Larung Gar Buddhist Academy, also known as Serthar Buddhist Academy, is located in Larung valley at an altitude of 4,000 metres above sea level, about 15km from Sertar county, Garze district, East Tibet, in present-day Sichuan Province, known as Kham, China.
Larung Gar Buddhist Academy
The local name of Larung Academy is Serta Larung Five Science Buddhist Academy. The academy was founded in 1980 by Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok, a prominent lama in the Nyingma tradition, believed to be the reincarnation of Terchen Lerab Lingpa, a teacher of the 13th Dalai Lama, in a valley entirely devoid of residents. This site was chosen because, for centuries, it was considered a Vajrayana ground spirit, where the practitioner was said to be able to easily attain high spiritual attainments. Although it is located in a remote and desolate area, Larung Gar has grown from its beginnings as a monastery with only a few lamas residing there into a large and capable Buddhist studies centre. It has had a significant influence on the Tibetan Buddhist community around the world. Larung Gar used to have up to 40,000 monks and nuns and lay monks, and now there are more than 10,000 monks and nuns and laypeople studying here.
The Larung Gar Academy complex is vast. Housing for monks and nuns is spread throughout the valley and surrounding hillsides, and appearing among the houses with these characteristic red roofs are large shrines and lecture halls, places for teaching and collaborative study. There is a high wall in the middle of Larung Gar Academy, separating the area for monks and nuns. The site for monks is called Dai Jinqi, and the site for nuns is called Nu Jinqi. The residences of monks and nuns are almost always made of wood found in this land and are built adjacent to each other.
Serthar Buddhist Academy
One remarkable thing about Larung Gar is that more than half of the monks studying there are women, even though the number of nunneries in Tibet is much lower than that of monks. Another unique feature at Larung Gar is that many students from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia study. The classes here are divided into two groups, one taught in Mandarin for Chinese monks and students and one taught in Tibetan for Tibetans. Larung Gar is known to be home to 40,000 monks, nuns, and lay monks.
In 1999, the New York Times considered the Larung Gar Institute of Buddhist Studies as one of the largest and most influential centres of Tibetan Buddhist studies in the world. For more than three decades, this institute has produced hundreds of outstanding Buddhist scholars and practitioners, who have in turn established various Buddhist centres around the world to spread the Dharma. Because it is located in a remote area far from big cities and the roads are difficult, getting to Larung Gar is a challenging journey. The nearest big city is Chengdu, about 650km from Larung Gar, and it takes up to 15 hours to get there by car. But making up for the arduous journey, visitors will enjoy an impressive Buddhist academy with a unique setting and peaceful atmosphere. However, Larung Gar is also a politically sensitive area, and so it is often restricted to foreigners.
The Serta Larung Five Science Buddhist Academy at Larung Gar — Map
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