Shar Gaden Monastery

In this picture, you can see a Buddhist monk taking an exam in the prayer hall of the new Shar Gaden monastery. On the throne is a picture of Venerable Trijang Rinpoche, the root Guru of the 14th Dalai Lama until the Dalai Lama rejected him. Trijang Rinpoche is the source of almost all the Dalai Lama's popular Dharma teachings in the East and the West. In the shrine cabinet behind this, to the right, there is a picture of Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, the founder of the New Kadampa Tradition, which is dedicated to preserving and passing on the tradition of Je Tsongkhapa as transmitted through the great Je Phabongkhapa and Trijang Dorjechang.

Gaden monastery was founded around October 22, 1409. Exactly 600 years later, around October 22, 2009, Shar Gaden monastery opened through the kind support and assistance of sincere Gelugpa practitioners. This was after the 14th Dalai Lama separated Tibetan society from Je Tsongkhapa's pure Gelugpa tradition and expelled hundreds of Buddhist monks who did not agree with his ban on the practice of Wisdom Buddha Dorje Shugden. This is the monastery to which the head of the Gelugpa tradition, the 101st Ganden Tripa, recently defected.

Prayers to Wisdom Protector Dorje Shugden taken from Heart Jewel:

"May the glorious Gurus who uphold this tradition
Have indestructible lives, as stable as the supreme victory banner;
May they send down a rain of deeds fulfilling the wishes of disciples,
So that Je Tsongkhapa's doctrine will flourish.

Through increasing the study, practice, pure discipline, and harmony
Of the communities who uphold the stainless doctrine of Buddha,
And who keep moral discipline with pure minds,
Please cause the Gedan (Gelugpa) tradition to increase like a waxing moon."