About the Monastery
Brief History - How the Monastery came to India
The original Drepung Monastery was founded in 1416 near Lhasa, the capital of Tibet.
Gomang Dratsang or College is the oldest of the 4 colleges of Drepung.
In 1959, before the invasion of Communist China, Drepung monastery was home to more than 10,000 monks. Gomang alone had about 5,500. Since its beginning, Gomang College has produced many eminent Buddhist masters and has been a very important Tibetan and Buddhist learning center. Each of the 4 colleges of Drepung has its own area of specialty. Gomang's focus is on philosophy: logic and debate.
In 1949 while the Chinese Communists were attempting to establish control of the Far East, Tibetans were helping to fight the Korean War to stop this domination. At the very same time, however, on the other side of China, the army of the People's Republic of China invaded the county of Tibet.
Unfortunately no one came to the aid of this sovereign territory and by 1959, the political and spiritual leader of Tibet, Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama was forced to flee his country. He was immediately followed by 80,000 refugees. To this day, refugees continue to stream into India from Tibet, some spending several days crossing the Himalayas and facing great risk to their lives.
Since 1949 more than 1.2 million Tibetans have died at the hands of the Communist Chinese. This oppressive government is destroying the environment and culture of Tibet and rapidly displacing the population of Tibetans living under their rule. In many areas of Tibet, Chinese settlers now outnumber the Tibetan population.
The number of Tibetans still living under the Chinese government continues to decline and the number of Tibetan refugees living in protected areas in India is steadily increasing.
These refugees flee the Chinese oppression in hopes of being able to preserve their language, culture and religion and to pass it on to their children.
During the past forty years of their occupation, the Chinese Communists whose motto is "Religion is Poison" have destroyed more than 6,000 of Tibet's monasteries, including the original Drepung, and have imprisoned, tortured, and executed thousands of Buddhist monks and nuns in the process.
Escaping from Tibet:
Only about 100 monks managed to escape with His Holiness the Dalai Lama when he fled Tibet in 1959. They lived first in Boxa, North India, and then, in 1969, 62 of the surviving Gomang monks were given 42 acres of land in Mundgod, South India. There they started to rebuild Drepung Gomang Monastic Dratsang in its present location. Today more than 1800 monks live on these few acres of protected land and since it is the monastery's policy never to turn anyone away, their numbers are steadily increasing!
Locations & Services
Drepung Gomang is located in Mundgod, South India and is part of the larger Doeguling Tibetan settlement of over 16,000 persons.
Besides the monastery, this settlement includes 9 camps for lay people, a Central Tibetan Administration office, 1 school for lay Tibetans, a hospital, a medical center, a nunnery, an old persons home, a bank, a café, and a guest hostel. Gomang Monastery interacts with the larger Tibetan community, teaching the three R's in the school, assisting in the hospital, Old Folks' home, and providing training in Tibetan Arts and Crafts (see Event - Art Tours) for the young people of the settlement while offering employment for the local Tibetan and Indian people. In addition, of course, the monks perform religious ceremonies for the Tibetans. All of these services are performed at no charge to the Tibetan Community.
Income: The income of the monastery comes from a variety of sources: the monks perform pujas or special prayer ceremonies for those who request spiritual assistance. Usually, they receive a donation for their efforts. The monks farm some of their acres growing rice and corn and they have a dairy barn. The monastery operates the café and the guest hostel in the Tibetan settlement and runs a small carpet factory in Nepal and Dehli.
Numbers Increasing: Over the past 10 years the number of monks that escape from Tibet to study at Drepung Gomang Monastery in south India has more than quadrupled. From the original 62 monks the college has grown to well over 1800 and every year an average of 150 new monks arrive. They have great difficulties adjusting to the very hot climate and suffer from a variety of diseases unknown in Tibet.
Many monks have bleeding stomach ulcers caused by the poor water quality. Malnutrition, tuberculosis and dysentery also take their toll on the monks.
Recently, the monastery has established a Community Dispensary staffed by monk volunteers that serves both the monastery and also the greater Tibetan Settlement. The dispensary provides free check-ups and charges a nominal fee for medicine.
Lack of education and adequate amounts of medicine however, often results in the medications not being administered effectively and recurrent outbreaks of these illnesses occur.
Canadian Friends of Drepung Gomang has been established in order to try and provide further assistance and relief to the monastery and all of its inhabitants in hopes of helping to improve their overall living conditions and quality of life.
It is our sincere wish that our organization can continue to provide assistance and support to Drepung Gomang for many years to come while the incredible individuals living there try to preserve and rebuild their culture.
