of their area in Tibet practiced Dorje Shugden.

The Great Fifth Dalai Lama also built the first tsen khang, Protector chapel, of Dorje Shugden in Lhasa. This temple still stands in Lhasa today and is a popular pilgrimage site for devotees of Dorje Shugden from all over the world. In its earlier days, the chapel was placed under the care of Riwo Choling, a Gelug monastery – this became the first link for Dorje Shugden’s practice to enter the Gelug tradition.

June 14-15, 2010, The 11th Panchen Lama Bainqen Erdini Qoigyijabu, Vice president of The Buddhist Association of China, was having two days Dharma teaching at his home monastery, Tashi Lhunpo.

He was teaching on “The Three Principal Paths” to both sanghas and lay people, also giving blessing by touching their heads. This is the first public dharma teaching by 11th Panchen lama after his enthronement.

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Buddha Unfolding Festival

Each year, from the 15th to 16th day of the 5th Tibetan month, Tashi Lhunpo monastery will be celebrating their Buddha Unfolding Festival. Sanghas are getting ready for the festival one day before the festival.

During the festival, farmers and herdsmen of Tsang area will gather at Shigatse, as well as pilgrims from other places. They believe that even a glimpse of Buddha’s face will help them accumulate tremendous merit.

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The Panchen Lama is the highest ranking Lama after the Dalai Lama in the Gelugpa lineage of Tibetan Buddhism.

His main monastery Tashi Lhunpo has a long history of practicing Dorje Shugden which continues strongly until today.

The Panchen Lama Himself is a strong practitioner of Dorje Shugden.

The monks in Tshi Lhunpo Monastery do puja to Dorje Shugden daily

The 10th Panchen Lama

The 11th Panchen Lama

These are some of the holy statues and thangkas in Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, Tibet

Dorje Shugden mandala

Trakze

The Eight Guiding Monks

The Eight Guiding Monks

The Eight Guiding Monks

The Nine Mothers

The Nine Mothers

The Ten Youthful and Wrathful Assistants

The Ten Youthful and Wrathful Assistants

The Ten Youthful and Wrathful Assistants

The Ten Youthful and Wrathful Assistants

The Ten Youthful and Wrathful Assistants

Trakze

Kache Marpo

Dorje Shugden/Kache Marpo oracle throne and clothes at Gangchen Ladrang, near Tashi Lhunpo Monastery

She is a student with a taste for Prada, but Tibetans consider Yabshi Pan Rinzinwangmo divine. Can she change her country?

YABSHI PAN RINZINWANGMO, a 20-year-old political science student at a university in Washington USA, likes to be called Renji. Her Chinese mother uses the title “princess”. The Communist Chinese government not only permits the royal honorific but endorses it.

Renji’s father was the 10^th Panchen Lama, an incarnation in a line of lamas who became powerful in Tibet in the 17^th Century. The Dalai Lama rules as a king, but the Panchen Lama, who has no formal political role, has greater spiritual authority for some. The spiritual brothers are both bodhisattvas – highly evolved beings who’ve chosen to return to earth to help others find enlightenment.

Renji has never lived in Tibet, but in 1990, a year after her father died at his monastery in Tibet, her mother took her to the old Tibetan province of Kham, which has been largely absorbed by the Chinese province of Sichuan.

Hundreds of people set up tents by the roadside waiting for a glimpse. “They told me there were people lining in the road for miles,” Renji says, in American-accented English. “Thousands of people all wanting to touch me. I was only seven.”

There’s no religious reason Renji should attract devotion. Her father’s position as an incarnation of the Buddha isn’t hereditary, but many Tibetans still revere her. “They think I’m some kind of Buddha statute,” she says.

“They take my hand and put it on their heads as a blessing. I can’t complain because it makes them happy to see and touch me. I only ask my bodyguards to stop them when they lift my skirt to touch my feet.”

The Child of Tibet’s Most Religious Figure

Renji’s father was born in 1938 in eastern Tibet. He was then Gonpo Tseten, son of the Wendu village headman. But in 1941, representatives of the court of the ninth Panchen Lama came to Wendu in search of the Panchen Lama reincarnation.

