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AN INTRODUCTION TO SERA'S COLLEGES
by José Ignacio Cabezón

The Mé College (grwa tshang smad)

The Mé College is the smaller, but older, of Sera's two philosophical colleges (mtshan nyid grwa tshang). It's official name is "The Jewel-Island for Study and Contemplation" (thos bsam nor gling). The word Mé (smad) means "lower," and the college was probably called this because it sits at a lower elevation (farther south) in Sera's tiered landscape. Shortly after the founding of the monastery, the third holder of the Sera throne divided the institution up into various sections or colleges, appointing his senior students as preceptors of these different sections. Kunkhyen Jangchub Bumpa (kun mkhyen byang chub ‘bum pa, 15th century) was appointed preceptor (slob dpon) of the Mé section, and today he is reckoned as its founder.

In time, the Mé College evolved a fixed educational curriculum that focused on the study of the great Indian Buddhist classics. As was the case with the Ché College, there appears to have been a good deal of diversity in the types of textbooks (yig cha) used in the early days of the Mé College. Geshe Yeshe Wangchuk, a contemporary historian, for example, tells us that the textbooks of Gungru Gyaltsen Zangpo, the third Sera throne-holder, were popular for almost a century at Mé. Eventually, however, these early yigchas were banned in favor of the textbooks of Khedup Tenpa Dargye (mkhas grub bstan pa dar rgyas, 1493-1568). Although the chief mission of the Mé College was to instruct monks in the exoteric, philosophical/textual tradition, less than 25% of all monks in the college were textualists. The remaining monks were mostly workers.


The center of the College, where its administration was housed, and where its abbot lived, was the assembly hall or dukhang ('du khang). The present Mé assembly hall in Tibet, built in 1761 by the 7th Demo Rinpoche, Deleg Gyatso (de mo bde legs rgya mtsho, d. 1777), contains a huge meeting hall, and several ancillary chapels (lha khang), each with its own altar and “theme.” Click here to gain access to a database entry on the Mé College assembly hall, with pictures.

The most important of the smaller chapels inside the Mé College is the Thawog Protector Chapel (tha ‘og dgon khang) located in the northwest corner of the temple. Click here searchTerms=1044&searchType=id">here to see a film in which the Ven. Tsultrim (tshul khrims), the caretaker, gives a guided tour of this chapel (Note: this film requires that you have Quicktime installed on your computer). The movie is in Tibetan, but you will find a transcript/translation of Tsultrim's lecture on this page as well

Philosophical colleges were divided into smaller units called regional-houses. The Mé College was divided into 16 regional houses, or khangtsen (khang tshan), that ranged in size from fifty to several hundred monks. Monks from different parts of Tibet would usually enter one or another of these houses depending upon the geographical region of the country from which they hailed. Here are the khangtsens of the Mé College.

Click on the khangtsen name to see a brief narrative description about that particular regional-house, and to access pictures of its headquarters (where still extant). In that window, beside "Regional House Affiliation," click on the khangtsen name to go to a data-window with demographic and other information about that particular khangtsen.

1. Zhungpa (gzhung pa)
2. Bompora (spo ‘bor)
3. Gyalrong (rgyal rong)
4. Métsa (smad tsha)
5. Kongpo (kong po)
6. Yerpa (yer pa)
7. Métsang (smad gtsang)
8. Tsador (tsha rdor)
9. Tawen (taa dben)
10. Rongpo (rong po)
11. Gungru (gung ru)
12. Minyag (mi nyag)
13. Tepo (the po)
14. Ara (a ra)
15. Marnyung (smar nyung)
16. Powo (spo bo)

In Tibet today the Mé College has lost many of the traits that made it a unique institution. Since the consolidation of the Ché and Mé Colleges in the 1990's, the monks of both colleges meet together for all educational activities. So, for example, debate sessions now take place jointly: only in the Ché College debate ground. Monks also only use one set of textbooks – that of the Ché College. ¹⁵ The Ché and Mé monks also meet together for all of their ritual activities. There is one exception to this rule, however. Both colleges still observe the famous intensive, weeklong prayer assemblies that take place in the winter term. For one week the monks of Ché and Mé will meet in their respective assembly halls. The event at the Mé College is called the Great “Maitreya” Prayer Meeting (byams smon chen mo). During this weeklong event the monks of the Mé College spend many hours each day reciting a prayer to the future Buddha, Maitreya, and lay people flock form Lhasa and the surrounding areas to make offerings.

It was dedicated by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in the summer of 2003. The Mé College was also reestablished in exile in 1970, at the time of the refounding of Sera in the Bylakuppe settlement (Karnataka, India). Unlike the Mé College in Tibet, in India the college continues to retain its individual institutional identity, preserving its own unique educational/ritual practices, and its own administration.

The newly built Mé College assembly hall in Sera, India.	Young monks on their way to classes at the Sera Meé School, Sera, India

In the mid 1980’s, following the example of the Ché College, the Mé College in India founded a separate school within the college for young monks. Today, the "Sera Mey School," as it is known, provides monks up to the age of 16 with a well-rounded education in a variety of both traditional and modern subject – from Buddhist philosophy to world geography. At the age of 16, monks then enter the traditional debate-based curriculum.

Before 1959, the Mé College in Tibet had between 3000 and 5000 monks. Today, in Tibet, it has about 125 monks. In India, the Mé college has about 1500 monks. Click here to gain access to more detailed demographic information and other tabular data related to the Mé College.

Click here to learn about the Ngakpa (Tantric) College.

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