ANNOUNCER: This is Ganden.

CHOEPHEL: For over 500 years, Ganden carried out Je Tsongkhapa's teachings and practices without interruption.

ANNOUNCER: Then, in 1949, China invaded Tibet.

The monks of Ganden were forced to flee.

JAMPA LEGSHE (speaking Tibetan): ANNOUNCER: A story of cultural destruction and loss, resilience and faith.

"Ganden: A Joyful Land," on DocWorld.

♪ ♪ (crickets chirping) (gong strikes) (gong strikes) (birds cawing) (speaking Tibetan): (gong strikes) (talking in background) (chanting and throat-singing) (chanting and throat-singing) (throat-singing) (chanting) (reading aloud) (reading and chanting softly, monk continues chanting) (reading softly, chanting continues) (chanting fades) CHOEPHEL: This is Ganden, one of the most important Tibetan monasteries in India.

It was built entirely by Tibetan refugee monks who were forced to flee their beloved home.

I grew up just half a mile from here in a Tibetan refugee camp.

Ganden was the center of our community.

As a child, our shared experiences as exiles brought me closer to the monks, and I was fascinated and inspired by their world of simplicity and contentment.

(tea pouring, monk murmuring and exhaling) (monks singing, percussion playing) CHOEPHEL: They are the last generation of monks who lived and studied in the original Ganden monastery in Tibet.

(chanting, percussion continue) What would you do if you lost everything that defines who you are?

This is the story of the monks of Ganden.

♪ ♪ TENZIN JAMPHEL (speaking Tibetan): GESHE DAWA (speaking Tibetan): (speaking Tibetan): (speaking Tibetan): CHOEPHEL: The monks told me that Buddhism arrived in Tibet from India in the seventh century.

As the Buddha's teaching on compassion and selflessness spread across the country, Tibetan scholars began establishing unique traditions of their own.

Je Tsongkhapa was one of those scholars.

In the 15th century, after studying the works of Tibetan Buddhist masters, he created his own very powerful tradition of the Buddha's teachings.

It was this that led to the founding of Ganden, set in complete isolation from the rest of the world.

Ganden became the home of Tsongkhapa's practice and teachings.

(woman singing) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ LEGSHE (speaking Tibetan): (speaking Tibetan): ♪ ♪ CHOEPHEL: Ganden became one of the largest monasteries in Tibet, housing 3,000 monks.

(trumpets playing) DAWA (speaking Tibetan): JAMPHEL (speaking Tibetan): DAWA: ♪ ♪ CHOEPHEL: Many aspects of daily life were centered around the temples in Tibet.

In those days, nearly every Tibetan family sent one child to become a monk, with the intention of benefiting all of humanity.

(speaking Tibetan): ♪ ♪ (speaking Tibetan): (laughing) ♪ ♪ SONAM NADRUL (speaking Tibetan): (speaking Tibetan): ♪ ♪ LEGSHE (speaking Tibetan): (singing in Tibetan): (speaking Tibetan): (speaking Tibetan): DAWA (speaking Tibetan): (monk chanting) CHOEPHEL: By devoting themselves to a 20-year course of study, the monks sought to perfect their practice in monastic discipline and their understanding of the teachings of the Buddha, including rebirth, interdependence, and the impermanence of life.

These monks were well known for their skills in monastic debate.

As the students are rigorously questioned, challengers clap their hands together to emphasize each concept.

This traditional gesture symbolizes logic as a means of defeating ignorance.

(exclaims, claps) JAMPHEL (speaking Tibetan): (monks chanting) DAWA (speaking Tibetan): (chanting continues) (fire crackling) (door creaking) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ CHOEPHEL: Monks from Ganden can control the timing and manner of their own death through perfection of a meditation practice known as Thuktam.

DAWA (speaking Tibetan): (monks singing) CHOEPHEL: For over 500 years, Ganden carried out Je Tsongkhapa's teachings and practices without interruption.

It was here that the lineage of the Dalai Lama, the supreme religious and political leader of Tibet, began.

Ganden became one of the most influential monasteries in Tibet.

It is to Tibetan Buddhism what the Vatican is to Catholicism.

(singing continues) Tibet was a Shangri-la, a Heaven on Earth.

