Founded in Shigatse, Central Tibet, by the First Dalai Lama in 1447, Tashi Lhunpo is the seat of the Panchen Lamas. It is one of the four great monasteries of the Gelugpa (or Yellow Hat) tradition and is renowned for its scholarship in Mahayana Buddhist philosophy and the Tantric tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.
The Chinese occupation of Tibet in 1959 and the Cultural Revolution from 1966–80 wreaked destruction on the great monastic institutions, including Tashi Lhunpo, which lost many of its precious scriptures, statues and images. Of the 6,000 monks in the monastery, only a few were able to follow the Dalai Lama into exile. Twenty senior monks undertook the perilous trek across the Himalayas to India, and in the early 1970s, under the patronage of the present Dalai Lama, Tashi Lhunpo Monastery was re-established near Mysore in the southern Indian state of Karnataka.
Occupying a central position in the Tibetan settlement of Bylakuppe, the monastery is now home to over 400 monks, and has once again regained its reputation as an important centre for learning and for the preservation of the culture and traditions of Tibetan Buddhism.
In 2003 the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery UK Trust was established to support the monastery and to organise a series of regular tours aimed at bringing their unique monastic culture to the West, helping to ensure its survival. The Trust’s Patron is His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Monks from Tashi Lhunpo have toured extensively, playing to capacity audiences in theatres, arts centres and at festivals worldwide. Highlights include Glastonbury Festival, the Manchester Arena (2012), The Deloitte Ignite Festival in The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and Edinburgh Festival Fringe Transcender Festival at the Barbican Centre, Cheltenham Music Festival, WOMAD and on London’s South Bank. They also regularly work with rural touring networks throughout the UK and extensively in Scotland, Northern and Southern Ireland offering workshops and exhibitions in addition to performances. In Europe they have toured in Germany, Poland, Italy, Czech Republic, Latvia, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, Norway and Portugal and gave a performance at the Konya Mystic Music Festival and at the Jerusalem Sacred Music Festival in 2013.
The Monks have recorded a number of critically- acclaimed albums including Dawn Till Dusk (2008), Time of the Skeleton Lords (2010), Wisdom & Insight (2012), 17 Golden Greats (2014) and Calm Abiding (2019). They have also helped to bring enlightenment to smartphones and tablet computing with a set of Eight Auspicious Ringtones (iPhone/Android) featuring ritual Buddhist instruments from antiquity.
Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=2XPrA_6EyZo
