Drepung Monastery
Drepung Monastery, located in the western suburbs of Lhasa about 10 km to the root of uzbek south in the slope of the depression, was built in the year of 1416. Temple monks are more than ten thousand people before liberation and there are more than 540 farms and 141 manors, which makes it the largest temples of Tibetan Buddhism. Featuring the large scale, its rows of white buildings are covered up to the mountain slopes, looking like huge heap, therefore comes the name of “Drepung”, meaning prosperity. It is a monastery with the highest position in the Dge-lugs-pa monasteries. Drepung Monastery was listed as the Tibet autonomous region key cultural relics protection units in the year of 1962 and national key cultural relics protection units in 1982.
Drepung Monastery is one of the six major temples in Shamanism. It is called the “three temples in Lhasa” together with the Ganden Monastery and Sera Monastery. Located in the foot of the Uzbek Mountain, you can take the public city bus no.4, taxi or tricycle to the foot of the mountain and then go a hike for about 30 minutes. Temple Lamas have make activities every week and all monks gather together to chant Buddhist scripture, which makes the scene spectacular.
Drepung Monastery
The continuous maintenance for the Drepung Monastery done by the government makes this famous ancient temple much more solemn and gorgeous and makes it become a Buddhist holy land for Buddhist and tourists to worship from home and abroad. There are thousands of cultural relics and the ancient books collected there, all of these are industrious and intelligent crystallization of the Tibetan people, which play an important role on the study of Tibetan history, religion, art and so on.
Travel tips: 1) Opening time: 24 hours; 2) Ticket price: 45 Yuan/adult; 3) Best time to visit: March to October; 4) Duration: 2-3 hours; 5) How to get there: take the city bus no. 24 and 25 to the Drepung station and then continue 30 minutes walking up the hill.