INFORMATION:

Administration and organisation:

Head Lamas:

The monastic abbot (Khen Rinpoche) acts as the top spiritual and temporal leader of the monastery. The monastic disciplinarian (Gegu) and the chant-master (Uzei) are known as U-Choe Namnyi. They are highly vested with the responsibilities for the wellbeing of the monastic studies through their leading farsighted supervisions.

^{The picture of Administrative staff for 1 Dec 2010 to Dec 2013)
Standing L-R: Geshe Tsering Phuntsok (director), Geshe Samten Gyatso (chief administrator) Geshe Kalsang Ngodup (director), Geshe Tsewang Thinley ( director)
Sitting L-R: Ven. Tenpa Rigzin(Tib secretary), Geshe Sonam Dawa (Accountant), Migmar Tsering (Eng Secretary) Geshe Tsoney Gyamtso (director)}

Assembly:

The monastic assembly (Khantsen Chudrug Tsongdhu) comprises the monastic abbot as the president, Gekho, Uzei, the administrators of Changzoe Khang and Mayong Zinkyong Lhantsok and 16 members of 16 Khangtsen. It is the highest decision making body of the monastery.

Executive:

The head office of the monastic administration is Changzoe Khang (Monastic Administrative Office) with 6 executive administrators, two secretaries (Tib & English Section), one accountant, nine executive members in all. As for the prudent management of the monastic wealth for the welfare of now more than 2000 monk-students, the monastic assembly set up Mayong Zinkyong Lhantsok (Monastic Planning Commission) with 3 executive members.

Major Prospective Undertakings:

Drepung Gomang Buddhist Cultural Association, Drepung Gomang Library, Drepung Gomang School, Drepung Gomang Examination Scrutiny Board, Drepung Gomang Discipline Regulatory Committee, Drepung Gomang Arts and Crafts Training Center, Drepung Gomang Reincarnated Lamas Society.

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A khangtsen is residential sub-units, which contained the actual apartments or administration. A monk could enter any of the monasteries but within it he had to enroll in a specific khangtsen determined by his region or origin. (There are 16 khangtsen in Drepung Gomang Monastery). Each khangtsen has its own officials who look after the khangtsen economic and monks welfare. Khangtsen sometimes contain dormitory subunits known as “mitsen” which were even more specific with regards to the geographic origin of the monks.

Khangtsen in alphabetical order:

Of the 22 Mitsen in total there are belonging categories as: Hardong has nine as Tsokha, Washul, Joorche, Hor, Thorgo, Tsenpo, Gonlung, Lamo and Beri; Samlo has ten as Kalkha, Gonlung, Thangri, Tsenpo, Bheedho, Lubum, Dhosang, Bacho, Lanhati and Lampa; Zongchu has Nyenpo; Bodshung and Gadong are known as not belonging to any.

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DREPUNG GOMANG LIBRARY

Above picture: First floor and second floor is Drepung Gomang Library.

Drepung Gomang Library is managed by Geshe Ngari Yonten and Ven. Tsondue Gyatso as director and assistant director of the library. They were elected by the monks. 

*Computer section:
The sacred  texts or the manuscript are typed in the computer by the monks, made in book format or scripture format and published for the students to read and which can be borrow from the library also.

*Editing Section:
The scholars and Geshes of the monastery edit the computer printout of the books before giving it to final printing.

*Recording section:
The teachings of great learned scholars are recorded in tapes, CDs so that the students can use it for future reference.

Former library incharge, Geshe Tenpa Choklang says that When the monks escaped to India from Tibet, they were able to carry a  few texts and books which they stored in a  make-shift library at their transit camp in northeast India. After re-establishing in south India, the monastery was able to construct a good library which houses a large collection of Buddhist sacred texts. Geshe la also stressed that our monastery has a large collection of Buddhist texts compared to other monasteries. No other monastery has what we have here at the Drepung Gomang Library. This is a result of the many scholars from this monastery who have written texts, important commentaries, etcs. Our aim is to preserve all these works and make them available to our students.

With a scarcity of funds and other resources, we are not able to print out the many important texts to make them readily available to the students.

