Sitting (left to right):  Geshe Thupten Jamyang (Thinley), Geshe Ngawang Tsondue, Geshe Lobsang Sangye, Geshe Lobsang Kunga

Standing (left to right):  Ven. Dhondup Tsering, Ven. Tempa Phuntsok Ven. Ngawang Lobsang, Mr. Migmar Tsering

In July 2004 the monks of Drepung Gomang Monastery elected New Directors for a three-year term.  Directors act as administrators and supervise all the operations of the monastery--whether it is chanting in the prayer hall or cooking in the kitchen.  The Directors also take charge of the finances of the monastery.

In January 2005, the new Chanzoe were installed and began their duties.  Drepung Gomang's Chanzoe for the next three years are as follows:

Chief Administrator/Treasurer:  Geshe Lobsang Sangye Directors: Ven. Ngawang Lobsang - Treasurer Geshe Logsang Kunga - in charge of tour related work Geshe Thupten Jamyang (Thinley) - in charge of external affairs (passports, permits, etc.) Ven. Dhondup Tsering - in charge of prayers, guest rooms,canteens, community kitchen Ven. Tsoney Gyamtso - in charge of Gomang House, Delhi Accountant:  Geshe Ngawang Tsondue Tibetan Secretary:  Ven. Tenpa Phuntsok English Secretary:  Mr. Migmar Tsering

The 2005-06 Sacred Art Tour is making its finals preparations to tour the USA and Canada.  However, due to visa delays resulting from the tsumani, the tour will begin 6 weeks later than originally planned--departing from India in mid-May instead of the beginning of April.  A revised schedule of events is posted on the web. To view it, please go to Sacred Schedule.

This latest tour focuses on the Sacred Arts of Tibet.  Featured will be a thangka display, exhibit of paintings featuring tradtional Tibetans, and workshops on thangka art, mask making, and sand painting.  The monks will also create sacred sand mandalas at galleries, museums, and health facilities.  In addition, the tour group will present a Cultural Pageant of Tibet with chanting, sacred dances, and a debate presentation.  The pageant will conclude with a slide show of Tibet and its monasteries.  The highlight of this slideshow are never-before-seen pictures of the monks who escaped from Lhasa in 1959.  Photos show how they overcame many difficulties to rebuild Gomang in India in order to maintain Tibet's religious culture.

Khensur Rinpoche Tsultrim Phuntsok, former Abbot of Drepung Gomang, will accompany the tour. Rinpoche will give retreats and teachings on the significance of the sacred art that will be displayed. 

The Sacred Art Tour Group is finishing painting their many projects and taking care of finalizing last minute details. They are looking forward to touring the USA and Canada while displaying their sacred art work and informing the public about the culture of Tibet. 

For more details about the Sacred Art Tour, please go to Description of Tour. 

Library Symposium

The Je Tsong Khapa's Ser ding Drolen (Golden Rosary of Eloquent Saying) Symposium was organized by Drepung Gomang Library from October 15-19 at Drepung Gomang's Prayer Hall. The abbots and ex-abbots of various monasteries and more than 40 scholars from various monasteries participated in this event which lasted for four days.

Half-Year Exams Taken in December

The students at Gomang celebrated the completion of their half-year exams at Gomang School with a special two-day holiday. Monks from the ages of 6 to 18 attend the school where they study English, mathematics in addition to their traditional religious and Tibetan studies. Their two-day holiday was eagerly anticipated by the monks. During this time they enjoyed themselves by playing many games with bats and balls. 

His Holiness the Dalai Lama Visits Nearby Monasteries - December 11 to 28th

In December His Holiness gave teachings on Asanga's Jangsa (Bodhisattava Spiritual Levels/Bodhisattava Bhumi) and Maitreya's Do De Gyan (Ornament of Sutra/Sutra Alamkara) at Sera Monastery. He conferred both the Preparatory and Actual Yamantaka Initiation at Zongkha Chodhe Monastery on December 22 and gave a commentary on the Solitary Yamantaka at Gyudmed Monastery (Lower Tantric College) from December 24-28. Many people, including monks from Drepung Gomang, attended the programs. His Holiness completed his visit to south India with a Long Life ritual for the people. All of the events went very well. 

Tenzin Drolma (Kristel Ouwehand) is a woman from Canada who teaches art and English to students at Drepung Gomang College.  She regularly takes notes on happenings at the monastery and has agreed to share some of them with those persons who may be interested in what occurs during daily life at a Tibetan monastery in south India.

Geshe Ceremonies

As the Tibetan year draws to a close and Losar approaches, the final months of the old year are taken up by the Geshe Dango ceremonies.

To most westerners, a “geshe” is just a monk who has completed his studies, and has the right to wear a yellow band on the upper part of his robes. But the system is far more complicated than that. Traditionally, there were 15 differing geshe titles, including two for laymen – the titles of medicine and astrology called Menramba and Tseramba (the name "geshe" is given only to monks). These titles originally came from various regional traditions. These days Gomang monastery uses mainly the three: Lharim, Khabchu and Dhoram. Lharim is the highest level of geshe, equivalent to a western Ph.D., and is awarded to those who have completed 6 years of Gelug exams in addition to the 15 year monastic course of study. Khabchu and Dhoram are awarded by the abbot after a monk has finished the 15 year course, depending on various things such as how many years of  Gelug exams the monk has taken. After the abbot decides, the awarding of the geshe title is announced in the debate session and that evening, monks from the monk’s hostel, friends and well-wishers will visit the new geshe, bringing kadags and small gifts of money in congratulation.

