Background
The original Sera Monastery is a complex of structures founded in 1419 by Jamchen Chojey Sakya Yeshe of Zel Gungtang (1355–1435), a disciple of Tsongkhapa. Prior to establishing this monastery, Tsongkhapa, assisted by his disciples, had set up hermitages at higher elevations, above Sera Utse. The Sera complex is divided into two sectors by pathways; the eastern part contains the Tsokchen (Great Assembly Hall) and the Homdong Kangtsang (dwelling units) and the western part has the well known three colleges of the Sera Je Tratsang, the Sera Me Tratsang; and the Ngkapa Tratsang of Gelug (Lama Tsongkhapa) tradition, instituted by Tsongkhapa as monastic universities that catered to monks in the age range 8 to 70. All the structures within this complex formed a clockwise pilgrimage circuit, starting with the colleges (in the order stated), followed by the hall, the dwelling units and finally ending at the hermitage of Tsongkhapa above the Great Assembly Hall.
The Jé and Mé colleges were established to train monks, over a 20 year programme of tsennyi mtshan nyid grwa tshang (philosophical knowledge), which concludes with a geshédge degree. The Ngakpa college, which predated the other two colleges, was exclusively devoted to the practice of tantric ritual (kurim dratsangsku rim grwa tshang). Before 1959, the administration of each college comprised an abbot with council of ten Lamas (LakhachuBla kha bcu) for each college.
Over the years, the monastery developed into a hermitage where about 6000 monks resided (but in 2008 it had only 550 monks in residence). The monastery was one of the finest locations in Tibet to witness the “Monk Debates” on teachings of Buddha and the philosophy of Buddhism, which were held according to a fixed schedule). The monastery belonged to the Gelukpa Order and was one of the largest in Lhasa.
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