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| Reting Monastery |
Reting Monastery is the ancestor temple of the Kadam Sect, which had the origin from Atisha and was formally established by Atisha's disciple, Drom Tonpa. After Atisha's death, Drom Tonpa inherited the noted monk's teaching role and preached Buddhism at Reting and had the Reting Monastery built there in 1056. Using the monastery as his base, he gradually brought the Kadam Sect into being. As the sect put stress on the preaching of retribution of kindness and evildoing","cause and effect" "transmigration"and keeping aloof from living and death? it rapidly developed with temples and monks spreading all over Tibet. In the beginning of the 15th century, Tsongkapa founded Gelug Sect on the base of the teachings of the Kadam Sect as well as his own accomplishments on the esoterica and exoteric. So we may say Kadam Sect is the preexistence of Gelug Sect, and the latter is the further development of the former. Reting Monastery converted to Gelug Sect along with its establishment.
With an area of about 25 mu (1 mu = 667 sqm), Reting Monastery is located within the territory of Puduoqu area of Lingzhou County. The two-storey assembly hall faces the north and has an area of about one mu. The first floor is the grand scripture hall, a place for various Buddhist meetings. Around it are some chapels containing Buddha statues and sutras. The outer wall of the chapels is a stony wall and the inner serves as bookshelves for Buddhism scriptures. The second floor holds some bedchambers for Dalai and regent king and some high-ranked officials when they went on a tour of inspection. The temple is located at the mountainside. Nearby are ancient cypresses and rolling brooks.
The temple was partly ruined by the earthquake in 1951 and wholly destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. The difference of the organizing structure between Reting Monastery and other temples of Gelug Sect lies with that no basic administrative units are set up but all the monastic authority is in the hand of the Reting Living Buddha. The system of reincarnating Living Buddha came into being only after the monastery converted to Gelug Sect in the 16th century. One khenpo is appointed to take care of the monastic affairs on the Living Buddha's behalf, with an uncertain term. Inferior to khenpo is jimi, who is in charge of finance of the temple with a term of 3 to 4 years. Then one gegui is set up to regulate the monastic disciplines and entitled to dispose any monk in the temple, with a term of one year. The learning system in Reting Monastery is based on the Atisha's teaching, which emphasizes on set steps through meditation, monastic disciplines and organization. The main scripture for study is the Six Treatises of Kadam. After it has converted to Gelug Sect, much of the teachings of Kadam Sect remained. |
| next : Sera Monastery |
| Before : Rera Yungdrung Ling Monastery |
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