Sera Monastery

Sera Monastery, coupled with Ganden Monastery and Drepung Monastery, are known as the "great three"Gelukpa university monasteries of Tibet. The origin of the name “Sera” is not certain, but it may derive from the fact that the original site was surrounded by “Wild Roses” (se ra in Tibetan).

The original Sera monastery is in Lhasa, Tibet, about 5 km (3.11 mi) north of the Jokang in Lhasa. After the Chinese took control of Tibet in 1959, it was reconstituted in Bylakuppe, India, near Mysore.

Features:
Sera monastery is a representative of the Yellow Sect monasteries, also one of the six main temples in the Gelug Sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Sera Monastery was founded in 1419, by Jamchen Chojey (Sakya Yeshe), a disciple of Tsong Khapa.

In the early 18th century, Gushi Khan expanded of the Sera Monastery, making it the six major monasteries of the Gelug Sect. Sera housed more than 5,000 monks in 1959. Although badly damaged following the invasion of Tibet and the Cultural Revolution, it is still standing and has been largely repaired. In 2008, it housed 550 Buddhist monks, but the number dropped to only a handful after the 2008 Tibetan unrest.

Features of buildings:
The main building in the Sera Monastery has Coqen Hall, Mai Ba Zhacang ("Zhacang" means College), stammer Zhacang, Abaza store and 32 Yasumura.

Coqen Hall
The Coqen Hall, which was built in 1710, is a four-storey building in the northeast area of the monastery. The hall has a total of 180 volumes, with an area of 1092 square meters. It can accommodate 5,000 monks chanting at one time. It consists of five chapels which give honor to the Maitreya, Sakyamuni, Arhats, Tsong Khapa, and Kwan-yin with one thousand hands and eleven faces. The delicate Gangyur of Tripitaka in Tibetan is the proudest possession of the monastery. These priceless volumes, the earliest sutras printed by engraving in China, were presented as a gift to Jamchen Chojey by Chengzhu, a Ming Dynasty Emperor.

Zhacang
Zhacang, with mean of Buddhist College in Tibetan, acts as the arena for the monks to study the Buddhist Classics. There are three Zhacangs in the monastery, namely Me Zhacang, Je Zhacang and Ngaba Zhacang. The Me Zhacang, as the oldest Zhacang, was built in 1419 during the Ming Dynasty and features a well-preserved fresco. The Hayagriva in the Je Zhacang displayed is extremely famous throughout Tibet. The Ngaba Zhacang is the smallest and newest arena where one of the monastery's founders, Jamchen Chojey, is worshipped.

Cultural features:
There are large quantities of precious cultural relics and crafts in Sera, such as Buddhist scriptures, Buddhist sculptures, ritual implements, Seng Yi, chi silk, gold, silver, etc.. Those will make you amazing. According to statistics, Sera Monastery has tens of thousands of statues locally produced; there are also many brasses Buddha brought from India. The statue is of great artistic value of art, reflecting the splendid Tibetan religious art.

Tips:
1.Opening Hours: 09:00 to 16:00
2.Recommended Time for a Visit: Two hours
3.Bus Route: It costs 15 to take a taxi to go there, and you can bargain with the taxi driver.