His Holiness the Dalai Lama visited Drepung Gomang Monastery's Prayer Hall Temple on 29th Dec afternoon, blessing the monks, senior monks and benefactors of the monastery who gathered at the Prayer Hall Temple.

At Drepung Gomang His Holiness was presented with a written report that he looked over. He noted that of the 62 original Gomang monks who came down from Buxa, now only 26 remain. He explained:

His Holiness the Dalai Lama speaking during his visit to Drepung Gomang Monastery in Mundgod, Karnataka, India on December 29, 2014.

“Due to the upheaval in Tibet in 1959 many Gomang scholars were imprisoned by the Chinese. Among the refugees who arrived in India, the Indian government was at first only prepared to support 500 monks. We persuaded them to increase that figure to 1500, so the camp that was set up in Buxa, in Assam, came to house 1300 monks, most of them Gelugpas with some Sakyas. At a low point in Gomang’s fortunes, the Himalayan people rallied to their support, followed after some time by an influx of monks from Amdo and later still by Mongolians. This is a monastery following the Nalanda tradition based on the use of reason and logic. The main thrust of the texts we study is the investigation of the mind, something that today also attracts the interest of scientists.

“Since last year, I have had discussions with Ganden Tri Rinpoche, Sharpa and Jangtse Chöjeys and the Abbots about what we can do to improve things here. We talked again over lunch today. We need to improve our studies and extend ourselves to better serve the people. I’d like to encourage all of you to join in and discuss these things amongst yourselves too.”