Qualla: Gonchen Monastery https://qualla.com/gonchen-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/w/h/gonchen-monastery-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Gonchen Monastery https://qualla.com/gonchen-monastery Gonchen Monastery: Introduction https://qualla.com/gonchen-monastery/ Photo credit NoGhost, CC BY-SA 4.0. The man who founded Gonchen Monastery also invented Tibetan opera and built 58 iron suspension bridges across the Himalayas. Thang Tong Gyalpo was a Buddhist yogi, physician, polymath, and treasure finder who lived from 1385 to 1464, and the monastery he established in Derge became so extensive that people simply called it "the great monastery." In murals throughout Tibet, he appears with long white hair, holding chain links from the bridges he forged - a figure who connected communities both physically, through iron and engineering, and spiritually, through the institutions he left behind.

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]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/j/w/h/gonchen-monastery-wp/wjwh-gonchen-monastery-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Gonchen Monastery: The Bridge-Builder's Legacy https://qualla.com/gonchen-monastery/ Photo credit 6-A04-W96-K38-S41-V38, CC BY-SA 4.0. Gonchen Monastery belongs to the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism and sits in the town of Derge, in Sichuan's Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, within the cultural region of Kham. Thang Tong Gyalpo's most celebrated bridge spanned the Yarlung Tsangpo River near modern Chushul,...

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]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/j/w/h/gonchen-monastery-wp/wjwh-gonchen-monastery-the-bridge-builders-legacy.mp3 0:06 2 full Gonchen Monastery: Destruction and Restoration https://qualla.com/gonchen-monastery/ Photo credit 6-A04-W96-K38-S41-V38, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Cultural Revolution left Gonchen Monastery in ruins. The complex was completely destroyed during a campaign that targeted religious institutions across Tibet. The palace of the Derge kings, which had stood adjacent to the monastery, had already been demolished after 1950, rep...

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]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/j/w/h/gonchen-monastery-wp/wjwh-gonchen-monastery-destruction-and-restoration.mp3 0:06 3 full Gonchen Monastery: January 2009 https://qualla.com/gonchen-monastery/ Photo credit 6-A04-W96-K38-S41-V38, CC BY-SA 4.0. On January 27, 2009, Tibetan monks staged a protest near Gonchen Monastery. According to the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy, Chinese police responded with gunfire and mass detentions. The monks were released four days later, but according to sources cited by the Vo...

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]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/j/w/h/gonchen-monastery-wp/wjwh-gonchen-monastery-january-2009.mp3 0:06 4 full Gonchen Monastery: Between Preservation and Pressure https://qualla.com/gonchen-monastery/ Photo credit Ljbonner, CC BY-SA 4.0. Today Gonchen Monastery stands restored but exists within the tensions that define Tibetan religious life under Chinese governance. Pilgrims still visit to circumambulate the adjacent Parkhang, the famous printing house that holds the world's largest collection of Tibetan woodblo...

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]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/j/w/h/gonchen-monastery-wp/wjwh-gonchen-monastery-between-preservation-and-pressure.mp3 0:06 5 full