001 Architecture Sera Monastery Sera Monastery stands in the northern suburbs of Lhasa. It was founded in 1419 by Shakya Yeshe, who had previously entered the Ming court, at Tsongkhapa’s command. The monastery later grew into a Gelug institution with a great assembly hall and three colleges that once housed several thousand monks. Drawing on old texts, monastic scholarship, a monk’s recollections, and historical photographs, this entry traces the Ming court’s gifts, the eighteenth-century succession of its halls, the procession of the flying vajra, the life of debate, and images of the monastery from the early twentieth century onward. Ming dynasty Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region Sera Monastery · Saila Monastery · Sela Monastery →