Gaden Monastic University

The following article is from the Spring, 1988 issue of the Snow Lion Newsletter and is for historical reference only. You can see this in context of the original newsletter here.

Gaden Monastery , Gelugpa School, Tsongkhapa, Tibetan Buddhism When the last surviving members of Gaden Monastic University from Tibet arrived in India as refugees, they felt the preservation of Tibetan culture and religion to be a serious challenge for the Tibetans if they are to retain their cultural identity as a people.

In spite of many harsh realities of life imposed upon them, they re-established Gaden in South India in 1971, and were able to revive the general pattern of studies that once existed in Tibet. At the time of publication, there are more than 800 students actively engaged in these studies and over the course of four decades that number grew to more than 1200 students.

The original prayer hall was constructed on a makeshift basis with the capacity to hold three hundred persons. With sharp increase in the number of students over the years, however, the hall was always packed with more than 500 students cramped together, while the rest of the members participated in the prayers and educational programs by either sitting on the stairs or squatting on verandas adjacent to the hall.

Construction work on a new hall had already started. Through fund raising efforts in India, a total amount of approximately $23,100.00 U.S. was raised. This was roughly one fourth of the total amount of the budget necessary to carry it through.

Donations to Gaden Monastic University are always welcome and needed.

Buddhist monastery in Karnataka India, Gaden Jangtse, Tibetan Buddhism

Gaden Jangtse Monastic College, Karnataka India

For up-to-date information about the Gaden Monastic schools in India:

Gaden Jangtse Norling Monastic College or Gaden Jangstse

Gaden Shartse Norling Monastery or Gaden Shartse

Zongkapa Lobsang Zhaba or Tsongkhapa (1357–1419), Tibetan Buddhism Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism Tsongkhapa (1357–1419), founder of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, was one of Tibet’s greatest philosophers and a prolific writer. His most famous work, The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path, is a classic of Tibetan Buddhism.

For more information:

For the Benefit of All Beings Dalai Lama His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama is considered the foremost Buddhist leader of our time. The exiled spiritual head of the Tibetan people, he is a Nobel Peace Laureate, a Congressional Gold Medal recipient, and a remarkable teacher and scholar who has authored over one hundred books.