History of Gyuto Tantric Monastery
Jetsun Sherab Senge
Ramosche Temple
Jetsun Kunga Dondrub's Disciples
Admission Procedure
The Monastery's Administration
Present Situation of the Monastery
Annual Activities in the Monastery
The Syllabus and Course of Studies Ngagrampa Studies
Kyerimpa Studies
Tantra and the Role of Gyuto
Monastic Training and Daily Schedule
Individuals who enter the path of monasticism go through a very thorough training of Tibetan Buddhism, with a tremendous focus on ritual arts of tantric Buddhism and monastic discipline. Training begins with reading, writing, and Tibetan literature. They also memorize all the important texts of the vajrayana practice, typically more than 700 pages of the texts. Monks perfect the rituals and arts of music, torma-making, vocal chanting, sand paintings, and other ritual performances. As they develop their studies, later they have a choice to focus on individual practice such as solo retreat and meditation as long as they wish. The Monastery provides all the basic facilities during their practice.
Monks begins around 5:00 am when they either engage in their individual meditation practices, or, for the younger ones, training sessions. Each elder monk trains some young monastics as their pupils and continues to guide them in both learning and daily practice disciplines. During the day, they attend different classes or the monthly ritual practices. Every month, the monastery has one to three weeks of intensive practices based on lunar calendar.
All the monks participate in the following daily, monthly, or weekly practices that are held at the main shrine hall of Gyuto in Tibet or in, India. The full assembly of the monk's community at Gyuto, it depends on the financial support of donors to continue to bring to fruition the vision of Je-Tsun Kunga Dhondup. The Gyuto Monastery is home to over 500 monks for whom the monastery must provide the bare necessities, as well as the education and well being of the younger monks.
