Monks of Serpom and Shar Gaden

[michaela]

Dear Forum Reader

I would like to ask about the following:
-  If the monks of Serpom and Shar Gaden openly practicing DS and cut off from Tibetan community, where do they get their daily necessities.  Are they well provided for?
-  I saw some novice children monk in Serpom/ Shar Gaden from the video.  They are still in the minority.  Who made the choice for them on whether they are using red or white sticks?

Michaela 

[Mana]

Dear Forum Reader

I would like to ask about the following:
-  If the monks of Serpom and Shar Gaden openly practicing DS and cut off from Tibetan community, where do they get their daily necessities.  Are they well provided for?
-  I saw some novice children monk in Serpom/ Shar Gaden from the video.  They are still in the minority.  Who made the choice for them on whether they are using red or white sticks?

Michaela

Very good questions. Well thought out and tough too. Thanks.

Mana

[Losang_Tenpa]

I am a monk at Shar Gaden. Although the monastery is cut off from the Tibetan community at large, there are still many people around the world who support the monastery.

The monastery is supported much like any other monastery; by contributions from various benefactors. Meeting the various needs of the monastery is a very difficult task. The administrators here work tirelessly to make sure every monk is well taken care of. They do an excellent job.
Those wishing to reach out to assist the monastery can contact the administrator's office directly at -
Email:  [email protected]
[email protected]

[Losang_Tenpa]

Most of the younger monks here at Shar gaden were not forced to take the vote with the sticks.

Many were sent here by their parents to provide an opportunity for their children to get a excellent secular and religious education.

[michaela]

Thank you Losang Tenpa for the insightful reply.  I am so happy to know that the monks are well provided for.  I visited Gaden monastery before it were split many years ago and was very happy there.

I am just curious about the boy monks.  how many are they in Serpom and Shar Gaden?  Why their parents sent these boys to Serpom and Shar Gaden instead of "the mainstream monasteries complying with the ban" knowing that these two great monasteries will receive many kinds of discrimination from Dalai Lama due to the ban?

Kind regards

Michaela

[Losang_Tenpa]

Actually, most of the younger boys here are very well insulated from the discrimination. The youngsters usually do not go very far from the monastery so they are well looked after. They all have a 'house-teacher' who makes sure they are safe and keeps track of their whereabouts.

The parents who send their children here do so much of the time because they know that Shar Gaden and Serpom have top-notch educational programs and have solid reputations as well disciplined monasteries. They also know that many of the renowned Lamas of the Gelug lineage endorse these monasteries.

[Galen]

Thank you Losang Tenpa for the insightful explanation. Now we have heard directly from a monk in Shar Gaden. It is good to hear that the young monks are well taken cared for and sheltered from the discrimination. Also good to hear that parents support these monasteries because of the education system. This will ensure that the young monks will grow up and continue spreading the dharma and Dorje Shugden practices. Inspiring for the parents to send their sons to these monasteries despite the ban and the controversies.

[kris]

Actually, most of the younger boys here are very well insulated from the discrimination. The youngsters usually do not go very far from the monastery so they are well looked after. They all have a 'house-teacher' who makes sure they are safe and keeps track of their whereabouts.

The parents who send their children here do so much of the time because they know that Shar Gaden and Serpom have top-notch educational programs and have solid reputations as well disciplined monasteries. They also know that many of the renowned Lamas of the Gelug lineage endorse these monasteries.

Yes, the "house-teachers" are doing a good job in taking care the young monks. They feed them well, get them books, etc. Each teacher is like having a mini-hostel with a few young monks taken care by him. May be that's why the Guru Devotion is such a natural act when the young monks grow up.

Also, some novice monks said that the young monks come from many different places, such as different provinces of China, India, etc. and they usually travel by train/bus. There are novice monks from the monastery who will assist in bringing the young kids (before they become monk) to the monastery. For example, a parent in China wants to send their 8 years old kid to Shar Gaden, they will meet in China/India border, and the novice monks will bring the kid to monastery.

[Losang_Tenpa]

Actually it is the senior monks who help the youngtsers travel to the monastery. When the last big group of children arrived from Nepal, it was several of the senior monks who traveled to Nepal to meet them and bring them back to the monastery.

[Manjushri]

Thanks or the information, Losang_Tenpa.

I read in one of the forum postings that each young/novice monk is assigned to a senior monk, who would care for, discipline, and teach these young monks. The young monks are the responsibilities of the in-house teacher. I like this system, of having a mentoring program within the monks themselves, because when these young monks grow older, they then have the responsibility to nuture and tutor another new batch of young monks.

