Ralung Monastery

Ralung Monastery (Wylie: ra lung dgon), located in the Tsang region of western Tibet south of Karo Pass, is the traditional seat of the Drukpa Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. It was founded in 1180 by Tsangpa Gyare, 1st Gyalwang Drukpa, a disciple of Lingje Répa (Wylie: gling rje ras pa) who founded the Drukpa Lineage.^[1]^[2]

Ralung is one of the most sacred places in Tibet, for it is here that the great Dugpa school of red-hat monks originated, a school still influential with numerous adherents in Southern, Northern, and Eastern Tibet, and in Bhutan, which latter country is, in fact, called Dugpa owing to the preponderance of this sect. The Ralung-til, the head monastery of the Dugpa, is to the south-east of this village. This monastery owes its name to the fact that it is surrounded by mountains as the heart (mt'il) of a lotus is by the corolla.^[3]

^ Gyurme Dorje (2004). Footprint Tibet. Bath: Footprint Handbooks. p. 266. ISBN 1903471303.
^ Dowman, Keith. 1988. The Power-places of Central Tibet: The Pilgrim's Guide, pp. 268–269. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London and New York. ISBN 0-7102-1370-0.
^ Lhasa and Central Tibet, p. 129. (1902). Sarat Chandra Das. Reprint 1988: Mehra Offset Press, Delhi.

[1] Gyurme Dorje (2004). Footprint Tibet. Bath: Footprint Handbooks. p. 266. ISBN 1903471303.

[2] Dowman, Keith. 1988. The Power-places of Central Tibet: The Pilgrim's Guide, pp. 268–269. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London and New York. ISBN 0-7102-1370-0.

[3] Lhasa and Central Tibet, p. 129. (1902). Sarat Chandra Das. Reprint 1988: Mehra Offset Press, Delhi.

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