Rakhadrak Hermitage (''Ra kha brag ri khrod'') is a historical hermitage belonging to the

Sera Monastery Sera Monastery ( "Wild Roses Monastery"; ) is one of the "great three" Gelug university monasteries of Tibet, located north of Lhasa and about north of the Jokhang. The other two are Ganden Monastery and Drepung Monastery. The origin of its ...

. It is northeast of Sera and north of

Lhasa Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Region in Southwest China. The inner urban area of Lhas ...

Tibet Autonomous Region The Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, often shortened to Tibet or Xizang, is a province-level autonomous region of the People's Republic of China in Southwest China. It was overlayed on the traditional Tibetan regions of � ...

. It is just up the mountain from the

Keutsang Hermitage Keutsang Hermitage (''ke’u tshang'') is a historical hermitage, belonging to the Sera Monastery, about northwest of Lhasa in Tibet Autonomous Region. The hermitage was in a precariously perched cave once inhabited by the great Tibetan guru Tso ...

History

The historical fame of the hermitage is two-fold. One is that

Tsongkhapa Tsongkhapa ('','' meaning: "the man from Tsongkha" or "the Man from Onion Valley", c. 1357–1419) was an influential Tibetan Buddhist monk, philosopher and tantric yogi, whose activities led to the formation of the Gelug school of Tibetan Budd ...

created there his great classic treatise, "The Essence of Eloquence that Distinguishes Between the Provisional and Definitive Meaning of the Scriptures" (''Drang nges legs bshad snying po''). The second aspect is that a letter, "bearers of the golden letter" (''gser yig pa''), was formally handed over to Tsongkhapa here, brought by a delegation from the Emperor of China. The letter was an invitation from the

Chinese Emperor ''Huangdi'' (), translated into English as Emperor, was the superlative title held by monarchs of China who ruled various imperial regimes in Chinese history. In traditional Chinese political theory, the emperor was considered the Son of Heave ...

to Tsongkhapa to visit his court. In the 18th century, the hermitage was also established by Sgrub khang dge legs rgya mtsho (1641–1713) as a formal monastic institution with twelve ordained monks. The hermitage is also part of the "Sixth-Month Fourth-Day" (''drug pa tshe bzhi'') pilgrimage circuit. An oral account attributes building of the hermitage in the 17th century to a student of the

Fifth Dalai Lama Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso (; ; 1617–1682) was the 5th Dalai Lama and the first Dalai Lama to wield effective temporal and spiritual power over all Tibet. He is often referred to simply as the Great Fifth, being a key religious and temporal leader ...

(''Da lai bla ma sku phreng lnga pa''). It is said that the mother of the Fifth Dalai Lama (''Da lai bla ma sku phreng lnga pa'') was the hermitage's benefactor. Under her patronage the upper temple complex was built as a formal monastery. However, it has also been inferred that the compound wall precincts (with housing complex) of the upper temple was built in the seventeenth century first, with financial support from the members of Dalai Lama's court. During subsequent periods, the hermitage probably came under the control of the Sgrub khang dge legs rgya mtsho when it became a popular monastery.

Structure

The hermitage was built in two segments – the upper and the lower. The lower part, which has an orange hut, had a compound wall where caves of Tsongkhapa (1357–1419), Rgyal tshab rje (1364–1432) and Mkhas grub rje (1385–1438) existed. The “Ganden Feast of the 25th” (''dga’ ldan lnga mchod''), a commemoration of the death-date of Tsongkhapa, used to be observed here at a small hut. This tradition was initiated by Byams chen chos rje (1354–1435), the founder of Sera who lived in the small hut. A small kitchen and a large building (residence for monks) are also seen to the north of the compound wall. The upper part of the hermitage had also a compound where the main temple, a kitchen, a bla ma's residence, rooms for visiting Sera monks existed. A temple to Tsongkhapa was also here, which had thousands of small pressed-clay tablets (''tsa tsa'') of him.

Post revolution period

The hermitage was destroyed during the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...

of 1959. In the 1980s, Sera took control of the hermitage complex. However, rebuilding activity has been sporadic and monastic rituals are not held. Two monks of Sera monastery keep it open for pilgrims.

References

External links

Coordinates
{{Buddhist monasteries in Tibet Chengguan District, Lhasa Sera Monastery Buddhist hermitages in Lhasa