Samding Dorje Phagmo
143-502: Garu Nunnery is a historical hermitage, belonging to Sera Monastery . It is located north of Lhasa , Lhasa Prefecture , in the Tibet region of China . The nunnery has an ancient history traced to Padmasambhava ( Pha dam pa sangs rgyas ), the Indian Buddhist preceptor, who visited this location. He not only named the place as "Garu" but also ordained that it shall be a "Nunnery" not
286-504: A "sinister" attempt to oppose the party and advance revisionism. Mao promptly endorsed Nie's poster as "the first Marxist big-character poster in China". Approved by Mao, the poster rippled across educational institutions. Students began to revolt against their school's party establishments. Classes were cancelled in Beijing primary and secondary schools, followed by a decision on 13 June to expand
429-639: A Great Assembly Hall on similar lines to the original monastery, with help from the Government of India . There are now 3000 or more monks living in Sera, India and this community has also spread its missionary activities to several countries by establishing Dharma centres, propagating knowledge of Buddhism. Sera Monastery in Tibet and its counterpart in Mysore, India are noted for their debate sessions. The original Sera Monastery
572-428: A cave known to have been a meditation chamber of Songstan Gampo himself and contains statues of himself, his two wives and a rock carving of Palden Lhamo , the protectress. The hermitage notably has its own tradition of monthly and yearly ritual cycles. The most important of these yearly ritual events (at least for the laity) are the six-day (three sets of two-day) Avalokiteśvara fasting rituals that take place during
715-554: A corrupt emperor. While Mao initially praised the play, in February 1965, he secretly commissioned his wife Jiang Qing and Shanghai propagandist Yao Wenyuan to publish an article criticizing it. Yao described the play as an allegory attacking Mao; flagging Mao as the emperor, and Peng Dehuai, who had previously questioned Mao during the Lushan Conference , as the honest civil servant. Yao's article put Beijing mayor Peng Zhen on
858-436: A cow started following him; however, he asked the cow to go back. As soon as he made this request, the cow disappeared into a boulder on which the words "Ma" appeared (self manifested) prophetically. Padmasambhava considered this as a divine direction to him to set up a monastery at the location. When he was in a dilemma in taking decision to either build a monastery for monks or a nunnery at this place, he heard divine voices from
1001-606: A disciple of Je Tsongkhapa . During the 1959 revolt in Lhasa, Sera monastery suffered severe damage, with its colleges destroyed and hundreds of monks killed. After the Dalai Lama took asylum in India , many of the monks of Sera who survived the attack moved to Bylakuppe in Mysore , India. After initial tribulations, they established a parallel Sera Monastery with Sera Me and Sera Je colleges and
1144-584: A far-reaching revolutionary coalition, one that displaced existing Red Guard groups. On January 3, 1967, with support from CRG heavyweights Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan, the group of firebrand activists overthrew the Shanghai municipal government under Chen Pixian in what became known as the January Storm , and formed in its place the Shanghai People's Commune . Mao then expressed his approval. Shanghai's
1287-453: A few hundred Sera Jey lamas, geshes and monks), when they arrived in India, they were resettled at Bylakuppe near Mysore , Karnataka state among many other locations spread across the country, as one of the exclusive Tibetan establishments with ready assistance forthcoming from the Government of India . It was in 1970 that the group of 197 Sera Jey monks with 103 of Sera Mey monks established
1430-502: A landslide. What is present now was rebuilt, adjoining the ruined Keutsang West Hermitage, at a safer location. As it exists now, Keutsang is located to the east of Sera on a hill side above Lhasa’s principal cemetery. Rakhadrak Hermitage is located below this hermitage, within a close distance. This hermitage is also part of the Sera Mountain Circumambulation Circuit (se ra’i ri ’khor) that pilgrims undertake during
1573-411: A million Red Guards from across the country gathered in and around Tiananmen Square for an audience with the chairman. Mao mingled with Red Guards and encouraged them, donning a Red Guard armband. Lin also took centre stage, denouncing perceived enemies in society that were impeding the "progress of the revolution". Subsequently, violence escalated in Beijing and quickly spread. The 18 August rally
SECTION 10
#17328513578271716-497: A monastery of monks on the basis of prophetic visions he had during his visit to the place. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, some nuns from the monasteries have made publicized demonstrations for Tibetan independence. Many of the protesting nuns were arrested, incarcerated, brutally handled and released only after protracted detention. The name 'Gar' is derived from the word ‘gar’ in Tibetan language which means: “dance”. Padmasambhava,
1859-418: A new stage in the development of the socialist revolution in our country:" Although the bourgeoisie has been overthrown, it is still trying to use the old ideas, culture, customs and habits of the exploiting classes to corrupt the masses, capture their minds and endeavour to stage a comeback. The proletariat must do the exact opposite: it must meet head-on every challenge of the bourgeoisie ... to change
2002-587: A rally was held at the Great Hall of the People to announce the decision and reveal the tone of the movement to teachers and students. At the rally, Party leaders encouraged the masses to 'not be afraid' and take charge of the movement, free of Party interference. The work-teams issue marked a decisive defeat for Liu; it also signaled that disagreement over how to handle the CR's unfolding events would irreversibly split Mao from
2145-482: A report known as the February Outline . The Outline as sanctioned by the party center defined Hai Rui as a constructive academic discussion and aimed to distance Peng Zhen formally from any political implications. However, Jiang Qing and Yao Wenyuan continued their denunciations. Meanwhile, Mao sacked Propaganda Department director Lu Dingyi , a Peng ally. Lu's removal gave Maoists unrestricted access to
2288-630: A rock face is perceived as a self-risen Vajrabhairava . Blowing of a white conch shell is heard from a particular mountain on some days. Guhyasamaja is the name given to a particular grouping of mountain rock faces and meadows. The rock formations to the north-east are known as “the Soul-Mountain of the Arhats ” ( Gnas brtan bla ri ). The hills on the east are identified as “the Parasol ” ( Gdugs pa’i bla ri ) or as “Mañjuśrī Peak” ( ’Jam dpal bla ri ). The nunnery
2431-640: A special monastery within the resettlement of Bylakuppe as a counterpart of the Tibetan Sera Jey Monastery. As none of the monks of the Ngagpa Dratsang (Tantric College) had survived the invasion, only the Sera Mey College and Sera Jey College were re-formed in India. The Bylakuppe Monastery now houses 5,000 Buddhist monks comprising some migrants and many other Tibetans who were not born in their ancestral homeland. With forest land allotted by
2574-593: A three-dimensional model of Guru Rinpoche's celestial palace, the Glorious Copper-Coloured Mountain ( Zangs mdog dpal ri ). Today there are four tantric priests residing in the main temple compound and two nuns living in huts to the southeast. The ruins of Jokpo Hermitage ( ’jog po ri khrod ) is located in the far western end of the Nyang bran Valley. The former property of the Jokpo Lama’s estate before
2717-558: A time and later he sought asylum in India in the 1980s. The hermitage was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. Rebuilding it was started by a former monk of the hermitage in 1991 and was completed by 1992. The rebuilt hermitage now houses 25 monks. Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution , formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution , was a sociopolitical movement in