Books and texts are available for loan to every student at Drepung Gomang Monastery.  The library  charges very nominal fees for its many services.

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GOMANG HANDICRAFT AND TRAINING CENTER.
The Gomang Handicrafts Center creates banners, and other items that are sold to provide small income for the monastery.  Not all of the monks at Gomang are inclined to pursue a Geshe degree in Buddhist philosophy.  Some of these monks choose, instead, to serve the monastery by contributing their talents to making religious items at the Handicraft Center.  In addition, the Center provides employment to both Indian and Tibetan lay persons from the surrounding areas where they learn tailoring.

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COMMUNITY DISPENSARY

Drepung Gomang Monastery provides its resident monks and people from the nearby villages with  medical assistance through its Community Dispensary. The dispensary was constructed with kind fund from Dr. Subhuti, Itm.  All of the staff are monk volunteers who help everyone who comes to its doors.  Dr. Monlam Gyatso is the chief medical officer of the dispensary, Ven. Tsewang Norbu is supervisor and assisted by other volunteer monks, the dispensary is open to the public daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Monastery's small community clinic in 1980s

Dispensary funded by itm.             Ven. Monlam Gyatso, the doctor of the dispensary

administration of injection.                           dressing and cleaning up sores and wounds
 
administering injection to indian villager             waiting for their turn for doctor consulation.

People from settlement wait for their turn for doctor check up.
 

Medical consultations are free, and the charges for medicines are minimal.  The continuance of this medical care is dependent entirely upon the generosity of donors.  Any assistance would be gladly welcomed!

In addition, patients with serious problems may avail themselves of services from the Men-Tse Khang (Tibetan Hospital) in the Tibetan Settlement as well as the hospital located in camp 3 and Indian hospital in nearby cities of Hubli, Bangalore and Manipal.

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COMMUNITY KITCHEN

Monks undergo many hours of studies and good health is a must for study. All the food for the monks from highest Abbot to the newest novice or new monks in the monastery is supplied from monastery communal kitchen. A breakfast, a slab of bread and a sugarless tea. Lunch consists of vegetable and bread, sometimes rice and dinner of rice or Tibetan noodles (Thukpa). All the foods available or served in the monastery is vegetarian food. The monks cooked and work in the kitchen by rotation, the supervisor monks period of one month and after every one month, new supervisor monks take charge of the kitchen, they are helped and assisted by a group of about twenty monks on a day kitchen duty. 

Monks by rotation have to do kitchen duty or canteen duty, they have to reach kitchen at 4 am in the morning.

With increase in monks population, the monastery is facing great difficulties as it has to see the other needs of the monks such as accommodation, medical and so on. The small donation that we received is used also for making up the utensils, Steam Boiler, and cooking gas for the kitchen.

So as to raise funds for the Monk kitchen expenses, a Food Foundation project was started up where funds received on this specific project was deposited in the bank, and the interested derived on that amount is used to cover up the expenses of monastery communal kitchen.

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HOW MONKS RUN THIS MONASTERY?
There are more than 200 monk staff who are working in the Administrative Office, handicraft-training center, library, dispensary and school. They are all volunteers and no salary as such is paid to them. They work for many years serving the monastery.

There are also staffs who do their duty for three months such as supervisor of the canteen and communal kitchen. Five to ten monks work in the canteen and communal kitchen as helper for a day. During cultivating season, monks will be called by whistle to work in the field and also when there is need to help the construction work. The monks are doing every minor to major work themselves. With dire need of funds, this service by the monks saves huge labor expenses.

Lots of people are fooled by the infrastructure such buildings in the monastery. This was constructed with the aid from abroad. If you see the reality, there are many monks who are very poor and destitute, they don’t have money to purchase toothpaste and a slipper. You will find many monks with worn out slippers. The rooms are crowded. The monastery has to take responsibility for all so it is very huge expenses to run the communal kitchen where the food for more than 2000 monks are served, to look after the hostels and small dispensary.

Any help whether in monetary or service to the monastery is very much welcome. The kindness and compassionate help that individual provide will be remembered and prayers will be performed. Receipt will be issued for every contribution. For information on our postal address or how to make donations, we request you to kindly  click this.

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