Larung Gar Buddhist Academy

The Larung Gar Buddhist Academy, officially named by the 10th Panchen Lama in 1987 as the Serta Larung Five Science Buddhist Academy (ZWPY: Serta Larung Ngarig Nangdän Lobling, pinyin: Lǎróng Wǔmíng fóxuéyuàn) and also known as the Sertar Buddhist Institute, is a Tibetan Buddhist institute in Larung Gar, a township of Sêrtar County in northern Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in northwestern Sichuan Province, China. Part of the Tibetan cultural area of Kham, the institute grew from a mountain retreat established by Kyabje Khenchen Jigme Phuntsok in 1980, intending to provide ecumenical training in Tibetan Buddhism and renew meditation, ethics, and scholarship all over Tibet in the wake of China's Cultural Revolution of 1966-76. Despite the remote location, an ancient prophecy by the first Dodrupchen Rinpoche named its founder and described its location, and the site is considered sacred. Larung Gar's Academy grew from less than a dozen students gathering around Khenchen Jigme Phuntsok's home, to a community of more than a hundred students living in mud huts by 1981, as reported by International Campaign for Tibet. According to several Tibetan advocacy organizations, the Academy continued growing as monks, nuns, and lay students relocated and built residences, to become one of the largest and most influential ecumenical c

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