Initially, Gonpo Tseten was not a favoured candidate. But the three boys who were considered more likely to be the reincarnation had died. So in 1949 the Kuomintang government, in one of its last acts before being overthrown by Chairman Mao Zedong, declared 11-year-old Gonpo Tseten the 10^th Panchen Lama.

At the age of 14, Renji’s father settled into the Tashilhunpo monastery, the traditional seat of the Panchen Lamas. Although Chairman Mao promised that central Tibet would be exempt from socialist changes, in eastern Tibet the Communist Party set about changing traditional society. The Panchen Lama’s entourage had been pro-Chinese in the beginning, but how much the Panchen Lama himself supported the Part remains a matter of dispute.

After 1959, when the Dalai Lama left the country, the Panchen Lama was the most senior religious figure left in Tibet. In the spring of 1962, he submitted a report detailing his view of the consequence of Chinese policies in Tibet. The Panchen Lama thought he’d made a reasoned contribution to the Party’s rule, but some Communist leaders saw him as a “reactionary” enemy.

By 1968, the Panchen Lama had disappeared into solitary confinement in Beijing. For years he was thought to be dead. When he was released in 1977, the Tibet he’d known was gone. His old life was over, so he decided to build a new one.

In 1979, at the age of 40, he did what no other Panchen Lama had ever done – he got married. His wife, Li Jie, was the daughter of a former general in the Kuomintang Army. Both families disapproved – Li Jie’s father refused to speak to her until the wedding day, while the Panchen Lama’s mother was never fully reconciled to the match.

Renji was born in 1983, and as Deng Xiaoping steered China through the 1980s, the family joined the privileged inner circles in Beijing. There were toys and pretty dresses, birthday parties, picnics and holidays to Tibet.

Then in 1989, the Panchen Lama died. The status of his widow and child was ambiguous. By this time, Li Jie had taken a Tibetan name and dressed in Tibetan clothes. She’d learnt the language and became a Buddhist.

But widows don’t figure in Tibet’s celibate religious orders. Traditionally, a deceased lama’s property is kept in trust for his next incarnation. But as her husband enjoyed wealth at the end of his life, Li Jie insisted on provisions for herself and her child.

The dispute over the Panchen Lama’s property dragged for years. The Chinese government wanted Li Jie and Renji to move out of the villa built by the Panchen Lama in Beijing. At one stage, power supply was even cut off. But finally, a settlement was reached that left Li Jie comfortably off.

At the same time, the search for the 11^th Panchen Lama became a contest over who had the right to recognise him; the exiled Dalai Lama or the Chinese government. In May 1995, the Dalai Lama announced that a suitable boy was found in a remote central Tibet district. Days later, there were rumours in Lhasa that the boy and his family had been taken into custody by security forces.

In November, a ceremony was held in Lhasa, attended by government officials, at which another boy, whose parents were both reportedly part of the Communist Party, was declared the real reincarnation of the Panchen Lama. The “Chinese Panchen Lama” was installed in a heavily guarded villa on the outskirts of Beijing. The Dalai Lama’s selection hasn’t been seen since.

The following year, Renji’s mother decided to send her abroad, “To learn English and meet more people,” as Renji explains. Southwestern Academy, the boarding school she attended, is a 20-minute drive from downtown Los Angeles. The headmaster says Renji wasn’t studious and adds that she loved pop music and shopping, and had a taste for clothes by Prada.

She was close to a boy from Beijing whom the school eventually expelled for smoking marijuana. She herself was never a problem, although she went through a worrying phase of loving motorcycles. This passed, but Renji still loves cars. “My dad did too,” she says, “I think I got it from him.”

Many of Renji’s fellow high-school students are children of China’s new rich. One teacher says the students once had a discussion about the relative merits of flying first class or using your own jet. When another teacher proposed the essay topic ‘What would I do with a million dollars?’ the exercise fell flat because the students agreed a million dollars couldn’t go far these days.

But if other students could enjoy spending their parents’ money far from home, Renji is too important a figure to be left alone. For some representatives of the Tibetan government in exile, she’s a potential bridge between them and the Chinese.

For the Chinese, she is someone who could be politically helpful in Tibet. And for Westerners, Renji is a precious trophy to be guarded, both for her ancestry and for her potential to play an important role in Tibetan politics.

