The 100th Ganden Tripa, Venerable Lobsang Nyima Rinpoche, retired and lived at Ganden Monastery with his Labrang ( office staff ) until his death in 2008.

Labrang Monastery in Amdo

Labrang: A Tibetan Buddhist Monastery at the Crossroads of Four Civilizations ISBN 1-55939-090-5

For the monastery in Sikkim, India see Labrang Monastery ( Sikkim ); for the general legal principal, see tulku ; for the Panchen Lama's administration, see Panchen Lama.

Labrang Monastery ( Tibetan: བ ླ་ བ ྲ ང ་ བཀ ྲ་ ཤ ི ས ་ འཁ ྱི ལ ་ Wylie: bla-brang bkra-shis -' khyil ; Chinese: 拉卜楞寺 Pinyin: lābǔlèng sì ) is one of the six great monasteries of the Geluk ( Yellow Hat ) school of Tibetan Buddhism.

Labrang Monastery is home to the largest number of monks outside of Tibet Autonomous Region.

Labrang Monastery is located in the town of Xiahe, which belongs to the Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.

Labrang Monastery is situated at the strategic intersection of four major Asian cultures — Tibetan, Mongolian, Han Chinese, and Chinese Muslim — was one of the largest Buddhist monastic universities.

In March 2008 there were protests by monks from Labrang Monastery as well as by other ethnic Tibetans linked to previous protests and rioting that broke out in Lhasa.

* Nietupski, Paul Kocot ( 1999 ), Labrang: A Tibetan Monastery at the Crossroads of Four Civilizations.

* A History of Labrang Monastery – At the Berzin Archives

* Monlan Festival – Pictures gallery and information from Monlan festival and Labrang Monastery

* Uprising Archive: Labrang – Pictures of protests in and around Labrang Monastery, March 2008

* Life on the Tibetan Plateau Labrang Monastery

Labrang is located in Xiahe County in Gansu province, in the traditional Tibetan area of Amdo.

After the 1929 battle of Xiahe near Labrang, decapitated Tibetan heads were used as ornaments by Chinese Muslim troops in their camp, 154 in total.

Ta ' er Si ) near Xining, Labrang Tashi Khyil south of Lanzhou, and the Kirti Monasteries of Ngaba and Taktsang Lhamo in Dzoge County ( Ch: Ruanggui / Zoige Xian ).

But above all visiting, in addition to Xizang ( Tibet ), large areas of other Tibetan Autonomous Regions in Gansu ( the monasteries of the Gelugpas ( Yellow Hats ) in Labrang and Langmu-Si, the famous Buddha caves of Bingling-Si on the Yellow River ), in Qinghai ( Gelugpa complex of Kumbum, the birthplace of Tsongkhapa, monasteries of Rebkong / Tongren etc.

Ma Bufang also crushed Mongol separatist movements, abducting the Genghis Khan Shrine and attacking Tibetan Buddhist Temples like Labrang, and keeping a tight control over them through the Kokonur God ceremony.

From Lanzhou, the provincial capital, he headed south into Tibetan territory and the lamasery of Labrang, where he was stoned by xenophobic monks.

Ma Qi responded with 3, 000 Chinese Muslim troops, who retook Labrang and machine gunned thousands of Tibetan monks as they tried to flee.

Ma Qi launched a genocidal war against the Tibetan Ngoloks, in 1928, inflicting a defeat upon them and seizing the Labrang Buddhist monastery.

It is home to the famed Labrang Tibetan Buddhist monastery, one of the largest Tibetan Buddhist monasteries outside of the Tibet Autonomous Region.

Labrang was also a gathering point for numerous annual religious festivals, supported an active regional marketplace where Han Chinese artisans rubbed shoulders with Hui merchants and nomadic Tibetan highlanders, and was the seat of a Tibetan power base that strove to maintain regional autonomy through the shifting alliances and bloody conflicts that took place between 1700 and 1950.

The Chinese Muslim Ma Clique under Generals Ma Qi and Ma Bufang launched several attacks against Labrang as part of a general anti Tibetan campaign.

Ma Qi responded with 3, 000 Hui Chinese troops, who retook Labrang and machine gunned thousands of Tibetan monks as they tried to flee.

Ma Qi launched a genocidal war against the Tibetan Ngoloks, in 1928, inflicting a defeat upon them and seizing the Labrang Buddhist monastery.

The Ma Muslim army left Tibetan skeletons scattered over a wide area, and the Labrang monastery was decorated with decapitated Tibetan heads.

* Labrang Tashikhyil in Amdo

In the early part of the 20th century, Labrang was by far the largest and most influential monastery in Amdo.

Monasteries such as Labrang, Repkong and Taktsang Lhamo appointed headmen, gowa ( go ba ), to the tribes within their areas, these tribes being groups consisting of several thousand nomads.

Its formal name is: Gandan Shaydrup Dargay Tashi Gyaysu Khyilway Ling ( dGe ldan bshad sgrub dar rgyas bkra shis gyas su ' khyil ba ' i gling ), commonly known as Labrang Tashi Khyil, or simply Labrang.

However, that was not the last Labrang saw of General Ma.

However, that was not the last Labrang saw of General Ma.

Bodies were left strewn around Labrang by the Hui troops.

* Maps and photographic slide shows of Labrang by author Eric Enno Tamm

Ma Qi occupied Labrang monastery in 1917, the first time non-Tibetans had seized it.

He also constantly attacked the Labrang monastery.

The Muslim Warlord Ma Qi waged war in the name of the Republic of China against the Labrang monastery and Ngoloks.

Ma Qi besieged Labrang numerous times, the Tibetans and Mongols fought against his Muslim forces for control of Labrang, until Ma Qi gave it up in 1927.

He also constantly attacked the Labrang monastery.

Several forts from this time, including Labrang, Moorang, and Kamru, serve as evidence of the region's history of conflict, which lasted until Emperor Akbar conquered the area.