The new geshe then begins to prepare for his Geshe Dango Ceremony. “Dango” literally means “the action of giving” and is an offering of food, tea and money to all the monks of the monastery, thanking the monastery for bestowing the title of geshe. The dates for the ceremonies are chosen by the monks themselves, consulting astrology for auspicious days. Family and friends who are able to attend are invited, and many even make the long trip from Tibet in order to be there for their relative or friend’s special day. During the ceremony, the new geshe parades with his sponsors behind the head of his hostel, who carries a long pole with 5 large white cotton balls affixed to the end. These symbolize the 5 classes of the 15-year course, and the geshe’s having mastered them. Kadags are offered to the statues of the deities in the prayer hall and protector chapel, to the abbot and finally to all the monks. All the work of the Geshe Dango – the organizing and ordering of supplies and cooking special food to offer to the thousand-odd monks – is done by friends and roommates of the new geshe. According to the monks, it is a cycle of offerings: as one helps others to hold their geshe ceremonies, later the others will help in return.

After all the work and worry of preparing the main Geshe Dango Ceremony is over, the geshe will also offer meals and a small gift of money to the monks of his own khangtsen a few days later. Then all that is left is to prepare for the Geshe Damcha, the final step in the geshe ceremony rituals.

“Damcha” is the term given to the answering in the debate process. During the Geshe Damcha, the date for which is chosen by the abbot, the new geshes from that year will sit in a group at the front of the prayer hall. In turn, each geshe has to answer questions in debate for a day (though the other geshes are permitted to help him answer). This system begins with the highest and most senior new geshe down to the lowest. From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m,, and again in the evening from 7 to 9 p.m., the new geshe will have to answer questions first from the older geshes, then from the lamas and tulkus, and then from the varying class levels of the other monks. The length of time permitted for questions is also determined by the abbot, who oversees the entire proceedings. In this way, the damcha, though technically an exam, is more of a demonstration or exhibition that the geshe has mastered the courses set by the monastery, a proof of graduation, in a sense.

The actual term “geshe” began around the time of Atisha, and translates as “master”. However the tradition of the Geshe Damcha Ceremonies dates back to well before the time of the 5th Dalai Lama and even Milarepa, when a new geshe in Tibet would travel to different monasteries and challenge the monks to debate with him!

If anyone has ever had the chance to watch a Geshe Damcha in progress, he or she may have noticed the geshes taking off and then putting back on their yellow Gelugpa hats periodically, for no apparent reason! The hat is removed in respect when one answers a question wrong, or one’s answer is refuted by proof from a text. It is then put back on for the next question. Another part of the ceremony amusing for onlookers to watch is when the new geshes throws handfuls of sweets or fruit into the aisles of the prayer hall, and the monks dive and grab for them! First, a handful is tossed back towards the altar and the deities, then towards the abbot, and then into the crowds of monks. This is a good omen, a sign of good fortune. Finally, the damcha closes with a dedication of all the accumulated merit, and the new geshe returns to his hostel, where the path to his room has been painted with auspicious symbols and all his friends and classmates will visit with kadags and congratulations.

For the Lharim Geshes, the process is not yet over. They still have to attend another Damcha during the Monlam prayer festival with monks from Gaden and Sera before their Geshe Ceremony rituals are complete. Following the ceremonies, and the celebrations of the New Year and Monlam, all the new geshes go to study tantra in either  Gyuto or Gyumey Tantric colleges for the coming year, and the next lot of potential new geshes applies to the abbot for permission to do their geshe ceremonies. 

Having faith in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, we have the opportunity to accumulate inconceivable merit, to create the cause of enlightenment for oneself and for other sentient beings equaling the infinite sky, by making holy objects and by making offerings to these holy objects.

Success in life generally depends on how much merit a person has accumulated, as does success in particular practices such as the Six Yogas of Naropa in order to achieve the ultimate happiness of liberation and enlightenment, especially enlightenment. The whole of one's success depends on how much merit one has accumulated. The whole question concerns merit, how much merit one has accumulated. To actualize bodhicitta, emptiness, tantra, or even the fundamental realizations of the lam-rim path, you have to be very fortunate, which means you have to have accumulated a lot of merit in the past. So it is wise to attempt to create the cause for success as much as possible in our everyday life.

Manjushri asked Buddha, "One Gone Beyond, now you are the only object to whom sentient beings can make offering. After you pass into the sorrow-less state, what will sentient beings do? How will they accumulate merit when they cannot see Buddha any more? Please advise us."

Buddha answered, "My four followers, there is not one single difference between making offerings to me now and in the future, with devotion, making offerings to my reflections. The merit is equal and the result is equal."

