| Description |  |
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. |
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