History

Lama Tsong Khapa (1357-1419) was born in Amdo, eastern Tibet, and became an eminent scholar. He reformed the old Kadampa sect, creating the new Gelugpa sect ('System of Virtue,' popularly known as the Yellow Hats) which was to become the most powerful in the entire region. He was the main teacher of the first Dalai Lama, Gendun Drub (1391-1474).

The massive Ganden Monastic University he founded in 1409, east of Lhasa, was one of the largest monasteries in the entire Himalayan region with many thousands of monks. Tsong Khapa also founded the two other big Yellow Hat monasteries of central Tibet, Drepung in 1416, to the west of Lhasa and Sera Jey in 1419 to the north of the capital of Tibet.

Today, Sera Jey has been recreated in exile in Southern India, due to the unfortunte political events that have rocked Tibet from 1959 and onwards. Sera Jey Monastic University which is linked to the the Monestary, is located in South India as well.The University was originally established in 1419 at the same time when Jamchen Choeje Shakya Yeshe, who was one of Lama Tsong Khapa's principal disciples, established the Sera Theckchen Ling Monastery in Tibet.

According to oral records, Jamchen Choeje got one of his close disciples, Guge Geshe Tenzin Choegyal, to establish Ngari Khangtsen for the purpose of accommodating disciples arriving from western Tibet: the regions of Ngari and Guge and also from Ladakh and Zanskar of the Himalayan regions.

This part of western Tibet is historically called the region of Ngari as the region formed the seat of the dynasty of one of the later Tibetan kings, Kyide Nyima Gon, after the disintegration of Tibet during the reign of Lang Dharma who caused great harm to theTibetan empire and Buddhism.

Nga-dag means King and the regions under Kyide Nyima Gon's power comprising his empire are called Ngari.