Namgyal Monks
History of Namgyal Monastery
In 1575 Sonam Gyatso, the Third Dalai Lama, officially founded a monastery, which later came to be known as Namgyal Dratsang (Victorious Monastery). Since its inception, the monastery has assisted the Dalai Lamas in their public religious activities and performed ritual prayer ceremonies for the welfare of Tibet. From the beginning, the monastery has been a center of learning, contemplation and meditation on the vast and profound Buddhist treatises. Namgyal monastery is nonsectarian and maintains ritual practices and teachings of the four main lineages of Tibetan Buddhism.
Namgyal Monks in Exile
After the Chinese invasion of Tibet and the 1959 popular uprising, His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama and one hundred thousand Tibetans fled to India and Nepal, among them 55 monks from Namgyal. Namgyal Monastery was re-established just outside the residence of His Holiness in Dharamsala, India, where the Namgyal artistic and intellectual traditions are being preserved and continued today.
As it was in Tibet, the novice monks must first pass a series of challenging entrance examinations and, if accepted, undertake years of study. Because it is the private monastery of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the monks have less personal time, they require a more streamlined study program focusing on the essentials of sutra and tantra. In relation to these special requirements, His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama has introduced many innovations, including a new syllabus and program of study, which has become a model for other Tibetan monasteries.
In addition to the intensive program of study, students debate and are instructed in the creation of sand mandalas, butter sculpture, ritual performance, music, chanting, dance and basic literary skills in Tibetan and English. The program takes thirteen years to complete, at which time a "Master of Sutra and Tantra" degree, which is unique to Namgyal, is bestowed upon those who successfully pass the final examinations. Each monk must also complete a two to three month meditation retreat for each of the principal deities and protectors, in order to qualify to perform their rituals. The cycle of required retreats might take up to six years to complete.
Namgyal – Cultural Ambassadors to the West
The opportunity to accompany the Dalai Lama on his visits abroad has enabled the Namgyal monks to participate in numerous presentations of Tibetan sacred art and dance in the United States, Europe and Japan. In the summer of 1988, monks from Namgyal Monastery created a sand mandala at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Over 50,000 people came to watch this process during the six week demonstration.
Historically, the creation of sacred sand mandalas was always carried out in secret but the Dalai Lama has now given permission for the public to witness these sacred arts. In the summer of 1989, Namgyal monks assisted His Holiness with a Kalachakra initiation in Los Angeles. While one group of monks performed the preliminary rituals, including the creation of a sand mandala and two ritual dances, another group of four monks created a duplicate mandala at the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History.
Since then Namgyal monks have created sand mandalas at other museums and galleries, including the San Francisco Asian Art Museum, the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University, the IBM Gallery in New York City, setting records for attendance at many locations.
For more information about the Namgyal monastery, go to www.namgyal.org