Drigung-Til Monastery
The Drigung-Til Monastery is a distinguishable monastery in the Lhasa Prefecture, Tibet.It is the mother monastery of the Drigung Kagyu (Drikung Kargyu) tradition. The tradition emphasizes on its founders tantric meditation and Phowa practices.
The Drigung-Til Monastery was a kind of on the way back to Lhasa, although it was still another 150km westwards to Lhasa. The monastery is located in Drigung district. It was founded in 1179 and is the
mother monastery of the Drikung Kagyu tradition. Today, there are about 200 monks live there. The monastery is an important educational center for the tradition of the Driking with a large library including rare texts about all subjects of the Himalayan region. There are, works on Tibetan culture, tradition and geography, and of course the Buddhist texts of all schools.
mother monastery of the Drikung Kagyu tradition. Today, there are about 200 monks live there. The monastery is an important educational center for the tradition of the Driking with a large library including rare texts about all subjects of the Himalayan region. There are, works on Tibetan culture, tradition and geography, and of course the Buddhist texts of all schools. The Drigung-Til Monastery lies at an altitude of 4600 meter, therefore walk up to the monastery was not easy, even though you may already several weeks in Tibet.
The Drigung-Til Monastery is known for performing sky burials. Sky burial was once a 
common funerary practice in Tibet, where in a human corpse is cut in specific locations and placed on a mountain top, exposing it to the elements or the mahabhuta and animals- especially to birds of prey. The location of the sky burial preparation and place of execution are understood in the Vajrayana traditions as charnel grounds. The majority of Tibetans adhere to Buddhism, which teaches rebirth. There is no need to preserve the body, as it is now an empty vessel. Birds may eat it, or nature may let it decompose. So the function of the sky burial is simply the disposal of the remains. In much of Tibet the ground is too hard and rocky to dig a grave, and with fuel and timber scarce, a sky burial is often more practical than cremation.
common funerary practice in Tibet, where in a human corpse is cut in specific locations and placed on a mountain top, exposing it to the elements or the mahabhuta and animals- especially to birds of prey. The location of the sky burial preparation and place of execution are understood in the Vajrayana traditions as charnel grounds. The majority of Tibetans adhere to Buddhism, which teaches rebirth. There is no need to preserve the body, as it is now an empty vessel. Birds may eat it, or nature may let it decompose. So the function of the sky burial is simply the disposal of the remains. In much of Tibet the ground is too hard and rocky to dig a grave, and with fuel and timber scarce, a sky burial is often more practical than cremation.
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