Lhasa - Tibet - page 167

Follow the pilgrims clockwise, past the Tsangba Kangtsang ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ) and
Tsowa Kangtsang ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ) residential halls and several minor buildings, to
the Sera Me College. This college dates back to the original founding of the monastery.
The central image of the impressive main hall is a copper Sakyamuni, flanked by Jampa
and Jampelyang. To the rear of the hall are four chapels. To the left is a dark chapel dedic-
ated to the dharma protector of the east, Ta-og (in an ornate brass case and wearing a hat),
alongside Dorje Jigje. Look for the masks, iron thunderbolts and mirrors hanging from the
ceiling. Women cannot enter this chapel. To the left of the entrance is a three-dimensional
wooden mandala used to invoke the Medicine Buddha.
Continue to the central chapel, which contains statues of the Past, Present and Future
Buddhas, as well as 16 arhats depicted in their mountain grottoes.
The next chapel is home to Dagtse Jowo, a central Sakyamuni statue that dates from the
15th century and is the most sacred of the college's statues. At the back are Tsepame and
eight bodhisattvas. The entrance to the chapel is guarded by the protectors Tamdrin (Hay-
agriva; red) and Miyowa (Achala; blue). The last chapel is dedicated to Tsongkhapa and
there are also images of several Dalai Lamas, as well as of Sakya Yeshe (in the left corner
with a black hat), Sera's founder and first abbot.
There are two chapels on the upper floor. The first, after you mount the stairs, is dedic-
ated to Sakyamuni, depicted in an unusual standing form known as Thuwang. The second
is a Drölma chapel with 1000 statues of this protective deity. The third has 1000 statues of
Chenresig, as well as a huge brass pot in the corner.
Sera Ngagpa College BUDDHIST, CHAPEL
( MAP GOOGLE MAP )
A Tantric college, Ngagpa is also the oldest structure at Sera. The main hall is dominated
by a statue of Sakya Yeshe (wearing a black hat), behind the throne, surrounded by other
famous Sera lamas.
There are three chapels to the rear of the hall, the first featuring Jampa and thousand-
armed Chenresig, the second with 16 arhats and a large Sakyamuni statue, and the third
with a statue of the protective deity Dorje Jigje, as well as Namtöse (Vaishravana), the
guardian of the north, to the right, who rides a snow lion and holds a mongoose that