Sera Monastery

The Sera Monastery is lies on the southern slope of the Serawoze Mountain in the northern suburbs of Lhasa.

 

It is the representative monastery of the Gelugpa of the Tibetan Buddhism. The monastery was built by SagyaYexei, one of the disciples of Tsongkhapa who was the founder of Gelugpa of the Tibet Buddhism in 1419. It is one of the six main monasteries of the Gelugpa of the Tibetan Buddhism and one of the three main monasteries of Lhasa,

 

With a construction area of 1,600 square meters, the main construction buildings of the Sera Monastery are the Coqen Hall, the Meba Zhangcang, the Gyi Zhangcang, the Ngaba Zhangcang, and 32 Kangcuns, as well as the Hall of Buddhist Trinity, the Hall of the Horse-Necked Diamond King, the Maitreya Hall, the Tsongkhapa Hall, the Hall of the Goddess of Music, the Hall of the Goddess of Mercy, the Victorious Hall. All the 5,500 monks of the Sera Monastery study in Kamcuns and Myicuns under various Zhacangs (Buddhist colleges). The Sera Monastery holds its regular religious activities on the 8th, 10th, 15th, 25th and 30th days of each month. On these days, most of the Buddhist novices have a reading following morning fast tea and participate in sutra doctrine debates following the noon fast tea. On other days, monks of the monastery couple their regular religious study and activities with production and labor. The Sera Monastery has a rich collection of cultural relics, many of which are considered to be of state class. They include statues of Buddha, Thangka paintings, frescoes, Buddhist scriptures, Buddhist objects and sacrificial articles. The Sera Monastery has its own noted religious festival, called "Blessing of the Dagger of Exorcism". In the past, on the early morning of December 27th, the staff of the Gyi Zhacang attire first took the Dagger of Exorcism to the Potala Palace to the Dalai Lama. After the Dalai Lama offered blessing to it, the Dagger of Exorcism was sent back to the Sera Monastery. At their return to the Sera Monastery, a general blessing of Dagger of Exorcism was given to the monks and lay communities. Every year on that day, thousands of pilgrims take part in the festival.