1. Name of the monastery

Rab rgyal

2. Location

The monastery is located on the bank of Yangtze which is the borderline

between TAR and Sichuan Province.

It takes two days on horseback to reach there from the county town of

Derge.

3. History

The founder of the monastery was bsTan pa lhun grub from Ri rtse drug in

Khyung po, but the exact date of its foundation remains unknown. Mention is

made of thirteen successive heads of the monastery, but their names remain

unclear. The monastery was wrecked during the Cultural Revolution and was

rebuilt by old monks of the monastery in the 1980s.

5. Current number of monks

There are twenty novices and monks at the monastery.

6. Current education

They have no organized classes, but the young monks are trained by the elder

monks.

8 / 9. Rituals

There are two important annual rituals: the summer offerings (dbyar mchod)

for fifteen days and the winter offerings (dgun mchod) for seven days. The

former is concernd with rNam par rgyal ba, an aspect of gShen rab Mi bo and

the latter, with the tutelary deity Khro bo.

11. Income and expenses

The monastery has no regular Sources of income and depends on offerings from

the faithful. The monks provide their own food.

14. Occupation of the local people

Farmers and nomads

I was told that there was no one in the monastery when I was just about to

go to Rab rgyal and Thar bde Monasteries from Derge in autumn in 1997. I

therefore could not visit them. This is why I have so little information

concerning these monasteries.

Source

(2) Texts

1. KGLG, Vol.1, pp. 629-630