Drepung Monastery

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Drepung Monastery is the biggest Gelugpa Learning centre and it is located on the slope of Gepel Ö-tse mountain just to the west of Lhasa City.

It was founded in 1416 by Jamyang Choeje Tashi Palden, who was one of the main disciples of Master Tsongkhapa. There are four main colleges in the monastery. There are Deyang, Gomang, Loseling and Ngakpa (tantric College). Within each college, there are many houses.

Monks from all over Tibet came to here to study Buddhist philosophy. At high of its importance, there use to be around ten thousand monks. It functions as a central Buddhist university, from where many masters and experts graduate and return to their native land to teach in their own local monasteries.

Second Dalai Lama came here from Tashi Lhunpo and lived in the Garden Podrang. His fifth incarnation becomes ruler of Tibet and he moved to the Potala Palace.

In terms of the relic, there is a holy set of Kangyur (Translation of Buddha oral teaching). This entire set is written in liquid gold. In the inner part of the main assembly hall, there are statues of the Buddha three times, the eight Buddhisatvas and many other important statues.

Every summer, there is a famous festival call the Yoghurt Festival and thousands of people gather during that time to view a giant Thangkha (Scroll Painting) that is displayed on the hill slope here. They pay homage and make an offering to the Buddha image and pray for the world peace and happiness of all the beings.

Travellers Guide to the Drepung Monastery

Visiting Drepung Monastery takes a climbing up about 50 meters in height. In the high elevation of Lhasa and during the period of acclimatisation, it might prove to be little challenging to some travellers. I often recommend the traveller to visit the monastery on the third day after the visit to the Potala Palace.

In the same campus, there is yet another small monastery called Nechung Monastery. The entrance of both monasteries is paid with one ticket. So if you have time, You can stop the car to visit that monastery too.

There is a beautiful Kora path around the monastery. This trail could offer you an amazing view of the expanded Lhasa city.

If you are more interest in hiking, there is a two-day hike to the summit of mount Gepel Ö-tse. We can help arrange this special hike for travellers.

Each year on the fourth day of the sixth month in the Tibetan calendar marks the celebration of the teaching of Dharma by Buddha to his student. On this occasion, people from Lhasa would hike to the top of this mount for incense burning and putting up the prayer flags.