2860-427: A time when almost all mass organizations claimed to be "leftist" or "revolutionary". PLA commanders had developed close working relations with the party establishment, leading many military units to repress radicals. Spurred by the events in Beijing, power seizure groups formed across the country and began expanding into factories and the countryside. In Shanghai, a young factory worker named Wang Hongwen organized
3003-501: A topic of controversy later. In May 1966, an expanded session of the Politburo was called in Beijing. The conference was laden with Maoist political rhetoric on class struggle and filled with meticulously prepared 'indictments' of recently ousted leaders such as Peng Zhen and Luo Ruiqing . One of these documents, distributed on 16 May, was prepared with Mao's personal supervision and was particularly damning: Those representatives of
SECTION 20
#17328513578273146-711: A total clampdown by the Portuguese government. The event set in motion Portugal's de facto abdication of control over Macau, putting Macau on the path to eventual absorption by China. By the beginning of 1967, a wide variety of grassroots political organizations had formed. Beyond Red Guard and student rebel groups, these included poor peasant associations, workers' pickets, and Mao Zedong Thought study societies, among others. Communist Party leaders encouraged these groups to "join up", and these groups joined various coalitions and held various cross-group congresses and assemblies. Mass organizations coalesced into two hostile factions,
3289-531: A wall and gave me shocks. They would prod us all over our backs. They would expose our breasts and prod us. They would make us sit on a chair and then slap our faces and push us off the chair so that we fell to the ground." Gwalmo Wangmo, a nun of this monastery, is well known for her heroics of protests against the Chinese occupation of the nunnery. She was arrested first in 1988 and detained for six months in Gutsa jail. She
3432-474: Is a complex of structures founded in 1419 by Jamchen Chojey Sakya Yeshe of Zel Gungtang (1355–1435), a disciple of Je Tsongkhapa. Prior to establishing this monastery, Tsongkhapa, assisted by his disciples, had set up hermitages at higher elevations above Sera Utsé Hermitage . The Sera complex is divided into two sectors by pathways; the eastern part contains the Great Assembly Hall and the dwellings and
3575-691: Is considered as the main sanctum of the nunnery. The temple at one time (before 1959) had a series of fifteen extremely well executed thangkas of the “Eighty Deeds of Tsongkhapa” ( tsong kha brgyad bcu ) which was gifted to the monastery by a Mongolian queen. The nuns refused to part with them even when the Thirteenth Dalai Lama ( Da lai bla ma sku phreng bcu gsum pa ) wanted to take them to the Norbugling kha, his summer palace. They now remain untraced. The artefacts, statues, frescos, Thangkas and many other rare objects that were listed as existing prior to
3718-541: Is given a separate cell. Each Kamcun also has a prayer hall for exclusive study of Buddhist doctrine and also has annexed tea house. However, the main assembly hall here had minor images of Tsongkhapa, Choyi Gyeltsen, Shakhyamuni Buddha, Three Deities of Longevity, and two inner chapels – the Jampakhang with ‘speaking’ image of Tara (protector of the springs in Sera) and Lama Tubten Kunga (who renovated Sera Me) and Gonkhang chapel with
3861-466: Is located amidst a forest area with wildlife (not deterred by the humans) which is also rich in medicinal plants. Tibetan physicians from Lhasa visit the place to collect herbs, which are ingredients for Tibetan medicine. Students accompany the physicians to learn the art of finding the correct medicinal plants. The history of the Nunnery could be related to two distinct periods; the first is the period before
4004-478: Is new. The old temple was known to have twelve pillars and a central image on its main altar, a Thousand-Armed Avalokiteśvara , one-story tall. Today the Garu temple has eight pillars but it also has a two-pillar rear chapel. It is flanked to the right by a statue of Pha dam pa sangs rgyas as an eight-year-old child with a manuscript text of a prayer (about ten folios in length) written by Pha dam pa sangs rgyas himself. This
4147-547: Is one of the "great three" Gelug university monasteries of Tibet , located 1.25 miles (2.01 km) north of Lhasa and about 5 km (3.1 mi) north of the Jokhang . (The other two are Ganden Monastery and Drepung Monastery .) The origin of its name is attributed to a fact that during construction, the hill behind the monastery was covered with blooming wild roses (or "sera" in Tibetan). (An alternate etymology holds that
4290-545: Is placed on you ... The world belongs to you. China's future belongs to you. During the Red August of Beijing, on August 8, 1966, the party's General Committee passed its "Decision Concerning the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution," later to be known as the "Sixteen Points". This decision defined the Cultural Revolution as "a great revolution that touches people to their very souls and constitutes
4433-522: Is the treasured possession of the monastery. It is said that Chengzhu, emperor of the Ming dynasty , presented these scriptures (printed on wood blocks with gold cover engraved in red lacquer and made in China) to Jamchen Chojey, the builder of the monastery. The entrance to the hall was through a portico built on 10 columns. Large appliqué Thangkas were suspended from the ceiling on the side walls. A skylight at
Garu Nunnery - Misplaced Pages Continue
4576-464: Is used for public performances such as folk opera and festivals. At the northern edge of the park are a stūpa and a guest house, erected in 2004. Several small shrines are also found just outside the southern perimeter wall of the nunnery which are related to original visionary of the nunnery. Because much of the old nunnery was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution , the art inside the temple
4719-481: The Tibetan Annals have revealed that Pabonka was converted into a monastery, possibly under the reign of the second great Buddhist king of Tibet Trisong Detsen . Detsen, along with Guru Rinpoche and the first seven monks of the new Tibetan Empire used to meditate at the hermitage and it became one of Tibet's very earliest Buddhist monasteries, possibly even pre-dating Jokhang . The original nine-storied monastery
4862-478: The 12-3 incident . The event was prompted by the colonial government's delays in approving a new wing for a CCP elementary school in Taipa . The school board illegally began construction, but the colonial government sent police to stop the workers. Several people were injured in the resulting melee . On December 3, 1966, two days of rioting occurred in which hundreds were injured and six to eight were killed, leading to
5005-413: The Cultural Revolution but when Sera monks restored the hermitage they excavated the relics and restored most of them. A central shrine, dating back 1300 years to Gampo, is located in the temple and depicts Chenresig , Jampelyang and Chana Dorje , the so-called "Rigsum Gompo Trinity" from which the temple takes its name. Up the hill from the hermitage, past a group of chortens , is Palden Lhamo Cave,
5148-530: The Cultural Revolution when the monasteries were in a state of high religious preservation and the second is the post 1959 Cultural Revolution and revolts that ushered hegemonic Chinese rule in Tibet, when most of the Buddhist hermitages underwent a cataclysmic change. Padamsambhava visited this place in the 11th century, during his sojourn around Tibet propagating the Buddhist religion and his school of “Pacification” (Zhi byed). As Padmasambahva continued his journey,
5291-713: The Five Black Categories . Intellectuals and scientists were considered to be the Stinking Old Ninth , and many were persecuted. The country's schools and universities were closed, and the National College Entrance Examination were cancelled. Over 10 million youth from urban areas were relocated under the Down to the Countryside Movement policy. In December 1978, Deng Xiaoping became
