Kharnang Monastery

Kharnang monastery is a Buddhist monastery situated at a close distance to the northwest of Lhobasha village which is to the east and at 4-hours drive by horse to the city of Karze (Garzê) in the Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan, China, located in the historical Tibetan region of Kham.[1]

Kharnang monastery
Religion
AffiliationTibetan Buddhism
Location
LocationLhobasha, Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan, China
CountryChina
Location within Sichuan
Geographic coordinates32°58′18″N 100°04′41″E

History

The monastery comprised 450 monks including lamas in the 1950.[2]

In 1955, persecutions by the Chinese authorities started in Kharnang monastery, leading some monks to commit suicide rather than break their vow of celibacy.[3]

In the spring of 1956, the lands and herds belonging to the monastery were seized during the first of the democratic reforms. Consequently, the monks were forced to work in the fields.[4]

In 1979, Adhe Tapontsang, a former Tibetan prisoner released in 1985 and now living in exile in Dharamsala, was allowed to visit her native place for two weeks. She discovered that the Kharnang monastery, as well as Karze Day-tshal monastery and De Gonpo Temple was completely destroyed and plundered, sometime during the Cultural Revolution.[5]

In 1981, the re-institution of the moanastery was authorised by the government.[6]

References
  1. The Voice That Remembers: A Tibetan Woman's Inspiring Story of Survival, Adhe Tapontsang as told by Joy Blakeslee, Wisdom Publications, Boston, MA, 1997, p. 14.
  2. Adhe Tapontsang, op. cit., p.14.
  3. Adhe Tapontsang, op. cit., p. 59.
  4. Adhe Tapontsang, op. cit., p. 62.
  5. Adhe Tapontsang, op. cit., p. 192.
  6. Kharnang Developmental Projects, dottywood.org.
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