Next comes the monastery of Moru (or Muru or Meru), close to the city. It is noted for its order and cleanliness, and for its printing-press. Like the last, it contains a school for instruction in magic.
Then, at a short distance east of Lā brang (according to Koeppen), is the monastery of Gar Ma Khian—the mother monastery of soothsayers, fortune-tellers, and exorcisers (Ćhos-kyong, see [p. 266]).
Let us next turn to the three ancient ‘mother-monasteries’ of the Yellow sect—Galdan, Sera, and Dapung.
Galdan (or Gahdan), the ‘heaven of contented beings’ (Sanskṛit Tushita, see pp. [207], [213])—the oldest monastery of the Yellow sect—is situated on the hill of the same name, about thirty miles[234] east of Lhāssa. As already stated (pp. [278], [294]), it was founded by Tsong Khapa A.D. 1409. It is three-quarters of a mile in circumference, and has 3300 monks.
Sera, ‘the golden,’ founded by Tsong Khapa ([p. 278]), or by one of his disciples immediately after his death, lies about three miles north of Lhāssa, on a declivity of a hill, over which passes the road leading to Mongolia. It has 5500 monks, and numerous temples, towers, and houses curving round like an amphitheatre. On the hills above the town are rows of cells of contemplative monks and recluses.
Sera has three great temples several stories high, the halls of which are richly gilded. In one temple the staff of Gautama Buddha is preserved.
Dapung (variously Dapuṅ, Depung, Debung, Debang, Brepung, Brebung, Prebung), ‘rice-heap,’ so called from the shape of the hill, was also founded by Tsong Khapa three years before Sera, and is situated four miles west of the city of Lhāssa. It has 7700 monks. The great temple in the middle is surrounded by four small ones. One of these four belongs to the exorcisers and professors of magical arts, of whom there are nearly three hundred. In the centre of the monastery is a residence for the Dalai Lāma, when he pays his annual visit. Numbers of foreigners study here, especially Mongolians. In front of the monastery stands a Stūpa, which contains the bones of the fourth Dalai Lāma, Jon Tan Yam Thso, who was of a Mongolian family.
Mr. Edgar (Report, p. 41) mentions four other monasteries of the Yellow sect around Lhāssa, Chemiling, Tengiling, Chechuling, and Kenduling[235]. The last is said to be the residence of the Regent ([p. 286] of these Lectures). Sarat Chandra Dās gives a long list of monasteries, some containing 5000 monks (e.g. Rnam rgyal grvatsang, Gongdkar rDorjegdan, etc.) and some 7000.
We have next to describe the great monastery of the second Grand Lāma of Tibetan Buddhism—I mean that at Tashi Lunpo, also belonging to the Yellow sect.
Tashi Lunpo, near Shigatse, is the seat of government of the Tashi Lāma or Panchen Lāma (see [p. 284] of these Lectures), and the second metropolis of Lāmistic Buddhism. Our knowledge of this celebrated place is derived from the record of the journeys of Mr. Bogle and Captain Turner, as well as from the narratives of Indian explorers.