5434-649: The Gelukpa Order , a much-venerated and highly-learned guru in Buddhist scriptures. It was under his tutelage — seen by followers as divine — that his disciple Jetsun Kunkhen Lodroe Rinchen Senge established the Sera Jey Monastery complex in the early 15th century AD. Kunkhyen Lodroe Rinchen Senge initially served as a teacher in the Drepung Monastery before he formed the Sera Jey. The religious legend holds that
5577-542: The Indian Buddhist Guru on a visit to this location saw Dakinis dancing here and therefore called the place as "Garu". Garu Nunnery is at the western end of the Nyang bran valley. Garu gorge as such is in a remote location but scenic. The nunnery is below the rocky hills, close to a stream and the land below is a kind of meadow, which is used as pasture land for grazing the large herd of cattle ( yaks ) maintained by
5720-479: The People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his death in 1976. Its stated goal was to preserve Chinese socialism by purging remnants of capitalist and traditional elements from Chinese society . Though it failed to achieve its main objectives, the Cultural Revolution marked the effective return of Mao to the center of power in China after his political sidelining , in
5863-716: The United Nations and reneged on its pledge to supply China with a nuclear weapon. Mao publicly denounced revisionism in April 1960. Without pointing at the USSR, Mao criticized its Balkan ally, the League of Communists of Yugoslavia . In turn, the USSR criticized China's Balkan ally, the Party of Labour of Albania . In 1963, CCP began to denounce the USSR, publishing nine polemics. One was titled On Khrushchev's Phoney Communism and Historical Lessons for
Garu Nunnery - Misplaced Pages Continue
6006-688: The fall of Lin Biao in 1971, the Gang of Four became influential in 1972, and the Revolution continued until Mao's death in 1976, soon followed by the arrest of the Gang of Four. The Cultural Revolution was characterized by violence and chaos across Chinese society, including a massacre in Guangxi that included acts of cannibalism , as well as massacres in Beijing, Inner Mongolia , Guangdong , Yunnan , and Hunan . Estimates of
6149-586: The "16 May Notification", this document summarized Mao's ideological justification for CR. Initially kept secret, distributed only among high-ranking party members, it was later declassified and published in People's Daily on 17 May 1967. Effectively it implied that enemies of the Communist cause could be found within the Party: class enemies who "wave the red flag to oppose the red flag." The only way to identify these people
6292-425: The "Three Supports and Two Militaries" initiative, in which PLA troops were sent to schools and work units across the country to stabilize political tumult and end factional warfare. The three "Supports" were to "support the left", "support the interior", "support industry". The "two Militaries" referred to "military management" and "military training". The policy of supporting the left failed to define "leftists" at
6435-401: The "literary battle" against Peng raged, Mao fired Yang Shangkun —director of the party's General Office , an organ that controlled internal communications—making unsubstantiated charges. He installed loyalist Wang Dongxing , head of Mao's security detail. Yang's dismissal likely emboldened Mao's allies to move against their factional rivals. On 12 February 1966, the "Five Man Group" issued
6578-507: The 18th century by Lhazang Khan . Devoted to tantric studies, the college had an assembly hall and two chapels in the ground floor. The Assembly hall was built with four tall and 42 short columns with elegantly carved capitals. The main image in the centre of the hall was of Jamchen Chojey (wearing a black hat), founder of the monastery. It was believed that the Yongle Emperor (1360–1424) presented this image to Sera. Other images enshrined in
6721-422: The 3000 or more monks living here now. Encouraged by this success and noting the pressure on existing infrastructure, an additional, much larger and an impressive Assembly hall (measuring 23,275 square feet (2,162.3 m ), 31 feet (9.4 m) high with 110 pillars) has been built that can accommodate 3500 monks to assemble for prayers. With this development, Sera has now two facets, the original “Tibetan Sera” and
6864-571: The Bylakuppe “New Sera” of the “Tibetan Diaspora” with the counterpart Jé, Mé monasteries, with the Ngakpa college counterpart also added recently. The Sera-India monk community of the Bylakuppe Monastery, has gone global with their missionary activity by establishing “dharma centres” in many parts the world, thus removing the cultural isolation of pre-1959 years in Tibet. The monastery is located on
7007-534: The Chinese Emperor); and the Jigje Lakhang chapel housed the 15th century image of Bhairava along with those of Mahakala , Dharmaraja , Shridevi and many others. While the third story was the residence of the Dalai Lama, the second floor had the images Amitayus and also eight 'Medicine Buddhas', as also reliquaries (stupas) of Gyeltsen Zangpo and Jetsun Chokyi Gyeltsen. However, as per reports, this college
7150-407: The Chinese invasion his body was buried and decayed and when the regional house (khang tshan) was rebuilt in the 1980s, his bones were exhumed. These are today placed inside the altar's clay statue in the regional house temple. Keutsang Hermitage ( Ke’u tshang ri khrod ) was a precariously perched cave hermitage inhabited by the great Tibetan guru Tsongkhapa. However, the original cave collapsed in
7293-546: The Chinese invasion in 1959, it originally served as the meditation retreat of a monk named ’Jog po rin po che of the Sera Mé College. The monk was a great meditator and according to tradition, after he died, his body remained in a state of perpetual meditative equipoise and was kept inside the Zhungpa Regional House temple where the monks reported that his hair and nails continued to grow even after his death. Before
SECTION 50
#17328513578277436-493: The Coqen Hall Tsokchen (Great Assembly Hall), the three Zhacangs (colleges) and Kamcun (dormitory) also called Homdong Kangtsang. In the main hall, scriptures (scripted with gold powder), statues, scent cloth and murals were seen in profusion. The descriptions given here relate to the scenario that existed at the monastery prior to the 1959 invasion by China but most of the monasteries are stated to be since restored, though
7579-711: The Cultural Revolution included: the life-size figure of Vajrayogini ( Rdo rje rnal ’byor ma ), statues of several incarnations of the Dalai Lamas, four metal-alloy statues of the Drakri incarnations ( Brag ri sprul sku ), two sets of statues of the 'Eight Medicine Buddhas' ( Sman bla bde gshegs brgyad ), a text of the Eight Thousand Line Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra ( ’Phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa brgyad stong pa’i mdo, Āryāṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā Sūtra ) written in gold, eight "shāli stūpas of India”, statues of
7722-591: The Dalai Lamas and the preceptors of the Main Assembly Hall. Sera Me Tratsang or Sera Me Zhakan was the oldest college built here. It was established in 1419 during the Ming dynasty reign, initially for elementary or basic education in Buddhist religion. The college adopted a step-by-step approach to the studies of Buddhist doctrines; a practice particular to the Gelukpa or Yellow Hat sect of Tibetan Buddhism . The college
7865-767: The Dusum Sangye Lhakhang which housed statues of “Buddhas of Three Times” and Eight Bodhistavas; the Tamdrin Lhakhang housed the main image of Hayagriva; the Jhampa Lhakhang contained images of Maitreya, Eleven-faced Mahakarunika, and Tsongkhapa with his disciples amidst a coveted library; the Tsongkhapa Lhakhang with images of Tsongkhapa with his best students, main Lamas of Sera Je, Nagarjuna and other Buddhist commentators of India, gate keepers Havagriva and Acala;
