Qualla: Drepung Monastery https://qualla.com/drepung-monastery en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:37 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/w/j/2/8/drepung-monastery-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Drepung Monastery https://qualla.com/drepung-monastery Drepung Monastery: Introduction https://qualla.com/drepung-monastery/ Photo credit Maris Burbergs, CC BY 3.0. In the late 1930s, the British explorer Freddie Spencer Chapman reported that Drepung was the largest monastery in the world: 7,700 monks in residence, sometimes as many as 10,000. Its name means "Rice Heap" -- an image that captures the visual impression of white buildings tumbling down the slopes of Mount Gephel, five kilometers from western Lhasa, like grain spilling from an overturned sack. This was not merely a monastery. Drepung was a university, a government seat, and for centuries the most powerful religious institution in Tibet.

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Image: Maris Burbergs | CC BY 3.0

]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/j/2/8/drepung-monastery-wp/wj28-drepung-monastery-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Drepung Monastery: The Nalanda of Tibet https://qualla.com/drepung-monastery/ Photo credit JL Cogburn, CC BY-SA 2.0. Jamyang Choge Tashi Palden, one of Tsongkhapa's principal disciples, founded Drepung in 1416 and named it after Shridhanyakataka, a sacred site in South India. The monastery became the principal seat of the Gelugpa school and earned a comparison that carried real weight: it was c...

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Image: JL Cogburn | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/j/2/8/drepung-monastery-wp/wj28-drepung-monastery-the-nalanda-of-tibet.mp3 0:06 2 full Drepung Monastery: Where the Dalai Lamas Lived https://qualla.com/drepung-monastery/ Photo credit 钉, CC BY-SA 4.0. Before the Potala Palace existed, the Dalai Lamas lived here. In 1518, Gendun Gyatso -- later recognized as the 2nd Dalai Lama -- constructed the Ganden Phodrang within Drepung's walls. This estate became the Dalai Lamas' chief residence and governmental seat, and when the 5th Da...

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Image: 钉 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/j/2/8/drepung-monastery-wp/wj28-drepung-monastery-where-the-dalai-lamas-lived.mp3 0:06 3 full Drepung Monastery: What Survived and What Did Not https://qualla.com/drepung-monastery/ Photo credit John Hill, CC BY-SA 4.0. Almost half the older monastic buildings were destroyed after Chinese forces arrived in Lhasa in 1951. The chief structures survived -- the four colleges, the great assembly hall known as the Tsokchen, and the Ganden Phodrang -- but much of the complex was reduced to rubble. Phot...

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Image: John Hill | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/j/2/8/drepung-monastery-wp/wj28-drepung-monastery-what-survived-and-what-did-not.mp3 0:06 4 full Drepung Monastery: A Monastery in Two Countries https://qualla.com/drepung-monastery/ Photo credit Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0. Drepung's story did not end at the Tibetan border. In exile, the institution rebuilt itself on land in Karnataka, South India, donated by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to the Tibetan community. The Indian campus today houses over 5,000 celibate monks: around 3,000 at Drepung Lo...

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Image: Dennis G. Jarvis | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/j/2/8/drepung-monastery-wp/wj28-drepung-monastery-a-monastery-in-two-countries.mp3 0:06 5 full Drepung Monastery: The Weight of the Name https://qualla.com/drepung-monastery/ Photo credit Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 3.0. To understand Drepung is to understand why monasteries mattered in Tibet. They were not retreats from the world but centers of it -- educational, political, economic, and spiritual all at once. Drepung held the Throne of the Gelugpa school. It housed the Dalai Lamas. Its colleges...

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Image: Dennis G. Jarvis | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/j/2/8/drepung-monastery-wp/wj28-drepung-monastery-the-weight-of-the-name.mp3 0:06 6 full