47 kilometers from Lhasa city of Tibet lies the famous Ganden Monastery. It is located on the southern bank of Lhasa River and stands 12,467 feet above sea level on the Wangbur Mountain. The monastery was built in the early 15th century by Tsong Khapa in his move to reform Buddhism and rid it of the unnecessary evils while maintaining the good points. This new order came to be known as the Gelungpa and the Ganden Monastery is one of the six famous temples of this branch of Buddhism. The Ganden University consists of two major colleges called Jangtse (north peak) and Shartse (East peak). The school is heded by the Ganden Tripa as opposed to the Dalai Lama who heads the Drepung Monstry.The monastery along with the Drepung and Sera monastirers forms the âthree great tempels of Gelungpa .
The Ganden Monastery follows the Dharma principles and its architectural plans are laid out accordingly. The main structure of the monastery comprises of various halls. On the northern side of the monastery is the Coqen Hall which faces southwards. This is the largest hall of the structure and has three floors to it. The main ceremonies and assemblies are held here from time to time. There are many Buddha statues and painting to be found all over the temple. The three Buddha halls with statues of Maitreya Buddha and Tsong Khapa lie adjacent to the Sutra Hall which is capable of housing 3000 people at a time. The Buddhist Guardian hall and the Madala hall are few of the other halls that are to be found in this section of the buildings. The lodging area of Tsong Khapa goes by the name of Tri Thok Khang .The place was built in 1409 and then renovated again in 1720. Today it houses Sitatapatra and Manjushri Bodhisattva statues and also clothes of the great teacher Tsong Khapa. The windows of this hall are beautifully carved and this section was said to be built by bronze bricks. The holy stupa hall called the Serdhung houses the lovely silver stupa built in memory of Tsong Khapa. The body of the great teacher lies surrounded by over 900 teals of silver and covered by gold. There were over 95 such pagodas built in silver from then on to honor the Tripas who passed away.
Lovely jewel studded armor from the Qing era is a huge attraction of the place. There are also gold written sutras as well as ancient tapestry that can be viewed in the area. One of the most amazing pieces of art to be found here is the rather large painting of Buddha surrounded by 16 arhats and four heavenly Kings. All in all, the entire monastery has fifty magnificent halls each of which is a spectacle on its own. Apart from these there are also the living quarters of monks and the debating courtyards that are places of interest. Though the monastery housed the smallest number of monks due to its location being far from Lhasa all the same its importance is high due to the fact that it was the first Gelungpa order monastery.
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source: www.renmenbi.com/ganden-monastery
旺波日山犹如一头卧伏的巨象，驮载着布满山坳、规模庞大的建筑群，充分体现出传统藏传佛教寺院建筑因地制宜，寺庙傍山而立，群楼重叠，巍峨壮观。整座建筑群由佛殿、喇章宫殿、僧院札仓和米村及其附属建筑单元组成。