8008-419: The Government of India, two arms of the Sera Monastery, representing the migrant monks of the Tibetan Sera Je and Sera Me colleges were established; 193 Sera je monks got 147.75 acres (59.79 ha) and 107 monks of Sera Me got an allotment of the balance area. Further, 38 tenements were built with grants by the Government of India for the Monks to reside and pursue their vocation of monkshood coupled with tilling
8151-497: The Headquarters , rallying people to target the "command centre (i.e., Headquarters) of counterrevolution." Mao wrote that despite having undergone a communist revolution, a "bourgeois" elite was still thriving in "positions of authority" in the government and Party. Although no names were mentioned, this provocative statement has been interpreted as a direct indictment of the party establishment under Liu and Deng—the purported "bourgeois headquarters" of China. The personnel changes at
8294-413: The Jampa Lhakhang, the Neten Lhakhang and Jigje Lhakhang. A 6 metres (20 ft) high image of Maitreya was deified in Jampa Lhakhang ensconced by Eight Bodhisattvas , the treasured Kagyur and guarded by Hayagriva and Acala at the entrance. Jigje Lhakhang houses the image of Bhairava with his consort Bhairavi , Shri Devi and other protector deities. On the second floor, there were three chapels:
8437-406: The Jampeyang Lhakhang to the north-east had two images of Manjushri, one in a Dharmacakramudra (teaching pose) looking towards the Debating Courtyard. The second floor of the monastery on the west called the Zelre Lhakhang provided an overview of the main Hayagriva image in the floor below, and also a small image of Nine-headed Hayagriva along with images of Padmasambhava , the 5th Dalai Lama and
8580-624: The Neten Lhakhang with images of Buddha of Three Times in the company of 'Sixteen Elders' depicted in their mountain caves, volumes of the sacred Prajnaparamita text; the Jowokhang with large Buddha image (replaced an earlier image of Miwang Jowo Shakyamuni) along with Eight Bodhisattvas, and gatekeepers Hayagriva and Acala; and the Tsongkhapa Lhakhang, the last chapel on the right, with several images – Je Rinpoche, Atisha , Dromtonpa , Dalai Lamas I-III, Dalai Lama V, Jamchen Shakya Yeshe, Gyeltsen Zangpo (first teacher of Sera), Kunkhen Jangchub Penpa (founder of Sera Me) and many more. The second floor of
8723-499: The People's Republic of China, symbolically bringing the decades-long Chinese Civil War to a close. Remaining Republican forces fled to Taiwan , and continued to resist the People's Republic in various ways. Many soldiers of the Chinese Republicans were left in mainland China, and Mao Zedong launched the Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries to eliminate these soldiers left behind, as well as elements of Chinese society viewed as potentially dangerous to Mao's new government. This
SECTION 60
#17328513578278866-527: The Plenum reflected a radical re-design of the party hierarchy. Liu and Deng kept their seats on the Politburo Standing Committee, but were sidelined from day-to-day party affairs. Lin Biao was elevated to become the CCP's number-two; Liu's rank went from second to eighth and was no longer Mao's heir apparent. Along with the top leadership losing power the entire national Party bureaucracy was purged. The extensive Organization Department , in charge of party personnel, virtually ceased to exist. The top officials in
9009-430: The Propaganda Department were sacked, with many of its functions folded into the CRG. The Little Red Book was the mechanism that led the Red Guards to commit to their objective as China's future. Quotes directly from Mao led to actions by the Red Guards in the views of other Maoist leaders. By December 1967, 350 million copies had been printed. One of these quotes was the famous line " Political power grows out of
9152-413: The Sera hermitages is located about 8 km (5.0 mi) northwest of Lhasa in the Nyang bran Valley on the slopes of Mount Parasol. The site, which is over 1,300 years old, dates back to Songtsän Gampo , the founder of the Tibetan Empire , and was amongst the first buildings built in the Lhasa area by him during the 7th century after settlement. Although originally the site of his castle or fort,
9295-459: The Sixteen Arhats ( Gnas brtan bcu drug ), Six-Armed Mahākāla ( Mgon po phyag drug ), and Hayagrīva in his “Secret Accomplishment” form ( Rta mgrin gsang sgrub ). Garu Nunnery had 130 nuns (including ten older nuns) in 1988. It was restored in 1988, after the Cultural Revolution, with grants provided by the government in Tibet. The nuns hail from Phembo village, 60 km to the east of Lhasa, and are supported by their families. In 1988, some nuns of
9438-418: The Soviet Union would assist "genuine communists" who overthrew Mao and his "erroneous course". Chinese leadership also feared the increasing military conflict between the United States and North Vietnam , concerned that China's support would lead to the United States to seek out potential Chinese assets. In 1963, Mao launched the Socialist Education Movement , the Cultural Revolution's precursor. Mao set
9581-532: The Tibetan New Year ( Losar ) celebrations, the sixteen-day (eight sets of two-day) Avalokiteśvara fasting rituals that take place during the fourth Tibetan month (they attract many people from Lhasa and the surrounding districts), and a ritual and other events that take place during the “Sixth-Month Fourth-Day” pilgrimage. Drakri Hermitage ( brag ri ri khrod ), also known as Bari Hermitage ( sba ri ri khrod ) lies about three kilometres north and slightly east of central Lhasa. Drakri, believed to have been founded by
9724-477: The USSR. In 1956, Khrushchev denounced his predecessor Josef Stalin and his policies , and began implementing economic reforms . Mao and many other CCP members opposed these changes, believing that they would damage the worldwide communist movement. Mao believed that Khrushchev was a revisionist , altering Marxist–Leninist concepts, which Mao claimed would give capitalists control of the USSR. Relations soured. The USSR refused to support China's case for joining
9867-465: The World , in which Mao charged that Khrushchev was a revisionist and risked capitalist restoration. Khrushchev's defeat by an internal coup d'état in 1964 contributed to Mao's fears, mainly because of his declining prestige after the Great Leap Forward. Other Soviet actions increased concerns about potential fifth columnists . As a result of the tensions following the Sino-Soviet split, Soviet leaders authorized radio broadcasts into China stating that
10010-404: The Zhelre Lhakhang from where Maitreya could be seen embossed with a small Tsongkhapa on its heart; the Tu-je Chenpo Lhakhang that had an Avalokiteshvara with eleven faces (found at Pawangka), Tara and six–armed Mahakala . The idol of Shakyamuni Buddha flanked by images of Gelukpa Lamas were placed in the Shakyamuni Lhakhang. The third and the fourth floors were used as private apartments for
10153-409: The abbot of Pha bong kh in the 18th century, was used as a meditational retreat by Klong rdol bla ma ngag dbang blo bzang (1719–1794), one of the most renowned scholars of the Lhopa Regional House (Lho pa khang tshan) of the Jé College (Grwa tshang byes). Drakri Hermitage had control over Garu Nunnery since its early history and supervised the training of the Garu nuns until 1959. In 1959, the monks of
10296-776: The aftermath of the Great Leap Forward and the Great Chinese Famine . In May 1966, with the help of the Cultural Revolution Group , Mao launched the Revolution and said that bourgeois elements had infiltrated the government and society with the aim of restoring capitalism. Mao called on young people to bombard the headquarters , and proclaimed that "to rebel is justified". Mass upheaval began in Beijing with Red August in 1966. Many young people, mainly students, responded by forming cadres of Red Guards throughout
10439-458: The barrel of a gun ." The passage continues: Revolutionary war is an antitoxin which not only eliminates the enemy's poison but also purges us of our filth. Every just, revolutionary war is endowed with tremendous power and can transform many things or clear the way for their transformation. The Sino-Japanese war will transform both China and Japan; Provided China perseveres in the War of Resistance and in