(explosions pounding, guns firing) ♪ ♪ But China invaded Tibet in 1949.

The entire structure of Tibetan society and religion was instantly under severe threat.

♪ ♪ The Dalai Lama was forced to compromise.

He lost political control of his sovereign nation, but he remained Tibet's spiritual leader.

Despite Chinese military rule, the 23-year-old Dalai Lama visited Ganden in 1958 to take his final exam for the advanced Buddhist academic degree called Geshe Lharampa.

(trumpets playing) JAMPHEL (speaking Tibetan): (speaking Tibetan): JAMPHEL: (speaking Tibetan): (trumpets continue) GAN JINPA (speaking Tibetan): (trumpets continue) (playing) GAN NGAWANG (speaking Tibetan): LEGSHE (speaking Tibetan): (woman singing) JAMPHEL (speaking Tibetan): ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ DAWA (speaking Tibetan): (speaking Tibetan): (speaking Tibetan): ♪ ♪ (crowd clamoring in distance) CHOEPHEL: In 1959, one year after the Dalai Lama's visit to Ganden, the rumors of his imminent capture by the Chinese started to spread.

Hundreds of thousands of Tibetans rushed to his home to protect him.

(crowd clamoring) The Chinese army responded to this Tibetan uprising with brutal violence.

(monks singing) But Ganden still continued its activities.

DAWA (speaking Tibetan): (singing continues) TENZIN LHUNDUP (speaking Tibetan): CHOEPHEL: One of Ganden's most beautiful traditions during the Tagtse Dumchoe festival was to create ten detailed sand paintings called mandalas.

They represent the vision of an enlightened universe as a reflection of one's purified state of mind.

(tools scraping) As a meditation on impermanence, after days or weeks of creating the intricate design of the mandala, the sand would be brushed together into a pile and spilled into a body of running water to spread its blessings.

(speaking Tibetan): NGAWANG (speaking Tibetan): (speaking Tibetan): (speaking Tibetan): (speaking Tibetan): LHUNDUP (speaking Tibetan): (tools scraping) DAWA (speaking Tibetan): CHOEPHEL: The monks could not complete all of the mandalas or brush away the ones they had already made.

They had to escape before finishing the festival.

♪ ♪ LHUNDUP (speaking Tibetan): (speaking Tibetan): (speaking Tibetan): JINPA (speaking Tibetan): LHUNDUP (speaking Tibetan): (guns firing, explosions echoing) (imitates shot) LUNGTOK WANGCHUK (speaking Tibetan): (speaking Tibetan): NAMDRUL (speaking Tibetan): ♪ ♪ CHOEPHEL: The Dalai Lama had secretly escaped to India during the Tibetan uprising of 1959.

It was a difficult journey, but he arrived unharmed, and the Indian government greeted him warmly.

He was granted refuge in India.

(speaking Tibetan): (speaking Tibetan): JINPA (speaking Tibetan): THUPTEN YONTEN (speaking Tibetan): CHOEPHEL: Once Tibetan refugees arrived in India, we were sent to all parts of the country to start our new lives.

India became our home, our refuge.

♪ ♪ In order to keep Tibetan Buddhist traditions alive outside of Tibet, the Dalai Lama made an urgent request to the Indian government to find a place for the monastic community.

The monks were given a temporary location in Buxar, and under the Dalai Lama's guidance, the first Tibetan Buddhist center in exile was formed.

There were 1,300 monks from all across Tibet.

More than 400 were from Ganden.

(speaking Tibetan): NAMDRUL (speaking Tibetan): (speaking Tibetan): ♪ ♪ (speaking Tibetan): (speaking Tibetan): NAMDRUL (speaking Tibetan): ♪ ♪ (explosion echoes) ♪ ♪ (man yelling, guns firing, explosions pounding) (artillery firing, shells exploding) (man humming) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ CHOEPHEL: China destroyed Ganden in 1965.

The attack violated the 500-year-old monastery physically and spiritually.

♪ ♪ It was the beginning of Mao's Cultural Revolution.

Religion was labeled a poison.

Thousands of monasteries were destroyed all across Tibet.

