| Description |  |
 |
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. |
See the tabloid