10582-574: The belief that Maitreya (Byams pa) assures rebirth to those whose remains are brought to the cemetery below Keu tshang and it is also believed that light rays are exchanged between the Maitreya image here and the Maitreya Chapel at the northern end of the Barskor in Lhasa. During the 1959 Cultural Revolution, the present and the fifth Keutsang incarnation ( Keutshang sku phreng lnga pa ) was incarcerated for
10725-551: The blessings of Lama Tsongkhapa, institutionalised the name of Hayagriva or Tamdin Yangsang as the supreme protector deity of the monastery. The assembly hall of the college depicted frescoes of Buddha's life achievements, the thrones of the Dalai Lamas and Panchen Lamas ; seen on its north wall were stupas (reliquaries) and images of Dalai Lama VIII and Dalai Lama XIII, Reting Telkus II and IX, and Lodro Rinchen (founder of Sera). The Chapels which were circumambulated sequentially are:
10868-571: The bourgeoisie who have sneaked into the Party, the government, the army, and various spheres of culture are a bunch of counter-revolutionary revisionists. Once conditions are ripe, they will seize political power and turn the dictatorship of the proletariat into a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. Some of them we have already seen through; others we have not. Some are still trusted by us and are being trained as our successors, persons like Khrushchev for example, who are still nestling beside us. Later known as
11011-442: The centre provided the light in the hall during the day. Image of the founder of the monastery Jamchen Choje Shakya Yeshe was deified as the central image. Other deities installed were of Maitreya (5 metres (16 ft) height and gilded) flanked by statues of two lions, Dalai Lamas V, VII and XII, Tsongkhapa (with his favourite disciples), Chokyi Gyeltsen, Desi Sangye Gyatso and many more. The three inner chapels, sequentially, are
11154-417: The class suspension nationwide. By early June, throngs of young demonstrators lined the capital's major thoroughfares holding giant portraits of Mao, beating drums, and shouting slogans. When the dismissal of Peng and the municipal party leadership became public in early June, confusion was widespread. The public and foreign missions were kept in the dark on the reason for Peng's ousting. Top Party leadership
11297-554: The college had the Nyima Lhakhang where image of Shakhyamuni Buddha was deified along with Tuwang Tsultrim, and the Khangyur Lhakhang with 1000 images of Tara which replaced the sacred texts that were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. The third floor was reserved for the Dalai Lamas. Sera Je Tretsang (College) or Zhekong, the largest college in Sera complex, measured an area of 17,000 m (180,000 sq ft). It
11440-449: The conference, Liu, once a powerful moderate pundit, was placed under house arrest, then sent to a detention camp, where he was denied medical treatment and died in 1969. Deng was sent away for a period of re-education three times and was eventually sent to work in an engine factory in Jiangxi . Rebellion by party cadres accelerated after the conference. In Macau , rioting broke out during
11583-456: The country. A selection of Mao's sayings were compiled into the Little Red Book , which became revered within his cult of personality . In 1967, emboldened radicals began seizing power from local governments and party branches, establishing new revolutionary committees in their place. These committees often split into rival factions, precipitating armed clashes among the radicals . After
11726-629: The death toll vary widely, typically ranging from 1–2 million. Red Guards sought to destroy the Four Olds (old ideas, old culture, old customs, and old habits), which often took the form of destroying historical artifacts, cultural and religious sites, and targeting others deemed to be representative of the Four Olds. Tens of millions were persecuted, including senior officials: most notably, president Liu Shaoqi , as well as Deng Xiaoping , Peng Dehuai , and He Long . Millions were persecuted for being members of
11869-699: The defensive. Peng, Wu Han's direct superior, was the head of the Five Man Group , a committee commissioned by Mao to study the potential for a cultural revolution. Peng Zhen, aware that he would be implicated if Wu indeed wrote an "anti-Mao" play, wished to contain Yao's influence. Yao's article was initially published only in select local newspapers. Peng forbade its publication in the nationally distributed People's Daily and other major newspapers under his control, instructing them to write exclusively about "academic discussion", and not pay heed to Yao's petty politics. While
12012-657: The foothills above Lhasa. The nunneries established are the Chupzang Nunnery , the Garu Nunnery , the Negodong Nunnery and the Nenang Nunnery and a few nuns of some of these nunneries held protest marches against the Chinese rule, and as a result suffered incarceration and indignities. Brief details of the hermitages and nunneries are: Pabonka Hermitage ( pha bong kha ri khrod ), the largest and most important of
12155-578: The founding of the People's Republic of China. During this period, the term was used interchangeably with "cultural construction" and referred to eliminating illiteracy in order to widen public participation in civic matters. This usage of "cultural revolution" continued through the 1950s and into the 1960s, and often involved drawing parallels to the May Fourth Movement or the Soviet cultural revolution of 1928–1931. On 1 October 1949, Mao Zedong declared
12298-539: The hall were of Maitreya, Gyeltsen Zangpo (first religious teacher of Sera), Pawangka Rinpoche, Tsongkhapa (with his principle disciples), Dalai Lama XIII, Chokyi Gyeltsen and Lodro Rinchen (founder of Sera Je). The two chapels housed many statues; in the Neten Lhakhang chapel of Shakyamuni Buddha along with images of 16 elders in double series (Upper series made in Tibetan style and the lower series in Chinese lacquer given by
12441-490: The hermitage of Tsongkhapa above the Great Assembly Hall. The Jé and Mé colleges were established to train monks, over a 20-year programme of tsennyi mtshan nyid grwa tshang (philosophical knowledge), which concludes with a geshe degree. The Ngakpa college, which predated the other two colleges, was exclusively devoted to the practice of tantric ritual. Before 1959, the administration of each college comprised an abbot with council of ten lamas for each college. Over
12584-451: The hermitage were evicted and the hermitage was turned into the notorious Drapchi Prison , which gained a reputation for being one of the most severe penal institutions run by the Chinese in Tibet. In the 1980s a citizen of Lhasa re-established the monastery under the Nyingma sect to remember his late mother. After receiving permission from the Lhasa municipal government, he began renovating
12727-439: The image of the protector deity Gyelchen Karma Trinle. Choding Khang is the hermitage located just behind the Great Assembly Hall (on the hill slope of Sera Utse). This is where Je Tsongkhapa meditated. The hermitage is accessed through a track where painted rock carvings of Tsongkhapa, Jamchen and Dharma Raja (the protector) are seen flanking the stepped approaches, along the route. A new building has been constructed in place of
12870-469: The location that was surrounded by raspberry shrubs called 'Sewa' in Tibetan, that formed like a 'Rawa' in Tibetan, meaning "Fence".) The original Sera Monastery is responsible for some 19 hermitages, including four nunneries, which are all located in the foothills north of Lhasa. The Sera Monastery, as a complex of structures with the Great Assembly Hall and three colleges, was founded in 1419 by Jamchen Chojey of Sakya Yeshe of Zel Gungtang (1355–1435),