The "four followers" refers specifically to the fully ordained monks, the fully ordained nuns, the getsuls and the getsulmas, the disciples closest to Buddha, but generally it includes all of us sentient beings who do not have the karma to see the actual living Buddha. We have only the karma to see Buddha's reflections: the symbolic representations of Buddha, such as statues, paintings and so forth.

Buddha is saying that even though we cannot see the actual Buddha, if we make offerings to these holy objects symbolic of Buddha, the merit is equal to that of actually seeing Buddha and making offerings. It is not that the merit of those who met Shakyamuni Buddha in ancient times and were able to make offerings to him is not more than that of offering merely to a statue of Buddha. The result is exactly the same. This is very important to understand and very important to remember in our daily life. When we offer our food and drink, when we make offerings on the altar, whenever we do the practice of offering in our everyday life, we should feel great happiness.

Then Buddha said, "This is due to the blessings of Buddha. This is the reality but ordinary beings whose minds are undeveloped cannot see these benefits."

"This is due to the blessings of Buddha" means that making offerings to statues has the same result due to the power of the holy object. Further reasons as to how the benefits of making offerings to Buddha and the statues of Buddha are the same are mentioned in the Guhyasamaja root text. 

Then it says, "A stupa (Tib. chorten) is a palace where all the Buddhas are abiding." So this is the same with a monastery. The benefits exist as long as the monastery exists. And also the benefits you receive equal the number of atoms of the stupa or monastery. You do not necessarily have to build a monastery. Building even one shrine room—a place where Buddha abides, where holy objects of Buddha abide—has many benefits. It's important to understand these benefits of the holy objects, the various opportunities we have to create the cause of happiness by accumulating extensive merit with these holy objects.

The text says, "Those sentient beings who do not have the fortune actually to meet the Buddha need the holy objects of body, speech and mind as the field in which to accumulate merit. These holy objects are necessary."

The existence of Buddha's teachings for a long time depends on the existence of the holy objects of Buddha. The teachings exist in the mind so how can they depend for their existence on the existence of these external holy objects? You have to think about this, you have to understand this. It is not easy to have the teachings in the mind. To have the scriptural understanding and the realizations of the teachings is not easy. For these, you need to have a lot of merit. The most powerful merit one can accumulate, and accumulate so easily, is in relation to holy objects of Buddha. By making statues of Buddha and making offerings to statues of Buddha, one accumulates infinite, inconceivable merit that immediately becomes a cause of enlightenment. Every merit accumulated by making statues and by making offerings to statues immediately becomes the cause of enlightenment. Without doubt, every single one becomes a cause of enlightenment.

By accumulating such infinite merit in this way, one is able to develop the mind, one is able to understand the teachings, one is able not only to attempt the practices of listening to, reflecting and meditating on the teachings, but to complete them. All this has to come from merit. So you can see how the existence of the teachings for a long time depends on the existence of the holy objects. The existence and flourishing of the teachings depend on the existence of the holy objects.

Buddhism has started in the West only recently. Because one sees the problems of life, there is much desire for mind-peace, and this longing leads to much interest in meditation. This is common among Westerners. But because Buddhism has just started in the West there is not so much regard for holy objects. In countries where Buddhism is established, especially Mahayana Buddhist countries such as Tibet and Nepal, much effort is put into creating many conditions for oneself and others to accumulate merit actualizing holy objects, in those countries everybody, whether great yogis, Sangha or lay practitioners, puts effort into this way of accumulating merit for the self and so many other sentient beings. Other sentient beings also accumulate merit by making offerings to or circumambulating these holy objects.

This is why these countries have so many holy objects: so many monasteries, so many stupas, so many statues. For example, sight-seeing in Tibet is only a cause to purify and to accumulate merit because wherever you go you see only holy objects: statues, scriptures, yogis' caves.

Gradually, as you understand lam-rim and especially the practice of Jorcho more and more, the more you see the importance of holy objects, not only for your own happiness but for the many benefits they bring to so many other sentient beings. With these holy objects, they create the cause of success and happiness. Because these holy objects exist, sentient beings make offerings to them, pray to them. This helps them to create the cause of happiness, and this is how they experience happiness up to the highest happiness of enlightenment. Because the temporary and ultimate happiness of yourself and others depends on the existence of holy objects, there is a purpose in making them.

From now on each issue of our newsletter will note the donors who have contributed to our projects and indicate how their contribution has been utilized.  In this manner, we can keep you up-to-date on what progress is taking place at the monastery to improve the living conditions of the monks and can inform you about the most immediate concerns that need to be dealt with.

In this issue we are noting the contributions made by donors since August 2004. Donors are listed in alphabetical order. Contributions ranged from $5 to $4,400. Each one is gratefully appreciated. If you made a donation during this time period (August 2004 through January 2005) and were not mentioned, please accept our apology and contact us so we can correct this mistake.

(We are grateful to all those wonderful coordinators, sponsors, and individuals who made donations during the Drepung Gomang 2003-05 tour: September 3, 2003 to July 9, 2004. However, this newsletter does not include this time period.)

All donors will continue to be remembered in the prayers of the monks.