Drakri Hermitage is a historic hermitage in

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...

, belonging to

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 located about northeast 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 ...

, on a mountainside.

Structure

The hermitage grounds consists of five sections: *Main temple compound, renovated around a courtyard and comprising: **Temple **Kitchen **Monks' living quarters *Terraced complex: Formerly stables and living quarters, now in ruins *Building foundations: Formerly monks' living quarters, also in ruins *Stable for dzo (a yak–

cow Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...

hybrid) *Huts: Nuns' living quarters

History

While the hermitage (whose name derives from ''brag ri'', meaning "crag" or "gorge") is believed to have been founded during the 18th century, little documentation of its early history exists. In 1959, the monks were evicted and Drakri converted into a prison with a reputation for severity.Tibetan and Himalayan Library
Retrieved 2011-12-01. With the expansion of other prisons in Lhasa, Drakri was eventually abandoned. During the 1980s a representative of a rival sect to that of the original owners (headed by the Bari Lama) began restoration work on the hermitage to convert it to a

Nyingma Nyingma (literally 'old school') is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It is also often referred to as ''Ngangyur'' (, ), "order of the ancient translations". The Nyingma school is founded on the first lineages and transl ...

practice center. In response to objections raised by a representative of the previous owner (who was, however, unable to renovate the estate himself), the Nyingma devotee has asserted that he is renovating the hermitage in stewardship rather than ownership.

Footnotes

{{coord missing, Tibet Sera Monastery Buddhist hermitages in Lhasa Nyingma monasteries and temples Chengguan District, Lhasa