13013-481: The main deity were of Maitreya, Manjushri , Amatyas, Bhavishyaguru, Tsongkhapa (with his students), Dalai Lama VII, Pawanga Rinpoche and several other past teachers of the college. The college had five chapels with plethora of statues and frescoes, which from west to east were: Tawok Lhkhang with images of Tawok, protection deity of the east, the Je Rinpoche Lhakhang with images of Tsongkhapa and Shakyamuni,
13156-483: The main temple which before 1959 served as the meeting rooms and the living quarters of the workers and business managers of the Drakri Lama's estate, a building that had served as the living quarters for the eight fully ordained monks who formed the ritual core of the monastic community, a stable for mdzo, a yak-cow hybrid and several huts. The main temple contains statues of Guru Rinpoche and several tantric deities and
13299-406: The main temple, a Scripture temple, the kitchen, and several small chapels, a butter-lamp offering house and a nightwatch building. Along with two wings of the nun's quarters, these buildings, believed to be the oldest, form the central courtyard of the hermitage. To the north of the main temple, there is a long wing of nuns quarters. Along the eastern edge of the nunnery, there is a small park which
13442-430: The mental outlook of the whole of society. At present, our objective is to struggle against and overthrow those persons in authority who are taking the capitalist road, to criticize and repudiate the reactionary bourgeois academic "authorities" and the ideology of the bourgeoisie and all other exploiting classes and to transform education, literature and art and all other parts of the superstructure not in correspondence with
13585-480: The monastery distributed printed advertising material and shouted slogans seeking the independence of Tibet in the Barkhor . After the demonstrations, security measures were tightened on the nunnery, all of the residing nuns had to register with the state, and further recruitment to the nunnery was stopped. Ten nuns were arrested in February 1990 for putting up pro-independence posters in the nunnery compound. The leader of
13728-529: The most severe setback and the heaviest losses suffered by the people, the country, and the party since the founding of the People's Republic." Given its broad scope and social impact, memories and perspectives of the Cultural Revolution are varied and complex in contemporary China. It is often referred to as the "ten years of chaos" ( 十年动乱 ; shí nián dòngluàn ) or "ten years of havoc" ( 十年浩劫 ; shí nián hàojié ). The terminology of cultural revolution appeared in communist party discourses and newspapers prior to
13871-510: The movement's most radical elements, fearing that the movement would spin out of control. In July, Mao, in Wuhan, crossed the Yangtze River, showing his vigor. He then returned from Wuhan to Beijing and criticized party leadership for its handling of the work-teams issue. Mao accused the work teams of undermining the student movement, calling for their full withdrawal on July 24. Several days later
14014-406: The nearby mountain pass (known as Rta ma do nyag ) and also saw dancing female deities. Favouring establishment of a nunnery here, he named it as a “Dance Gompa: Place of Meditative Equipoise” ( Gar dgon bsam gtan gling ). A square throne on which he sat while doing the rites for the “site investigations” ( sa dpyad ), has since disappeared. However, the boulder on which the word "Ma" appeared, called
14157-599: The new paramount leader of China , replacing Mao's successor Hua Guofeng . Deng and his allies introduced the Boluan Fanzheng program and initiated reforms and opening of China , which, together with the New Enlightenment movement , gradually dismantled the ideology of Cultural Revolution. In 1981, the Communist Party publicly acknowledged numerous failures of the Cultural Revolution, declaring it "responsible for
14300-515: The northern outskirts of Lhasa , the capital of Tibet Autonomous Region . As built in 1419, it encompassed an area of 28 acres (11 ha). Its geographical location is at the base of Pubuchok mountain, also known as Tatipu Hill, located in the northern suburb of Lhasa City, which forms the watershed of the basins formed by Kyi Chi and Penpo Chu rivers. The monastery complex, encompassing 28 acres (11 ha) of land, housed several institutions in its precincts. The structures of notability were
14443-477: The nunnery were identified as ‘Three Protectors’ ( Rigs gsum mgon po ); a cliff-face on a northwest hill was named the Mirror of Vajrabhairava ( Jigs byed kyi me long ) and a peak to the north-east was titled Soul-Mountain of Mañjuśrī ( Jam dpal dbyangs kyi bla ri ). Another version of the naming of the mountains, which is more elaborate than the version provided by the nuns, is a manifest of religious names given to
14586-546: The nuns. From the location of the nunnery, which faces south, the Potala Palace and Lhasa (the capital of Tibet) provide a picturesque view. Traditionally, the nuns of the hermitage, habituated to identifying each place with some religious significance, had given names to the hills and peaks surrounding the nunnery; the peak to the north-west was called the Palace of Cakrasamvara ( Bde mchog gi pho brang ), three rock outcrops near
14729-566: The old hermitage, which was destroyed during the Revolution. Below the hermitage are the Upper Tantric College (Gyuto) and Lower Tantric College (Gyu-me) of Lhasa). A further climb up the hill leads to caves where Tsongkhapa meditated. Sera Monastery that developed over the centuries into a renowned place of learning, which trained hundreds of scholars who attained name and fame in the Buddhist nations, has under its affiliation 19 hermitages, including four nunneries, which are all located in
14872-517: The party leadership. On 1 August, the Eleventh Plenum of the 8th Central Committee was convened to advance Mao's radical agenda. At the plenum, Mao showed disdain for Liu, repeatedly interrupting him as he delivered his opening day speech. On July 28, Red Guard representatives wrote to Mao, calling for rebellion and upheaval to safeguard the revolution. Mao then responded to the letters by writing his own big-character poster entitled Bombard
15015-435: The political movement of the 1950s that squarely targeted intellectuals, the new movement was focused on established party cadres, many of whom were part of the work teams. As a result, the work teams came under increasing suspicion as thwarting revolutionary fervor. Party leadership subsequently became divided over whether or not work teams should continue. Liu Shaoqi insisted on continuing work-team involvement and suppressing
15158-527: The press. Mao delivered his final blow to Peng at a high-profile Politburo meeting through loyalists Kang Sheng and Chen Boda . They accused Peng of opposing Mao, labeled the February Outline "evidence of Peng Zhen's revisionism", and grouped him with three other disgraced officials as part of the "Peng-Luo-Lu-Yang Anti-Party Clique". On 16 May, the Politburo formalized the decisions by releasing an official document condemning Peng and his "anti-party allies" in
15301-791: The prophecy of his guru by establishing the Sera Je as a seat of learning knowledge of the complete teachings and practices of the Mahayana tradition. King Nedong Dagpa Gyaltsen supported the noble venture with required finances. In 1419, he performed the foundation laying ceremony for construction of the monastery. Lama Tsongkhapa oversaw further details including installing sacred images, idols, and other objects of worship. The monastery soon came to be known as "the Seat of Theckchen ling ( Mahayana Tradition )". The 14th Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959 and sought asylum there. Starting from 18 March, Sera Jey Monastery
15444-468: The protector deities. One floor above this was the Namgyel Lhakhang and the last floor above this was the living quarters of the Dalai Lamas and teachers of Sera Je. The Ngakpa Tratsang, also spelled Ngaba Zhacang, was the smallest of the three colleges that was set up in the complex. It was a three storied building originally built in 1419 by Jetsun Kunkhen Lodroe Rinchen Senge. It was refurbished in
