JANG GUNCHOE
thrown by Manjushri into the sky, fell on the same spot where this monastery is located. Thus, this place is considered sacred and the Winter Religious Festival is held in this monastery, hence, it is called Jang Winter Religious Festival. It is also known as Jamyang (Manjushri) Winter Religious Festival. So in the eleventh month of the Tibetan calendar, monks from most of the monasteries in the Tsang region in Tibet, including the three great monasteries of Central Tibet gather and debate on Epistemology. For a whole month, everyday, there is an interclass debate session and an evening debate session where the debates are held between different monasteries. In the end there would be two monasteries. Besides, they have formal class, debate, and recitation of texts whenever it is possible for them. In Tibet, during the Jang teachings, Ratoe Monastery of Nyethang used to take the responsibility of looking after tea distribution for monks, choosing places for different sessions and most importantly, taking care of the discipline during the teaching.
Even in exile, every year thousands of monks from the three great monasteries and others like Ratoe and Tashi Lhunpo participate for a month long Jang Gunchoe. There is an interclass debate session during the day and an inter-monastery session in the evening. There are two main overnight debate sessions. If it is hosted by Loseling, then Sera Je, Jangtse and Gomang Colleges will sit for answering the questions and challenges from Loseling, Shartse and Sera Mey colleges. But if it is hosted by Gomang, then Loseling, Shartse, and Sermey will take the turn to answer the questions from the other three. Every year the Loseling College sends around five hundred participants for this festival and many of them will sit for the Geshe Lharampa degree in the next academic year. So they need to study very hard for its preparation.
