Sera Monastery (Lhasa, Tibet)

The Buddhism debate in Sera Monastery is the “must-see” highlight of this place. And Buddhism debate is a good way for monks to learn the Buddhist knowledge through fierce debate.

Many monks usually gather here in the debate courtyard in the most north of Sera Monastery and wait for the start. You can see one monk sitting there in front of a standing monk who debates in intense words and exaggerated gestures to strengthen the debating heat, and an advanced monk usually has two to several monks of equal level sitting in front. The standing monk comes up with questions, and the sitting one has to answer immediately and cannot ask questions. Till he cannot answer the Buddhist questions, he is announced to be failed on the debate that day. On the next day, they change their “role” and have another fierce debate.

During the debate, the standing monk uses different exaggerated gestures to enhance his power and distract the attention of the answer. A clap of hands means urging for the answer from the other monk, and a pull of the Buddha Beads represents to defeat the other one with the help of the power from the Buddha. You will just find such debate very interesting and really worth to see.

Time: 15:00-17:00, every day, not held on Sunday or special festivals.

There are a series of worth-visiting places in Sera Monastery, which have more than hundreds of years old and stand for the featured style of Gelug Sect of Tibetan Buddhism.

But the Tsochin Hall first built in 1710 is highly recommended to pay a visit, because it is the largest hall of nearly 2000 square meters in Sera Monastery and has a lot to see. Going to Tsochin Hall or called the Main Assembly Hall in the northeast of Sera Monastery, you can see tens of pillars upholding this holy building constructed with rich brass. You will feel very lucky to appreciate the Kanjur in 1410, which is the first printing version of Buddhist text in Tibetan language and is the top treasure of this monastery. What’s more, you can appreciate many vivid statues of Dalai, Bodhisattva, arhats, etc. in exquisite carving. The decorations of jewelries, birds, human beings, etc. of rich Buddhist religious atmosphere make this building more magnificent and fancy.

Apart from that, you can go to the Sera Je College that is the largest Sera’s college to study the Buddhist knowledge and was first built in 1435. Inside is worshipping the statue of Hayagriva who is a protective deity in Tibetan Buddhism and whose name means the “horse head”. This statue is so popular that a lot of people come to Sera Monastery to pay respects to him for blessing and driving away evil forces. Moreover, you can see many stupas and statues in the north part of this palace, especially those of the Past, Present and Future Buddha, and so on.

Since Yongle Emperor in Ming dynasty has given Sakya Yeshe lots of precious items when he returned to Tibet from Beijing in 1416, you can appreciate these historic relics of about 500 years in Sera Monastery, from Buddhist texts, Buddha statues, mafors to gold and silver wares, etc. You can not only see the over 500-year statue of Sakya Yeshe still in bright color, but also appreciate more than ten thousand of gold and brass Buddha statues made in Tibet, brass Buddha statues, classic texts, frescos, Thangkas, and Buddhist musical instruments from India, and many colorful stone paintings expressing the worship of people, and so forth.

Among all the festivals in Sera Monastery, the Sera Bengqin Festival is grant and unique, which means the blessing festival of the “vajry pestle” that is a dagger of exorcism. It is said that in the 15th century, a dagger of exorcism was transmitted from India and on every morning of December, 27 of Tibetan calendar, about during the late January in the Gregorian calendar, it would be sent to Potala Palace and presented for Dalai Lama who would bless this dagger. Then it will be sent back to Sera Monastery, and the Khenpo in Sera Ngapa Collage would bless all the monks and visitors holding this dagger to mean they were all blessed by the Buddha, Bodhisattva, and protective deity. From then, every year on that day, more than 10 thousand believers come to Sera Monastery and wait for the blessing.

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