15587-428: The protest, Gwalmo Wangmo, was expelled from the nunnery. The 13 nuns (all in teens and twenties) were arrested for the protest demonstration that they held at Barkhor. They had distributed printed advertising material and shouted slogans seeking independence of Tibet. They were arrested as they were returning from Sera Monastery. They were treated brutally, both during and after the arrests, and sexually abused. To quote
15730-503: The radicals who backed Mao's purge of the Communist party, and the conservatives who backed the moderate party establishment. The "support the left" policy was established in January 1967. Mao's policy was to support the rebels in seizing power; it required the PLA to support "the broad masses of the revolutionary leftists in their struggle to seize power." In March 1967, the policy was adapted into
15873-651: The realms of culture and religion. Historical sites throughout the country were destroyed. The damage was particularly pronounced in the capital, Beijing. Red Guards laid siege to the Temple of Confucius in Qufu , and other historically significant tombs and artifacts. Libraries of historical and foreign texts were destroyed; books were burned. Temples, churches, mosques, monasteries, and cemeteries were closed and sometimes converted to other uses, or looted and destroyed. Marxist propaganda depicted Buddhism as superstition, and religion
16016-408: The scene by " cleansing " powerful Beijing officials of questionable loyalty. His approach was not transparent, executed via newspaper articles, internal meetings, and by his network of political allies. In late 1959, historian and deputy mayor of Beijing Wu Han published a historical drama entitled Hai Rui Dismissed from Office . In the play, an honest civil servant , Hai Rui , is dismissed by
16159-490: The site was chosen because Tsongkhapa had a vision in which he saw the full text of Prajnaparamita 's 20 slokas on Shunyata captioned in the sky. This vision gave him a full insight into the Tsawasehrab (Fundamentals of Madhyamika or Shunyata ) text. Further, he also perceived the "vision of a rain like 'AA' characters descending from the sky". It was only 12 years later that one of his pupils, Jamchen Choje, fulfilled
16302-470: The site, although a former official of the Bari Lama's estate who had previously controlled the monastery initially objected to it being converted into Nyingma practice centre. Today the hermitage, still partly ruined, consists of five major sections; a main temple compound around a central courtyard with a temple, kitchen, and some of the monks’ living quarters, an extensive ruined terraced complex just south of
16445-496: The socialist economic base, so as to facilitate the consolidation and development of the socialist system. The implications of the Sixteen Points were far-reaching. It elevated what was previously a student movement to a nationwide mass campaign that would galvanize workers, farmers, soldiers and lower-level party functionaries to rise, challenge authority, and re-shape the superstructure of society. On 18 August in Beijing, over
16588-837: The strength of the monks are said to be small. The Great Assembly Hall, the ‘Tsokchen' or 'Coqen Hall', dated to 1710, a four-story structure to the north east of the monastery, facing east, is where several religious rituals and rites are conducted. The hall measured an area of 2,000 square metres (22,000 sq ft) built with 125 pillars (86 tall and 39 short columns) and was constructed by Lhazang Qan. The entry portico had ten columns. The five chapels in this building have statues or images of Maitreya , Shakyamuni , Arhats , Tsongkhapa, and Kwan-yin with one thousand hands and eleven faces. The ancient and delicately written scriptures ‘the Gangyur of Tripitaka’ also spelt ' Kangyur ' (dated 1410) in 105 volumes (original 108 volumes) written in Tibetan
16731-647: The strongest terms, disbanding his "Five Man Group", and replacing it with the Maoist Cultural Revolution Group (CRG). The Cultural Revolution can be divided into two main periods: The early phase was characterized by mass movement and political pluralization. Virtually anyone could create a political organization, even without party approval. Known as Red Guards, these organizations originally arose in schools and universities and later in factories and other institutions. After 1968, most of these organizations ceased to exist, although their legacies were
16874-679: The surface, incredible industrialization, but also caused some of the worst famines in modern history, while still falling short of projected goals. The Great Leap Forward soon came to be seen as one of Mao's greatest mistakes, eventually costing him some of his official status in the Communist Party . In the early 1950s, the PRC and the Soviet Union (USSR) were the world's two largest communist states. Although initially they were mutually supportive, disagreements arose after Nikita Khrushchev took power in
17017-401: The surrounding allotted land for raising food crops for survival. Well established as an organised Monastery with dedicated efforts of the monks, an Assembly Prayer Hall that could accommodate 1500 monks was also completed in 1978. This Monastery is now the nodal monastery, with its affiliation to several smaller monasteries spread across various regions in Tibet; its popularity could be gauged by
17160-490: The topographic setting of the nunnery and the perceived signals they emit. The mountain behind the nunnery is known as “the Soul-Mountain of Tara (Tārā’i bla ri), a right turning conch shape is identified on a rock face close to the nunnery, and the western hill is identified as “the Soul-Mountain of Manjusri” ( ’Jam dpal dbyangs kyi bla ri ). A “storehouse of sindhura” that gives out sindhura (scented red ochre powder), particularly on holy days has been identified. The shape of
17303-413: The travel expenses of Red Guards. At the rallies, Lin called for the destruction of the "Four Olds"; namely, old customs, culture, habits, and ideas. Some changes associated with the "Four Olds" campaign were mainly benign, such as assigning new names to city streets, places, and even people; millions of babies were born with "revolutionary" names. Other aspects were more destructive, particularly in
17446-415: The united front, the old Japan will surely be transformed into a new Japan and the old China into a new China, and people and everything else in both China and Japan will be transformed during and after the war. The world is yours, as well as ours, but in the last analysis, it is yours. You young people, full of vigor and vitality, are in the bloom of life, like the sun at eight or nine in the morning. Our hope
17589-467: The victims were teachers who were attacked or killed by their own students. The first such victim was Bian Zhongyun , the deputy principal of Beijing Normal University Female Middle School , who was killed on 5 August by Red Guards following several hours of physical abuse and public humiliation. The leader of the Red Guards, who had organised on campus only days prior, was 19-year-old Song Binbin , who
17732-476: The way for disorder in the capital. On 25 May, under the guidance of Cao Yi'ou [ zh ] —wife of Mao loyalist Kang Sheng— Nie Yuanzi , a philosophy lecturer at Peking University , authored a big-character poster along with other leftists and posted it to a public bulletin. Nie attacked the university's party administration and its leader Lu Ping. Nie insinuated that the university leadership, much like Peng, were trying to contain revolutionary fervor in
17875-586: The western part has the well-known three colleges: the Sera Je Dratsang, the Sera Me Dratsang; and the Ngakpa Dratsang, all instituted by Tsongkhapa as monastic universities that catered to monks in the age range 8-70. All the structures within this complex formed a clockwise pilgrimage circuit, starting with the colleges (in the order stated), followed by the hall, the dwelling units and finally ending at
18018-428: The words of an arrested nun: "They would strip us naked, bend over us, and then start beating us. They took off all our clothes. One would hold your arm, twist and drop you to the ground, while another would hold your arm and twist, and another would step on your head and keep it down. Then the fourth person would take your clothes off and beat you with a stick. They did not tie us and hang us up, but they tied me against
