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The main image at the front of the hall is Maitreya seated on a huge golden throne. To the left is a stupa containing the relics of the Ninety-Fifth Ganden Tripa, the titular head of the Gelukpa order. To the right is a statue of Sitatapatra, in front of whom are Shakyamuni Buddha and Ling Rinpoche, who was the Ninety-Seventh Ganden Tripa. After Sitatapatra come Tsongkhapa, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, Jamyang Chöje (the founder of Drepung), a youthful Seventh Dalai Lama, then the Third, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and Eighth Dalai Lamas. The Sixteen Arhats are placed in two groups of eight at each end of the altar.
The steps to the left of the central Maitreya statue lead into the main chapel. This is a high-ceilinged, spacious room that is one of the oldest structures in Drepung; the assembly hall was added on at a later date. The chapel is dedicated to the Buddhas of the Three Times.
The Eight Great Bodhisattvas line, the walls, and the wrathful forms of Vajrapani and Hayagriva guard the doorway. Nine stupas modeled on the stupa in India where Buddha Shakyamuni first taught the Kalachakra tantra, the Shri Dhanyakataka stupa, are arranged along the wall at the back. The name "Drepung" is the Tibetan translation of Dhanyakataka, which literally means "rice mound." This name well describes the first visual impression one receives of the monastery when approaching it from the main road below, although when construction of the monastery first began it probably consisted of only a handful of buildings and was yet to resemble a mound of rice.
A doorway at the front left of the main hall leads to a protector chapel dedicated to Pelden Lhamo, whose statue (usually covered with offering scarves) is to the left of an ornate "palace" of the deity made of thread in a tall cabinet at the end of the room.
The Upper Story
None of the chapels on the second floor is open. On the third floor the main chapel reveals the exquisite head and shoulders of a giant statue of Maitreya at the age of eight, the base of which is in one of the closed chapels on the floor below. This image is called "The Maitreya Who Fulfills Your Wishes on Beholding Him."
Stairs to the left of this chapel lead to a chapel dedicated to Shakyamuni. Thirteen stupas are found arranged to either side of the Buddha. At the far end of the room is a high wooden throne with the Fifth Dalai Lama.
Leaving this chapel by the far door brings to a chapel with an image of Maitreya (Miwang Jampa) at the age of twelve. To the left is Tsongkhapa and to the right Jamyang Choje, between whom are White Tara, Togme Zangpo, Seu Rinzen (founder of the Tara chapel in the Jokhang), and Namgyelma. Behind these statues are four stupas. From the left they contain the remains of Panchen Sonam Drakpa, Jamyang Chbje, and Gendun Gyatso, the Second Dalai Lama. The fourth is a Medicine Buddha stupa. The remains of the Third and Fourth Dalai Lamas are also enshrined in stupas in this building, but traditionally these have never been open to the public.
The next room is the Tara Chapel, which dates back to the time of the Fifth Dalai Lama. There are three images of Tara side by side encased behind glass. The image on the left is Nartang Chime DrSlma, the Tara responsible for preserving Drepung's drinking water; the middle image is Yamdrok Yumtso Drôlma, the Tara responsible for Drepung's wealth and prosperity; and the image to the right is Gyeltse Tsechen Drolma, the Tara who empowers Drepung with authority. A superb 114- volume edition of the Kangyur, commissioned by the Fifth Dalai Lama, bound in sandalwood with ivory ends and written in gold ink, is enshrined along the wall. This edition was stolen by the Chinese in 1959 and returned to Tibet only in 1985. A statue of Prajnaparamita, the "Mother of the Buddhas," sits midway between these volumes, holding in her lap an amulet containing a tooth of Tsongkhapa. Three standing cases down the middle of the room contain examples of the casings and text of this edition of the Kangyur as well as a volume from another edition painted in red ink on a continuous sheet of paper.
It is possible to ascend yet one more story to the level of the roof, where are three more chapels. To the left is a large room containing statues of all the rulers of Tibet, from the earliest kings to the later Dalai Lamas. The Fifth Dalai Lama sits on a raised throne at the center of the back wall, and there seems to be no particular order in the arrangement of the other images. The statues are nonetheless well made and expressive. There is also a small Maitreya Chapel, which possesses the conch shell reputedly donated to the monastery by Tsongkhapa, as well as a Shakyamuni Chapel that contains an image of the Buddha surrounded by about fifteen stupas.
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