Rongbuk Monastery

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Mount Everest as seen from the Rongbuk Monastery.

Rongbuk Monastery (Tibetan: རྫ་རོང་ཕུ་དགོན་; Wylie: rdza rong phu dgon; Chinese: 絨布寺; pinyin: Róngbù Sì) is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery of the Nyingma sect in Basum Township^[1], Dingri County^[2], Xigazê Prefecture of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, China. It houses thirty Buddhist monks and thirty nuns.^[3]

1 Location
2 Architecture
3 History, religious and cultural significance
4 References

[edit] Location

Rongbuk monastery lies by the foot of the Rongbuk Glacier at 5,100 metres^[4]; it is the highest monastery in the world. It is only 200 metres lower than the north side base camp of Mount Everest. The monastery is accessible today via vehicle by means of an undeveloped road. Prior to this, explorers such as George Mallory and Sandy Irvine had to walk for five weeks from Darjeeling, in the Indian foothills of the Himalaya, to reach this location.

Climbers must pass through Rongbuk in order to reach the highest peak of Mount Everest via the North Face. It has been described as having some of the most dramatic views in the world, presenting a panorama of the Shishapangma, Mount Everest, Cho Oyu, and Gyachung Kang peaks to visitors. One of the first British explorers to see it, John Noel, described it: "Some colossal architect, who built with peaks and valleys, seemed here to have wrought a dramatic prodigy—a hall of grandeur that led to the mountain."^{[citation needed]}

Often shrouded in clouds and mist, the great peak was alternately described as "a preposterous triangular lump" (by George Mallory) and "a glittering spire of rock fluted with snow" (by Noel Odell), with "an imposing head of granite and ice," (Noel) and it looms large over the Rongbuk glacier, shining white at its feet.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Architecture

In front of the Monastery, there is a large, round, terraced chorten containing a reliquary.

[edit] History, religious and cultural significance

The Rongbuk Monastery was founded in 1902 in an area of meditation huts that had been in use by monks and hermits for over 400 years. Hermitage meditation caves dot the cliff walls all around the monastery complex and up and down the valley. Many walls and stones, carved with sacred syllables and prayers, line the paths.

The founding Rongbuk Lama, also known as the Zatul Rinpoche, was much respected by the Tibetans. Even though the Rongbuk Lama viewed the early climbers as "heretics," he gave them his protection and supplied them with meat and tea while also praying for their conversion. It was the Rongbuk Lama who gave Namgyal Wangdi the name Ngawang Tenzin Norbu, or Tenzing Norgay, as a young child.^{[citation needed]}

In previous times, the Monastery became very active with the teachings at certain times of the year. It was and is the destination of special Buddhist pilgrimages where annual ceremonies are held for spectators coming from as far as Nepal and Mongolia. These ceremonies were shared with the satellite monasteries across the Himalaya also founded by the Rongbuk Lama. The ceremonies continue to this day, notably at the Sherpa Monastery at Tengboche.^{[citation needed]}

The Monastery's vast treasury of books and costumes, which had been taken for safekeeping to Tengboche, were lost in a 1989 fire.^{[citation needed]}