Sera monastery,
|
China
Sera monasteryVisited: April 2007 More pictures of Sera monastery:
These pictures have been tagged with the following tags (clicking on the tag will take you to all pictures on this site with that tag) Asia asian buddhist China face hat man red Sera Sera monastery yellow building hill temple blue clouds gold white square trees grey street green horse orange brown black window painting purple rock towerSearchSearch pages at Traveladventures.org Go directly to:Travel picturesYou can travel the world using images - select your preferred language below:  |  |  |  |  |  MailinglistIf you want to be updated regularly about new stories and pictures: Google EarthClick your way around China with pictures (needs Google Earth software) Visual GeographyAdvertiseIt is possible to advertise on this travel site. Travel advertisers, ask for more information! SurveyIs there a difference between a traveler and a tourist? View Results |
When I cycled from Drepung monastery to Sera, I tried to discover Sera at the foot of the mountains to my left, but I could not see it, for the view was obscured by the new buildings of the ever expanding outskirts of Lhasa. It was only when I was already quite close to it that I first saw Sera monastery, comfortably lying at the feet of the mountains in which I could see other, smaller monasteries and religious objects. Sera monastery literally means "enclosure of roses"; according to legend, the hill behind it was covered in roses when the monastery was built. What had been a nice ride for me, was in fact going from one of the two major Gelugpa monasteries of Lhasa to the other, two competitors, with a different history. After entering, I immediately realised they also had a different atmosphere. Very different.
Upon entering, I left the main street dividing Sera monastery area in two, and turned left. Almost immediately, I found myself walking abandoned streets and alleys, and for the first time I saw prayer wheels completely untouched by pilgrims. I entered courtyards of barracks that seemed empty and gave the impression they had been empty already for a long time. I sat down, waiting for someone to show up, to see monks, but in vain. Instead, I heard doors and bells tingling softly slamming in the wind. It felt like being in a ghost town, the run down and evidently not well maintained buildings, some of them several stories high, without a sign of life, not even a cat or dog. But that feeling was not at all eerie, I actually liked it a lot. There was not the usual monk business going on, there was no visitor in sight, and for a while, I had the feeling that famous Sera monastery, once home to some 5000 monks and one of the main monasteries for Tibetans, belonged to me.
It also made clear what impact the Chinese invasion had had here: this once thriving monastery, with a history going back to the early 15th century, with several different colleges within its walls, seemed virtually wiped out. Looking for the several hundreds of monks currently residing here, I found them at the debating courtyard. After the silence of the rest of the monastery, the contrast could not have been bigger. Monks fiercely defending their point, debating with fire, in small groups on the stoney courtyard, covered by trees in which spring had just arrived. A lengthy service made the monks join in a circle, at the end of which they all put on their yellow hats again - an amazingly beautiful sight. After the service, the monks just continued their debating session, a noisy affair, in which one monk stands in the middle of a group, and monks are constantly debating in a fierce way, supporting their point by clapping their hands. A fascinating spectacle. Afterwards, as the sun was already on its way to setting, I scrambled up the hills above Sera monastery, offering great views over the monastery and the surroundings, as well as the Potala palace.
