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  • Gordon Dumoulin

World's largest Buddhist Academies....

"City of the Sky" and "City of the Nuns"; world's largest Buddhist Academies



Garzรช Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the west of ๐—ฆ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐˜‚๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ is home to two of the largest Buddhist schools in the world.


๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐—ฎ ๐—ช๐˜‚๐—บ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—•๐˜‚๐—ฑ๐—ฑ๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—”๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐˜†, also known as Larung Gar is located in the Larung valley in Sertar County and was founded in 1980 by Jigme Phuntsok, Nyingma lama and Terton from Sertar County.






๐—ฌ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—š๐—ฎ๐—ฟ ๐— ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜†, also known as Yaqen Orgyan Temple is situated in Baiyu County, about 100-150 km south-west from Larung Gar. The monastery was founded in 1985 by Lama Achuk Rinpoche.





Both academies are located at an altitude of about 4,000 meters and home to thousands of monks, nuns and students. While the Seda Wuming Buddhist Academy is often called โ€œ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐—ธ๐˜†โ€ because of the altitude, Yarchen Gar Monastery is sometimes called โ€œ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ป๐˜‚๐—ป๐˜€โ€ as nuns make up a large proportion of the population.





The Seda Wuming Buddhist school is renowned for students from China and abroad while Yarchen Gar is especially known for its meditation practices. A unique meditation practice in Yarchen Gar are little white huts scattered in the hills around the monastery and community where nuns will stay in solitude and meditate 24/7 for up to 100 days. Only leaving for necessary toilet breaks, food and drinks are brought to them by fellow nuns.





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