Traditions die if they are not preserved. And along with them dies the history that teaches us invaluable lessons of faith, courage and perseverance. Tibetans may be living in India since decades but the great efforts that they have made to preserve their culture and tradition will surely be etched in the annals of history.
Of their many great efforts, one such outcome is Gyuto Monastery cum Tantric University of Dharmshala.
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The Gyuto story starts in the year 1474, which was the Tibetan year of wood-horse, when a learned Tibetan master started spreading his teachings in the Himalayan region. Many stories of those times tell us that he not only spread his knowledge but also helped the general public through his miraculous deeds. Under the patronage of the King and the erstwhile Dalai Lamas’, his disciples grew manifolds and eventually he established the Gyuto Monastery in Tibet. The monastery became a well known center of Tantric studies which attravted scholars and learners from all across the world.
During the illegal occupation of Tibet by China in 1959, the whole nation was in chaos. A brutal colonizer forced these people out of their own homes. Great masters of Tibet along with their disciples had to flee and settle in different parts of India. Some of the folks at Gyuto Monastery lived in Dalhousie where they worked for survival and yet practiced their tantric meditation to keep the flame burning. A person unsettled from his own home kept his home, his culture alive through his prayers.
Eventually, after being sent from one part of India to another they settled in Dharmshala where the current monastery was built in the year 1996. The Indian Government deserves all the accolades for what it did by supporting the Tibetan cause even if that meant upsetting the Chinese colonizers.
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Today, to see those little monks learning about their culture in a far off land brings a mixed sense of relief and agony. But such are the ways of life. Tibet and its history lives on through these bright little monks and their masters.
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The monastery is primarily a learning center which has a main temple building which serves as the classroom for monks, a library, monk quarters as hostels. The university campus has the great white mountains as its silent guardians in the background. The inside of the temple complex is a unique sight. The bright yellow and brick red color scheme of the University complex matches with the robes that little lamas’ have to wear. There are butter sculptures lit under the statues of deities.
I winder how do they make these butter sculptures and how come they do not perish in the summer heat.
Inside the temple complex
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The University campus, the library and monk quarters.
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I was intrigued to see the library building and a senior monk welcomed me inside but I think these libraries should be left to those who are initiated in the cultural trainings and practices.
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Tomorrow we will visit another great kearning center of Tibetan Culture and meditation