18161-459: The years, the monastery developed into a hermitage where about 6000 monks resided. The monastery was one of the finest locations in Tibet to witness the debate sessions, which were held according to a fixed schedule. The monastery belongs to the Gelug Order and was one of the largest in Lhasa. The history of the monastery is strongly connected to Master Lama Tsongkhapa (1357–1419), the founder of
18304-526: The ‘Sixth-Month Fourth-Day (drug pa tshe bzhi)’ celebrations. The hermitage had smooth relationship with Sera all through its history so much so that every official monk of the hermitage enjoyed de facto status of a monk of the Hamdong Regional House ( Har gdong khang tshan ) of the Jé College also. The monastery also observes all ritualistic practices. Some special aspects of the temple complex are:
18447-433: The “a ma boulder” is still present here. Fund raising for the reconstruction of the nunnery began in 1980, upon the request of 14 former nuns. They raised 390,000 ¥ from the Tibetan laity, and 20,000¥ from the local government authorities and restored the nunnery in 1985. Garu Nunnery is a very large structure and within the perimeter walls it contains several sub-compounds and building complexes. The main structure contains
18590-518: Was again arrested in February 1990 at the nunnery along with nine others since they had put up posters in the nunnery compound protesting when a “work team” of the Chinese administration were conducting “screening and re-education” in the nunnery. She was released six months later and was also expelled from the nunnery. Sera Monastery Samding Dorje Phagmo Sera Monastery ( Tibetan : སེ་ར་དགོན་པ , Wylie : se ra dgon pa "Wild Roses Monastery"; Chinese : 色拉寺 ; pinyin : Sèlā Sì )
18733-531: Was alleged to have participated personally in the murder of Bian. At a mass rally held on 18 August, Song met Mao, and gifted him a Red Guard armband by tying it around his arm. In September, Shanghai experienced 704 suicides and 534 deaths; in Wuhan, 62 suicides and 32 murders occurred during the same period. Peng Dehuai was brought to Beijing to be publicly ridiculed. Between August and November 1966, eight mass rallies were held, drawing in 12 million people, most of whom were Red Guards. The government bore
18876-400: Was built over an area of 1,600 square metres (17,000 sq ft) with 30 dwelling units. However, in 1761 lightning struck the main hall which was rebuilt in 1761. The hall, as finally refurbished, had 70 pillars (8 tall and 62 short pillars) which housed a galaxy of statues of Buddhist gurus with the main deity of Shakyamuni Buddha made in copper. The other Bodhisattvas enshrined along with
19019-474: Was caught off guard by the sudden protest wave and struggled with how to respond. After seeking Mao's guidance in Hangzhou , Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping decided to send in 'work teams'—effectively 'ideological guidance' squads of cadres—to the city's schools and People's Daily to restore some semblance of order and re-establish party control. The work teams had a poor understanding of student sentiment. Unlike
19162-498: Was destroyed and all resident monks also died in the bombardment done by the Chinese in 1959. Homdong Khangtsang, also spelt ‘Kamcuns’ in Tibetan language, are the main dwelling units or dormitories which house the monks of the monastery; there are thirty-three Kamcuns surrounding the central courtyard. The size of the Kamcuns varied, depending on the strength of monks housed. Monks of the same village are housed together; however each monk
19305-698: Was filmed and shown to approximately 100 million people in its first month of release. On 22 August, a central directive was issued to prevent police intervention in Red Guard activities, and those in the police force who defied this notice were labeled counter-revolutionaries. Central officials lifted restraints on violent behavior. Xie Fuzhi , the national police chief, often pardoned Red Guards for their "crimes". The campaign included incidents of torture, murder, and public humiliation. Many people who were indicted as counter-revolutionaries died by suicide. During Red August, 1,772 people were murdered in Beijing; many of
19448-406: Was independent of Sera Monastery, and from 1960 to the mid-1980s it was controlled by the Chinese. It then came under the control of Sera, whose monks renovated it and are continuing its traditions. This temple is noted for its many shrines, and its blue and carved gold mantra in the hallway, inscribed with words meaning, "Hail to the jewel in the lotus". A number of stone relics were buried during
19591-628: Was initially a three storied building; a fourth floor was added in the 18th century by strengthening the building with a total of 100 columns. It had a statue of the Hayagriva (said to have been sculpted by Lodro Rinchen himself in gilded copper), also known popularly as Avalokiteśvara , which was considered the protective deity of the monastery. This wrathful deity was worshipped as dispeller of obstacles with healing powers. Tokden Yonten Gonpo, worshipped this deity first and on divine injunction initiated his son Kunkhepa, to follow this tradition. Kunkhepa, with
19734-467: Was looked upon as a means of hostile foreign infiltration, as well as an instrument of the ruling class. Clergy were arrested and sent to camps; many Tibetan Buddhists were forced to participate in the destruction of their monasteries at gunpoint. In October 1966, Mao convened a "Central Work Conference", mostly to enlist party leaders who had not yet adopted the latest ideology. Liu and Deng were prosecuted and begrudgingly offered self-criticism. After
19877-571: Was one of the earliest examples of mass arrests, detainments, and killings across all of China that would later be mirrored in the Cultural Revolution. The Great Leap Forward, similar to the Five-year plans of the Soviet Union , was Mao Zedong's proposal to make the newly created People's Republic of China an industrial superpower. Beginning in 1958, the Great Leap Forward did produce, at least on
20020-443: Was partially destroyed by King Langdharma in 841 AD during his campaign to destroy monastic Buddhism; it was rebuilt in the 11th century as a two-storied structure that housed 200 monks. Je Tsongkhapa (1357–1419) lived at the site as a hermit, and it eventually became a scholarly institution. The Fifth Dalai Lama was known to be fond of the monastery and funded the building of an upper floor for Pabonka. Before 1959, Pabonka
20163-516: Was subject to bombardment, which resulted in death of hundreds of monks (in 1959, the count of monks living in Sera Jey was 5629), apart from destruction of ancient texts and loss of innumerable, invaluable, ancient and antique works of art. Many of those who survived (monks and common people) this onslaught by the Chinese fled to India, under severe winter weather conditions, across the Himalayas . Following this mass exodus of people from Tibet (including,
20306-470: Was the first provincial level government overthrown. Provincial governments and many parts of the state and party bureaucracy were affected, with power seizures taking place. In the next three weeks, 24 more province-level governments were overthrown. "Revolutionary committees" were subsequently established, in place of local governments and branches of the Communist Party. For example, in Beijing, three separate revolutionary groups declared power seizures on
20449-527: Was through "the telescope and microscope of Mao Zedong Thought ." While the party leadership was relatively united in approving Mao's agenda, many Politburo members were not enthusiastic, or simply confused about the direction. The charges against party leaders such as Peng disturbed China's intellectual community and the eight non-Communist parties . After the purge of Peng Zhen, the Beijing Party Committee effectively ceased to function, paving
#826173