Steven Seagal: The Most Important Man in Her Life

Most weekends during her time at high school, a stretch limo would arrive to take Renji to the home of the actor Steven Seagal, who’s visited the Dalai Lama in exile in India. He’s also been recognised as the reincarnation of a lama by a Tibetan guru. As Renji’s protector in the US, he is controversial, to say the least.

The actor explains how he came to have charge of the Panchen Lama’s daughter. “When Renji was eight or nine, we got word that she wasn’t safe. The Tibetan government in exile has its own spies. So she had to get out. It wasn’t going to be a kidnapping but an amiable trade-off. Her mother was to remain in China.

When Renji was 10 or 11, we got word this was going to happen. I spoke with my friends there, and they said I was one of the few people who could protect her…be her father figure, her guardian.”

Steven’s account differs from that of other insiders, and Renji herself says she never felt in danger in Beijing. But she clearly feels safe with Steven. “This is my home,” she says, “He was always there for me. My mother and Steven Seagal are the most important people in my life.”

“The danger for Renji is now getting in with the wrong people,” Steven says. “She has a pure heart. I just tell her, I’m always here for her.”

As a student in the US, Renji hung out, partied, shopped, learnt to surf. Back home in Beijing, during the holidays, she became a noted tennis player.

But in 2002, Li Jie decided Renji should visit Tibet. The plan was for her to spend time on religious studies and learn the Tibetan language from teachers at the Tashilhunpo monastery.

She was to pay respects to her father’s body each morning, then spend the day studying in a room on the second floor of the stupa where her father is interred. But crowds gathered within a day of her arrival.

“They stood outside, waiting for me,” she says, “After two days, the police figured out what to do. They lined them all up. Every hour I’d come out and go down the line. I’d go back and study, and then, at the end of the hour, go down the line again.” The crowds grew bigger each day and local authorities began to worry about things getting out of control.

Then the “Chinese Panchen Lama” arrived in Tibet. He was approaching his 12^th birthday. The boy now lives in Beijing and his visits to Tibet are rare and heavily policed.

“My plan was to stay close to my father,” Renji says. But she was asked to travel to Lhasa, where a meeting between her and the boy had been set up.

The meeting was short, Renji says. “There were 20 or 30 people, all officials, his people. I walked in, said, ‘Hello, how are you?’ Then we exchanged khatags (white ceremonial scarves, used as greetings at important occasions).”

But she did not prostrate herself before him. Many would have seen a prostration as an affirmation that he is a true incarnation of the Panchen Lama. But Renji doesn’t see it as an issue. “My father gave me permission not to prostrate to him. If he is my father’s reincarnation, I don’t have to prostrate to him.”

Renji has a standard answer when asked about her future. She says she wants to help the people of Tibet. She wants to be a member of the National People’s Congress, like her father. “It’s power. You need power to do things.”

Gaining power involves negotiations between several competing interests. Says Tibetan historian Tsering Shakyays, “The Chinese have recognised their Panchen Lama and they can’t allow Renji to undermine him. On the other hand, the Dalai Lama is outside Tibet, and there is nobody like the old Panchen Lama in the country. There is opportunity, and perhaps Renji has it in her to grasp it.”

So has Renji ever been tempted to choose an ordinary life – a job, marriage, kids? “I can’t,” she says, “Well, I could, but I can’t. It’s my duty. It’s who I am.”

In 1409, Tsongkhapa instituted the Great Prayer Festival (sMon-lam chen-mo) at the Lhasa Jokang Temple (Lha-sa Jo-khang, Jokhang). Afterwards, his disciples, concerned about the effect of constant travel on their teacher’s health, offered to build him a monastery at any site of his choice.

Tsongkhapa accepted and chose Drogri Mountain (‘Brog ri-bo-che), approximately 50 kilometers east of Lhasa. He personally consecrated the land and named the monastery Ganden, or Tushita in Sanskrit, after the pure land realm of the future Buddha, Maitreya.

2. Drepung Monastery

The great monastery of Drepung (‘Bras-spungs dGon-pa) was founded by Jamyang Chojey Tashi-pelden (‘Jam-dbyangs chos-rje bKra-shis dpal-ldan), a direct disciple of Jey Tsongkhapa (rJe Tsong-kha-pa Blo-bzang grags-pa), the founder of the Gelug Tradition.

