Dordrag Monastery, also known as “Dorjedrag Monastery,” meaning “Vajra Monastery,” is named after the mountain on which the temple is located, which resembles a “vajra” or diamond scepter.
Location
It is located at the peak of the Nyo-rong-gen Mountain in Pelpung (Babang) Township. There are three monasteries on this mountain: the Dordrag Gonpa at the peak, the Kagyu Pa monastery of Palpung in the middle, and the Sakya Pa monastery of Pewar at the foot of the mountain.
Tradition
Dordrag Gonpa is one of the three main monasteries of the Nyingma sect, with the other two being the upper and lower temples of the Dorjedrag Monastery in the Shannan region of Tibet. The middle temple is this Dordrag Gonpa, and the lower temple is at the Jin-Gang Monastery in Kangding.
Brief
Dordrag Gonpa was founded in 1126 AD, originally located at the foot of the mountain. After about 400 years, the head of the Dorje Drak Monastery in Shannan, Renzeng Ngage Wangbu, instructed his disciple Gashang Nixie to move the temple to the mountaintop and expand it, making it an important monastery for the transmission of the “northern transmission of the hidden teachings.”
The founder of the northern transmission of the hidden teachings is Renzeng Godeng (1337-1408 AD), a Nyingma hidden teachings master and one of the three incarnations of the Nyingma Pa founder, Guru Padmasambhava. He once excavated more than 500 “hidden teachings” mainly on “The Great Perfection of Samantabhadra ” in the rocks of Sangsang Lazha Mountain in northern Tibet,
The living Buddhas
The monastery was previously overseen by three living Buddhas: Wuba Renpoche, Gaba Renpoche, and Qinse Renpoche. The previous Qinse Renpoche passed away before the Cultural Revolution and a reincarnation has not been found. Currently, the monastery is overseen by the 5th Wuba Renpoche.
The monastery houses many precious treasures, including the Vajra used by Padmasambhava himself. The murals and thangkas in the monastery were painted by the Tibetan artist Tongla Tsewong.
Leave a Reply