Institute for the Study of Buddhism

Buddhist Institute Larung Gar, also known as Serthar, located in the prefecture of Garze in the Tibetan mountains at an altitude of 4000 meters. It was founded in 1980 by Lama Jigme Phuntsok, then on the site of today's settlement was deserted valley. Now Larung Gar - the largest center in the world for the study of Buddhism, it is home to over 40,000 monks, nuns and studentov.

In Larung Gar affects a huge number of wooden houses that are crammed throughout the valley. In the center of the settlement - a huge wall separating the houses of monks and nuns, as men and women live separately. Common to them is the only auditorium monastyrya.

It is surprising that half of all those who come to study in Larung Gar, - are women. Most female Buddhist monasteries that are located in Tibet, take training only a limited number of students, while Larung Gar is open to all who are sincerely striving for knowledge. Another difference between the academy is that, although most of the lectures are held in the Tibetan language, there are some classes in Chinese for students from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malayzii.

Path to Larung Gar difficult: to get to college, you need to overcome the way to 650 km from the nearest city of Chengdu (usually it takes about 13-15 hours by car). Despite the fact that the interest of tourists to visit this place is great, Larung Gar are often closed to inostrantsev.