Master Shes-rab-rgya-mtsho Memorial Hall

Master Shes-rab-rgya-mtsho Memorial Hall

The Master Shes-rab-rgya-mtsho Memorial Hall was built in 1987 and is the main structure of Gulei Monastery. Gulei Monastery is located at the foot of Tiger Head Mountain in Daowei Township, Xunhua County. It was the former monastery of Master Shes-rab-rgya-mtsho, covering a total area of 110 mu, with a building area of 1,422 square meters. The memorial hall is a two-story Tibetan-style building, with the master’s stupa enshrined in the center of the main hall, and Buddha statues on both sides. There is one auxiliary room on the north side and one on the south side of the memorial hall—one serving as a reception room, the other as a scripture hall. The entire structure is magnificent, with a solemn and respectful layout.

Master Shes-rab-rgya-mtsho was a leading eminent monk of Tibetan Buddhism in China, as well as a renowned scholar and an outstanding patriot. He became a monk in his childhood, and at the age of 32, attained the highest Tibetan Buddhist academic degree, the Geshe Lharampa. He presided over the re-engraving of the Tibetan Kangyur (Lhasa edition), and authored works such as An Overview of Tibetan Culture and Collected Works of Shes-rab-rgya-mtsho. After the liberation, he served successively as Vice Chairman of the People's Government of Qinghai Province and Director of its Education and Culture Committee, President of the Buddhist Association of China, and was elected as a deputy to the First and Second National People’s Congresses, a standing committee member of the Second and Third National Committees of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), and a member of the Fourth CPPCC National Committee. He led Chinese Buddhist delegations on multiple overseas visits and to attend important international conferences, promoting the CPC’s policies of ethnic equality and freedom of religious belief, and contributing to ethnic unity and national unity. Comrades Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Liu Shaoqi, and Zhou Enlai repeatedly praised him as the “Patriotic Elder” and “Tibetan Scholar.”

The 10th Panchen Lama, Chos-kyi rGyal-po, visited Gulei Monastery three times, presided over the consecration ceremony of the Master Shes-rab-rgya-mtsho Memorial Hall, inscribed the nameplate as “Master Geshe Shes-rab-rgya-mtsho Memorial Hall,” and gave teachings and empowerments. Today, the site attracts a continuous stream of pilgrims and tourists. The Master Shes-rab-rgya-mtsho Memorial Hall is now a cultural relic protection unit of Qinghai Province and a base for patriotic education in the province.