Gansu Sheng Things to Do Tips by nattybabe

Meditation Cave

If you take a walk through Sertri Gompa monastery and keep going towards the mountains you will find the mediation cave. This has been used by monks for centuries and is primarily used as a test for a strong spirit.

The belief is that when you die your spirit lies in limbo for several weeks before it is reincarnated. This time is very scary but if you test your spirit beforehand you know that you can handle it. The test is that you need to crawl through a small tunnel inside the cave and once done you are prepared for death. Interesting!!

Water Prayer Wheels

Just outside of Sertri Gompa monastery are the water prayer wheels. They are situated on top of a small stream and the force of the water makes the wheels turn sending prayers to the Gods.

This is a very pretty sight on your way to the mediation cave and on into the mountains.

Sertri Gompa and Kirti Gompa monasteries

Both these large monasteries are of the Gelukpa sect of Buddhism of which the Gandam Tripa is the head priest. It was the 53rd Gandam Tripa who founded the Srtri Gompa (seat of gold) in 1748.

During the Cultural Revolution the monastery was totally devasteed, however reconstruction began in 1981. It is once again a working monastery and the home of approximately 400 monks.

The large Kirti Gompa on the southern hil was also ruined during the Cultural Revolution but is now the home of some 700 resident monks. Its former Lams, Kirti Tulku fled to India during the Cultural Revolution and founded a monastery in Dharamsala, where he has also held office in the Tibetan Government in Exile.

These two monasteries have enaged in an old age power struggle for control and influence over the surrounding nomadic areas. The settling of the provincial boundaries in between the two is a modern incarnation of this centuries old rivalry.