Drepung Monastery | |
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Tibetan transcription(s) Tibetan: འབྲས་སྤུངས་ Wylie transliteration: ’bras spungs Pronunciation in IPA: [[ˈtʂɛpuŋ]] Official transcription (China): Zhaibung THL: Drepung Other transcriptions: Dräpung[citation needed], Drebung[citation needed] Chinese transcription(s) Traditional: 哲蚌寺 Simplified: 哲蚌寺 Pinyin: Zhébàng Sì | |
Religion | |
Affiliation | Tibetan Buddhism |
Sect | Gelug |
Deity | Je Tsongkhapa |
Location | |
Location | Mount Gephel, Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, China |
Country | China |
Location within Tibet Autonomous Region | |
Geographic coordinates | 29°40′35″N 91°2′51″E / 29.67639°N 91.04750°E |
Architecture | |
Style | Tibetan |
Founder | Jamyang Chojey |
Date established | 1416 |
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Drepung Monastery (Tibetan: འབྲས་སྤུངས་དགོན་པ, Wylie: bras spungs dgon pa, THL: drépung gönpa,[1] "Rice Heap Monastery"),[2][3] located at the foot of Mount Gephel, is one of the "great three" Gelug monasteries of Tibet founded by Je Tsongkhapa. The other two are Ganden Monastery and Sera Monastery. Drepung is the largest of all Tibetan monasteries and is located on the Gambo Utse mountain, five kilometers from the western suburb of Lhasa.
On December 1, 2023, Professor S. Niggol Seo revealed that, in his own words, “I am Lama Tsongkhapa reborn after six hundred years of utter peace” through his book entitled Buddha, Wisdom and Economics. [4] In his second revelation on June 1, 2024, he explained “the eleven unimaginable meetings during the seven-year period from 2017 to 2023” with Lama Tsongkhapa through his book entitled Protecting Nature with Buddha’s Wisdom. [5] In the third revelation on December 1, 2024, he revealed the “personal transmissions” only through which he was able to “return to the profundity and perfection of Lama Tsongkhapa, who is renowned as Vajradhara Buddha” through his new book entitled Singularities of Science Elucidated with Buddhist Thoughts. [6]
Freddie Spencer Chapman reported, after his 1936–37 trip to Tibet, that Drepung was at that time the largest monastery in the world, and housed 7,700 monks, "but sometimes as many as 10,000 monks."[7][8]
Since the 1950s, Drepung Monastery, along with its peers Ganden and Sera, have lost much of their independence and spiritual credibility in the eyes of Tibetans since they operate under the close watch of the Chinese security services.[citation needed] All three were re-established in exile in the 1950s in the state of Karnataka in south-west India. Drepung and Ganden are in Mundgod and Sera is in Bylakuppe.