This great master had presented his disciple with a white conch shell, an auspicious token that he had unearthed as a hidden treasure from a hill behind Ganden Monastery (dGa’-ldan dGon-pa). At that time, Tsongkhapa had prophesied,

You shall establish a magnificent monastery and this offspring monastery shall become more extensive than its mother one.

Neupon Namka-zangpo (sNe’u-dpon Nam-mkha’ bzang-po), the political leader of Central Tibet at that time, was requested to be the patron for the monastery. Thus, it was founded according to the Theravadin system of reckoning in the year 1960 after the Parinirvana of Buddha, or according to the Christian system in 1416 A. D. At that time, Jamyang Chojey was thirty-eight years of age.

3. Sera Monastery

Jamchen Choje, a disciple of Tsongkhapa, founded Sera Monastery in 1419.

4. Gyuto and Gyume

In 1419, after Tsongkhapa taught his Four Combined Commentaries to the Guhyasamaja Tantra (gSang-‘dus ‘brel-ba bzhi-sbrags) at Sera Choding (Se-ra Chos-sdings) retreat, he asked who among his disciples would take care of his tantric teachings.

Gyu Sherab-Senggey (rGyud Shes-rab seng-ge) (1383-1445) volunteered, and Tsongkhapa entrusted to him his copy of the text he had just taught, the mask of Chogyel, and the skull-club he had unearthed. He also entrusted him with his skull-cup inner offering bowl, a statue of Guhyasamaja (gSang-ba ‘dus-pa), and seven special thangka (thang-ka) scroll paintings. Later that year, Tsongkhapa passed away.

In 1433, Gyu Sherab-Senggey returned to Lower Central Tibet (U, dBus) and founded Gyumay (rGyud-smad Grva-tshang) or Maygyu Monastery (sMad-rgyud Grva-tshang), the Tantric College of Lower Central Tibet, in the southern part of Lhasa, at Nordzin-Gyeltsen (Nor-‘dzin rgyal-mtshan).

At the time of the Seventh Dalai Lama, Kelzang-Gyatso (rGyal-ba bdun-pa sKal-bzang rgya-mtsho, rGyal-dbang sKal-bzang) (1708-1757), Gyumay moved to Changlochen (lCang-lo-can) in the northern part of Lhasa. In the seventh century, King Songtsen-Gampo (Srong-btsan sgam-po) had prophesied there would be a great tantric monastery at this site in the future.

In 1474, Gyuchen Kunga-Dondrub (rGyud-chen Kun-dga’ don-grub) (1419-1486), a disciple of Gyu Sherab-Senggey, left Gyumay when he was not chosen to succeed as abbot. Subsequently, he established Uto Jampel-ling Monastery (Jampel-ling Monastery of Upper U, dBus-stod ‘Jam-dpal gling Grva-tshang), better known as Gyuto (rGyud-stod Grva-tshang), the Tantric College of Upper (U).

This, and not Saygyu, is the monastery usually referred to nowadays as the Upper Tantric College. A few years after its founding, Gyuto moved to Ramoche Temple (Ra-mo-che) in Lhasa, the site of the Buddha statue brought to Tibet by the Nepalese queen of King Songtsen Gampo.

5.   Namgyal Monastery

Namgyal Monastery was founded by the Third Dalai Lama, Sonam Gyatso, in 1575 and is located next to the Potala Palace.

6. Labrang Monastery (Amdo Tashi Kyil)

Genden Shaydrub-Dargyey Tashi-Kunnay Kyilway-Ling (dGe-ldan bshad-grub dar-rgyas bkra-shis kun-nas‘khyil-ba’i gling), also known as Labrang Tashikyil Monastery (Bla-brang bKra-shis ‘khyil), or simply Labrang, was founded in 1710 by the First Jamyang-Zhaypa, Ngawang-tsondru Kunmkhyen (‘Jam-dbyangs bzhad-pa Ngag-dbang brtson-‘grus) (1648-1722), in the Amdo province (A-mdo) of northeastern Tibet.

It lies 250 kilometers southwest of Lanchow, and is presently included in southwestern Kansu (Gansu) Province of China, near the border of Chinghai (Qinghai) Province. It is counted among the six major monasteries of the Gelug Tradition.

