Ngawa /Aba Kirti Monastery ཀིརྟི་དགོན་པ།

Ngawa Kirti monastery is also known as Kirti Kalari Gon Tashi Lhundrub, is a Gelugpa monastery on the northwestern edge of Ngawa City, the main city in Ngawa County, within the Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in northwestern Sichuan, China. It is located on the Tibetan plateau at an elevation of 3200m. Kirti monastery was founded in 1472 by Rongpa Chenakpa, “Black Tongue”, due to the fact that his tongue sometimes appeared to be black. a disciple of Tsongkhapa. It was established near the border with Gansu Province in 1693 but has outgrown its mother monastery. After he studies the Buddhism with Tsangkapa in Lhasa, he set for Amdo in the summer of 1411 and arrived in Ngawa in the winter of that year. There, in the following year, he founded Kalari Kirti Monastery. He remained at this monastery for much of the remainder of his life, mainly focusing on transmitting and practicing tantric meditation. Also, at some point he established a hermitage called Tala in Taktsang Lhamo. Kalari Kirti was the seat of the Kirti incarnation line until the Fifth Kirti, Lobzang Tenpai Gyeltsen(1712-1771), expanded Tala Hermitage, renaming it Kirti Namgyel Dechen Ling and moving his seat there in 1731. Around 1430 he was invited by King Tsenlha to Gyelrong where he spent a year. Rongchen Chenakpa was also involved in the founding of other Geluk monasteries in Amdo, the first in the region. He aided Tsakho Ngawang Drakpa, also a student of Tsongkhapa, in the consecration of two monasteries that he established: Sago Gon and Tamgo Gon. The first Kirti Monastery founded by Kirti Rinpoche was in Gyelrang. These days the two main Kirti Monasteries are in Taktsang Lhamo in Gansu Province and Ngawa prefecture in Sichuan, Kirti monastery was destroyed during the Cultural revolution and has now been rebuilt. There are numerous smaller monasteries affiliated with the Kirti Monasteries spread throughout the region. Ngawa Kirti monastery is now probably one of the largest Geluk monastery in southern Amdo. Outside the north wall of the monastery is a towering statue of Shakyamuni Buddha. The imposing Assembly Hall or Tensi Dratsang, the Dialectical College has 120 pillars. It contains an 8m statue of Maitreya, flanked by Jowo Shakyamuni and Kirti Lobzang Chungla. There are also several other important buildings including: the Chokhang, the Lhabrang or residence of Kirti Rinpoche, the Zhungkhang, the Monastic Office, the Gyupa Dratsang, the Tantric College, the Menpa Dratsang, the Medical College, and the Dukhor Dratsang, the Kalacakra College. Kirti monastery is also famous for its 30m high white chorten known as the Dudul Chorten which has numerous chapels on the various floors respectively dedicated to Shakyamuni Buddha, Mahakarunika, and the Three Deities of Longevity, Tsongkhapa and Sitatapatra.