Drepung Monastery

Drepung Monastery, on the slope of the Wuze Hill in Genbei five kilometers northwest of Lhasa, is the largest monastery of Gelugpa in Tibetan Buddhism in the world. It has more than 10,000 monks in total and possessed 141 fazendas and 540 pastures in its heyday.

Drepung Monastery, covering an area of 250,000 square meters, was founded in 1416 by a disciple of Tsong Khapa, who became the first Kampo there. It was the very place that the second, third, and the fourth Dalai Lama held the Sitting-in-Bed Ceremony and later enlarged by the Fifth Dalai Lama.

The ground of the Drepung Monastery is organized on the caves and temples for Jamyang Qoigyi, together with two magnificent white pagodas. The major buildings are Ganden Potrang, Coqen Hall, the four Zhacangs (or Tantric colleges), and Kamcuns.

Drepung Monastery houses plenty of historical and cultural relics and Buddhist classics. Statues of Manjushri Bodhisattva, and Sitatapatra found on the first storey of the Coqen Hall, rare sutras on the second storey and Jamyang Qoigyi's conch shell given by Tsong Khapa on the third one. The most important event of the Shoton Festival - Giant Buddha Show is held in the monastery.