The First Jamyang-Zhaypa, also known as Kunkyen Jamyang-Zhaypay-Dorjey (Kun-mkhyen ‘Jam-dbyangs bzhad-pa’i rdo-rje), a disciple of the Fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang-lozang-Gyatso (rGyal-dbang lnga-pa chen-po Ngag-dbang blo-bzang rgya-mtsho) (1617-1682), was from Amdo and had studied sutra at Gomang College (sGo-mang Grva-tshang) of Drepung Monastery (‘Bras-spungs dGon-pa) and tantra at Gyumay Lower Tantric College (rGyud-smad Grva-tshang). He authored the Kunkyen textbooks (Kun-mkhyen yig-cha) later used at Gomang, Drepung Deyang College (‘Bras-spungs bDe-dbyangs Grva-tshang), and Labrang.

When he was Abbot of Gomang, Jamyang-Zhaypa was requested by Ganden Erdene Junang, the Mongol King of Kokonor (mTsho-sngon), to return to Amdo where many Mongols lived among the Tibetans. Jamyang-Zhaypa accepted, and on the eve of his departure, the Gadong (dGa’-gdong) State Oracle prophesied that he would found a monastery in Amdo called Tashikyil. In establishing this monastery, Jamyang-Zhaypa adopted the Drepung rules of discipline and chanting style for the main temple, and the Gomang style of debate.

Jamyang-Zhaypa himself gave the name Genden-Shaydrub Tashi-Kunnay-Kyilway-Ling to his new monastery. The Second Panchen Lama, Losang-Yeshey (Pan-chen Blo-bzang ye-shes) (1663-1737), gave it a second name, Ganden Damcho-shaydrub-dargyey-ling (dGa’-ldan dam-chos bshad-grub dar-rgyas gling). “Labrang” means the residence of a great Lama. The monastery in general became known as Labrang, or Labrang Tashikyil, after the residence of Jamyang-Zhaypa. The line of his reincarnations, the Jamyang-Zhaypa Rinpoches, have been the traditional heads of the Labrang Monastery.

There has always been a strong connection between Labrang Tashikyil and the Mongols. Many lineages from Labrang, such as that of Kalachakra (Dus-‘khor), spread to the Mongolian monasteries. The Buryat, Kalmyk, and Tuvinian regions of Russia used exclusively the Kunkyen textbooks of Jamyang-Zhaypa. Many monasteries in Inner and Outer Mongolia used them as well. In Lhasa, the Mongols mostly studied at Gomang and Gyumay, as did Jamyang-zhaypa.

Labrang has six colleges. The largest is Mayjung Tosamling (sMad-byung Thos-bsam-gling), for the study of sutra and debate, established by the First Jamyang-Zhaypa in 1710 when he founded the monastery in general. It awards the Geshey Dorampa (dGe-bshes rDo-ram-pa) degree.

When the First Jamyang-Zhaypa received the Say lineage (Srad-brgyud) transmission at Saygyu Tantric College (Sras-rgyud grva-tshang) from Saygyu Konchog-Yarpel (Srad-rgyud dKon-mchog yar-‘phel) (1602-1682), this great master asked him to establish a tantric college as part of the monastery he would found in Amdo in the future. Keeping this request in mind, the First Jamyang-Zhaypa established Maygyu Dratsang (sMad-rgyud Grva-tshang), Lower Tantric College, in 1719.

The Dukor Dratsang (Dus-‘khor Grva-tshang) or Kalachakra College, Ewam-Chokor-Ling (E-wam chos-‘khor gling), was founded in 1763 by the Second Jamyang-Zhaypa, Konchog-Jigmey-Wangpo (dKon-mchog ‘jigs-med dbang-po) (1728-1798), on the advice of the Third Panchen Lama, Pelden-Yeshey (Pan-chen dPal-ldan ye-shes) (1738-1780).