Just wondering, how are the senior monks chosen to be the mentor/tutor of these group of young monks? Or is it that all seniors are assigned to nurture some of them?

Thank you Losang Tenpa for the insightful reply.  I am so happy to know that the monks are well provided for.  I visited Gaden monastery before it were split many years ago and was very happy there.

I am just curious about the boy monks.  how many are they in Serpom and Shar Gaden?  Why their parents sent these boys to Serpom and Shar Gaden instead of "the mainstream monasteries complying with the ban" knowing that these two great monasteries will receive many kinds of discrimination from Dalai Lama due to the ban?

In relation to your question, Michaela, I read on a forum post here that there were 103 novice monks that joined Shar Gaden in Sept 2010 (link to post here: http://www.dorjeshugden.com/forum/index.php?topic=1440.0;topicseen).. I am sure that there are more by now.

It is great isn't it, that their parents chose these monasteries to send their boys to, instead of the mainstream monasteries. It is the love of their parents, for choosing something that they believe will be good for their child, and for their educational benefit. I am sure that by sending their children to these monasteries, in light of the ban, all they want is for their child to grow up to become good and respected monks, and maybe their parents see these qualities in the monks, lamas and abbots of these monasteries, so that is why they send their child there. If practising DS was so bad, I don't think any parent would send their child there to be a monk. I feel also that Shar Gaden and Serpom have a good reputation (from their education system, and also the examples of the lamas that hail from these monasteries) therefore they have been chosen by the parents of these novice monks.

[beggar]

More obviously, it could also be that the parents of these children are Dorje Shugden practitioners and their lamas are DS lamas, so they still have tremendous faith in the practice and lineage. However, children of  Dorje Shugden practitioners are also denied education in schools within the Tibetan community. Knowing that the monastery provides excellent education, and coming from a tradition that regards Dharma as supreme, it is a tremendous honour and benefit for their children to be sent to monasteries like Serpom and Shar Gaden.

[Carpenter]

I’ve been to the monastery before some time back, I heard from one of the monk told me that they went out to recruit the young monks, some of the kiddy monk is because their parents are too poor and cannot raise them, so they send them to monastery in view that monastery can take care and teach them to be good person…

This really touched me, look at Shar Gaden, how much difficulties they are having right now and yet, they do not stop helping people, they give whatever they have and teach whatever they know to these kids, how fortunate they are.

If to be young and born in poor family can be sent to monastery, I wish to be in poor family, it will be the most pleasure of mine…

[Big Uncle]

It is very sad to read about the discrimination the monks have to face in the light of all that is happening to the monastic community. It is already a very precious and rare chance to be upholding the Dharma as a monastic. I think it is also doubly courageous and brave of these great individual monastics  who serve to uphold the lineage of their lineage Lamas and Dorje Shugden by taking up the burden of preserving the lineage of Dorje Shugden. I believe these great monks are little lineage holders themselves by carrying the torch of upholding the Dorje Shugden.

[michaela]

in this video footage:
http://dorjeshugden.com/wp/?p=11450

I noted that Kyabje Domo Geshe Choktrul Rinpoche is still in minority.  Does he ended up in Shar Gaden because he voluntarily chose red sticks?  How does he ended up in Shar Gaden?

At the time the red and white sticks are implemented, what was the starting age before someone could make the choice?  How old Kyabje Domo Geshe Choktrul Rinpoche at the time?

With regard to the recognition of new Tulku, does Shar Gaden and Serpom have the same rights to enthrone new Tulkus in their monasteries as compared to the other "non DS" monasteries?  Who will be the approval authority since they are not officially related to HHDL?

[Ensapa]

Hi Lobsang_tempa,

I am wondering how are the conditions of Serpom and Shar Ganden? How do you guys get supplies? Are lay people allowed to stay in the monastery compound and are taken care for and looked after?

As I have seen the lay practitioners of Dorje Shugden are also facing a very hard time continuing life in Dharamsala at the moment. Will the monasteries provide shelter for them? Are the monasteries constantly under attack from the laity as well as the other monks physically? Is everyone well protected?

There are so many incidents of violence by so many fanatics against Dorje Shugden practitioners, so I am quite worried about the safety of the monks and practitioners there. How is everyone faring against the ban? are there a lot of monks coming in because they do not wish to continue to do their practices secretly anymore?