Tibet – where you can touch the sky… Episode 2
Over 40 km away from Lhasa, capital of Tibet, there is the Ganden Monastery, another jewel of Tibetan architecture, built high up on a hill that is gradually being revealed as one climbs. This monastery is the seat of the Gelugpa order whose leader is the Dalai Lama and this is why it was shelled by the artillery in 1959 and 1965. Here we could find the remains of Tsongkhapa, founder of the Gelugpa order and great reformer of Tibet. In 1965, when the Red Guards conquered and destroyed the monastery, the chörten with the remains of Tsonghapa was broken, and, to the general surprise, his body was perfectly preserved as if he had lived, although he had been dead for 550 years. Despite the miracle, the Red Guards destroyed his body, only a few fragments of the skull being saved by a brave monk. Today, these fragments are resting in Tsongkhapa’s new chörten.