The Panchen Lama’s home monastery, Tashilhunpo (bKra-shis lhun-po), built a Kalachakra temple (Dus-‘khor lha-khang) two years later, in 1765, devoted to the daily practice of the Kalachakra rituals. Since the first half of the eighteenth century, Kalachakra Colleges had already existed in Inner Mongolia. The first was at Ari-in Monastery, founded by the First Kanjurwa Gegen, Lozang-Choden (bKa’-‘gyur-ba Blo-bzang chos-ldan), and the second at Badghar Monastery (Pad-dkar dGon-pa) by his disciple, Dunkhor Pandita (Dus-‘khor Pandi-ta). The Dukor Datsang at Labrang was the first of its kind in Amdo.

The Menpa Dratsang (sMan-pa Grva-tshang) or Medical College, Sorig-Zhenpen-Ling (gSo-rig gzhan-phen gling), was established in 1784, also by the Second Jamyang-Zhaypa. The Kyedor Dratsang (Kyai-rdor Grva-tshang) or Hevajra College, Sangngag-Dargyay-Ling (gSang-sngags dar-rgyas gling), was started by the Fourth Jamyang-Zhaypa, Kelzang-Tubten-Wangchug (sKal-bzang thub-bstan dbang-phyug), in 1879. The Gyuto Dratsang (rGyud-bstod Grva-tshang) or Upper Tantric College, Sangchen-Dorjey-Ling (gSang-chen rdo-rje gling), was established in 1943 by the Fifth Jamyang-Zhaypa, Lozang-Jamyang-yeshey-tenpay-gyeltsen (Blo-bzang ‘jam-dbyangs ye-shes bstan-pa’i rgyal-mtshan).

The two Tantric Colleges at Labrang, like their models in Lhasa, studied mostly the Guhyasamaja (gSang-‘dus), Chakrasamvara (bDe-mchog), and Vajrabhairava (rDo-rje ‘Jigs-byed) tantric systems. They awarded Geshe Karamapa (dGe-bshes bKa’-ram-pa) and Geshe Ngagrampa (dGe-bshes sNgags-ram-pa) degrees, as at the two Lhasa Tantric Colleges.

The Kalachakra College was responsible for not only the Kalachakra rituals, but also those of Samvid (Kun-rig) and Vairochana Abhisambodhi (rNam-snang mngon-byang). The monks of the Kalachakra College also studied astronomy, astrology, and mathematics.

In addition to medical studies, the monks of the Medical College were responsible for the rituals of the Medicine Buddha (sMan-lha), Akshobhya (Mi-‘khrugs-pa), and the Hiddenly Realized (gSang-sgrub) form of Hayagriva (rTa-mgrin). The Hevajra College maintained the rituals for Hevajra and Vajrapani Mahachakra (Phyag-rdor ‘Khor-can), and prepared a calendar/almanac each year according to the Chinese-style black calculation system (nag-rtsis).

As at the Jokang (Jo-khang) in Lhasa, every year from the 3rd to the 17th of the first Tibetan month, Labrang held a Great Prayer Festival (sMon-lam chen-mo) with examinations for the highest grades of Geshe. At this festival, there were ritual masked dances and other rites as in Lhasa.

At its height in 1957, Labrang had nearly 4,000 monks. About 3,000 of them were at the Mayjung Tosamling College, with the rest evenly distributed among the other five colleges. Approximately three-quarters of the monks were Tibetans. The rest were mostly Outer Mongolian Mongols (phyi-sog), Inner Mongolian Mongols (smad-sog, nang-sog), Kokonor Mongols (stod-sog), Mongours (hor-pa) from northern Amdo, Yellow Yugurs (yu-gur) from Gansu (Kansu), Xinjiang Kalmyk Mongols, and ethnic Chinese. Labrang had 138 branch monasteries.

Starting in 1958, the monastery was closed for twelve years by the Chinese. During the 1970s, it was opened for tourism. It was reopened as a functioning monastery by the Seventh Panchen Lama, Chokyi-Gyeltsen-Trinley-Lhundrub (Pan-chen Chos-kyi rgyal-mtshan ‘phrin-las lhun-grub) (1938-1989), in 1980. At present there are about 500 monks, divided among the six colleges in the same proportions as before. The study program is only a fraction of what it previously had been.

7. Tashi Lhunpo Monastery

In 1447 the Monastery was founded by His Holiness the 1st Dalai Lama, Gyalwa Gendun Drup.

Source: http://www.berzinarchives.com/web/x/nav/n.html_661956143.html