AN INTRODUCTION TO SERA'S COLLEGES
by José Ignacio Cabezón
The Rise and Evolution of Sera's Colleges
The Early History of Sera's Colleges
Although the historical sources are inconsistent, it would appear that it was Gungru Gyaltsen Zangpo (gung
ru rgyal mtshan bzang po, 1383-1450), the third holder of the Sera throne, who was responsible for instituting
the college structure at Sera. Gungruwa created four colleges. He kept one of these colleges as his personal
seat, and placed three of his senior students at the head of the other three colleges, as follows:
| TEACHER | COLLEGE |
| Gungruwa (gung ru ba) | Tö or "Upper" (stod) |
| Jangchub Bumpa (byang chub 'bum pa) | Mé or "Lower" (smad) |
| Jamyang Pagpa ('jam dbyangs phags pa) |
Gya (rgya) |
| Rangjungwa (rang byung ba, per Phur lcog) or Sangyetsultrim (sang rgyas tshul khrims, per Pan chen and sDe srid) |
Dromteng or Drongteng ('brom steng or 'brong steng) |
Kunkhyen Janchub Bumpa (kun mkhyen byang chub 'bum pa, 15th century) is to this day reckoned as the founder of the Mé College, one of three still extant colleges of Sera. The Gya and Dromteng Colleges eventually merged into the Tö College under another of Gungruwa's students, Sherab Gyamtso (shes rab rgya mtsho) or Shergyampa (sher rgyam pa). Within a short time the Tö College itself was absorbed into a newly founded college called Ché (byes). The Ché College was founded by Kunkhyenpa or Musepa Lodrö Rinchen Sengge (kun mkhyen pa'am mus srad pa blo gros rin chen seng ge, 15th century). Thus it would appear that by the middle of the 15th century, there were only two active colleges at Sera: Ché and Mé. Both of these were philosophical colleges (mtshan nyid grwa tshang).
The historical texts do not tell us when or why the colleges were consolidated. We can surmise,
however, that at least two factors were involved. As is the case with most institutions, the success of a
college probably had a lot to do with the charisma of its leader. The fact that the Tö College absorbed Gya
and Dromteng, and that Tö was itself absorbed into Ché, may have to do with the popularity of Gungruwa
(the founding lama of Tö) and of Kunkhyenpa (the founding lama of Ché) as scholars and saints. But there
may also have been institutional factors at work. For example, the college consolidations may have coincided
with the rise of the regional-houses or khangtsen as the formal subunits of colleges. As these smaller
units of the colleges were institutionalized, they might have taken the place of the college as the
locus of a monk's main affiliation and as the site of his instruction. This, in turn, might have
permitted the colleges to grow in size, and to absorb other colleges that were, for whatever reason,
floundering. This, in any case, is one possible scenario explaining the process of college consolidation.
The third of Sera's colleges, the Ngakpa (sngags pa), or Tantric, College was not founded until the 18th
century. The Tantric College is a ritual college whose perceived mission was and is the preservation of
Tsongkhapa's tantric tradition through the enactment of a yearlong liturgical cycle of tantric rites that
focus on several different deities.
Thus, from the early 18th century on, Sera has had three colleges: Ché (byes), Mé (smad) and Ngakpa
(sngags pa). The abbotship of the defunct Töpa9 College continued on as an honorary position up to 1959.
Thus, Sera had four abbots, even though one of them, as the monks were fond of saying, "had no college
and no monks."
The Colleges of Sera in Tibet and in India Today
In Tibet, Sera and its colleges were shut down shortly after the uprising of 1959. All three
colleges of Sera were, however, reestablished in Tibet after the liberalization of religion in the
early 1980's. Their assembly halls were, for the most part, intact, and most of the images and murals
in the college temples were preserved.
Initially, the monks who were responsible for reestablishing the monastery attempted
to revive the colleges. However, because the number of monks was much smaller than it once was, in the
1990’s the two philosophical colleges – Ché and Mé – decided to consolidate their educational and ritual
programming. Debate sessions, for example, now take place jointly in the Ché College debate ground,
and only one set of textbooks – that of the Ché College – are used. The two philosophical colleges
also no longer have their own abbots, and instead share a common abbot, today mostly an honorary
position. There is also no separate administration at the college level, since a monastery-wide
governing board runs most of the day-to-day affairs of Sera. Instead of meeting separately in their
respective college assembly halls, the monks now meet together in the Great Assembly Hall. 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 for this "festival," but this is the only time in the year when
the monks meet in their own college assembly halls. The Tantric College, however, continues to
preserve its liturgical tradition, and its monks continue to meet in their own assembly hall
throughout the entire year.
The Mé and Ché Colleges were also reestablished in exile in 1970, at the time of the reestablishment
of Sera in the Bylakuppe settlement (Karnataka, India). In India the colleges have maintained their
separate identities. They preserve their own unique educational and ritual traditions, use their own
textbooks, and have their own administrative bodies. Both colleges continue to prepare monks for the
Geshé degree. (The Geshé degree is no longer granted in Tibet.) Although the Tantric College was not
initially reestablished in exile, it has recently been re-founded in one of the nearby refugee
settlements in south India.
Click on each of the colleges to find out more about them.
Notes
[9] See above, this was the college originally founded by Gungruwa in the
15th century, which was absorbed into the Ché College.