(speaking Tibetan): (speaking Tibetan): (speaking Tibetan): DAKPA CHOEDAK (speaking Tibetan): (speaking Tibetan): (crowd clamoring) CHOEPHEL: As a part of their brutal attack, the Chinese forced the Tibetans themselves to publicly burn down the holiest part of their monastery: the golden tomb of Je Tsongkhapa.

(fire roaring) ♪ ♪ (speaking Tibetan): NAMDRUL: (birds chirping) (speaking Tibetan): (speaking Tibetan): (speaking Tibetan): LEGSHE (speaking Tibetan): (wind blowing gently) (chanting): (speaking): (chanting): (continues chant): (continues chant): (three continue chant): LEGSHE (chanting alone): (speaking): (sniffles) (breath catches) (coughs) (voice trembling): (crying): ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ CHOEPHEL: Understanding what creates suffering in life is at the core of Buddhism.

The monks' experiences gave them even deeper motivation to keep their faith alive.

They continued to settle in to the Tibetan Buddhist Center in Buxar, India.

(chanting, throat-singing) (ringing) (speaking Tibetan): DAWA: (people talking in background, hands clapping) ♪ ♪ (clapping, conversations continue) WANGCHUK (speaking Tibetan): CHOEPHEL: Although the Buddhist center in Buxar provided a solid foundation for Buddhist scholarship in India, it became impossible to recruit new monks to this secluded location.

Seeing this as a threat to the survival of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama asked the Indian government to let the monks move closer to Tibetan communities in India, with the hope of building and sustaining their own monastery.

(speaking Tibetan): (speaking Tibetan): (man humming) NAMDRUL: WANGCHUK: (bells jingling) ♪ ♪ (speaking Tibetan): WANGCHUK: CHOEPHEL: The monks were resettled nearby my refugee camp.

They would have to rebuild their monastery with their own hands.

Unlike in Buxar, where the government took care of their livelihood, the monks would also now have to make their own living, just like my family and all the other Tibetan refugees.

(speaking Tibetan): (speaking Tibetan): (laughs) (speaking Tibetan): LOBSANG JAMYANG (speaking Tibetan): (speaking Tibetan): JAMYANG (speaking Tibetan): (birds chirping, insects buzzing) CHOEPHEL: After the monks cleared the forest and made their environment livable, they finally began building their new monastery.

YONTEN (speaking Tibetan): CHOEPHEL: By the time the first temple was finished, thousands of Tibetan refugees had settled nearby.

(birds chirping) From these communities, including my own refugee camp, the monastery was finally able to start recruiting new monks.

(gong striking softly) (pace and volume increasing) (gong fades) (chanting) (chanting) (chanting continues) CHOEPHEL: After the monks established their monastery in India, the news spread to Tibet.

Many more Tibetan monks escaped to India to join the monastery.

It was as if Ganden had been reborn.

(woman singing) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (speaking Tibetan): ♪ ♪ (exclaims) (speaking Tibetan) (all laughing) (continues speaking) (playing) CHOEPHEL: This is Ganden's welcome music for the Dalai Lama called "Nyessen."

It is always played the day before his arrival.

(trumpets continue) ("Nyessen" continues) ("Nyessen" continues) ♪ ♪ (people singing) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ CHOEPHEL: In exile, the Dalai Lama continues to be the spiritual leader of Tibetan people around the world.

He often comes to Ganden to give teachings.

LEGSHE (speaking Tibetan): ♪ ♪ DALAI LAMA (speaking Tibetan): (audience laughing) (speaking Tibetan): (monks chanting) THUPTEN (speaking Tibetan): (speaking Tibetan): ♪ ♪ CHOEPHEL: Today, most of the older monks who were forced to leave Tibet have passed away.

Only a few remain as a living human link to Ganden's past.

(speaking Tibetan): THUPTEN (speaking Tibetan): (speaking Tibetan): (speaking Tibetan): ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (speaking Tibetan) (reading aloud, chanting) ♪ ♪ (monks and students chanting) YULO RINPOCHE (speaking Tibetan): - (speaking Tibetan): - (speaking Tibetan): (drums beating, monks chanting in distance) JANGCHUB DAMDUL: (talking, exclaiming in background) PRINCIPAL: (all applauding) (all applauding) (speaking Tibetan): (speaking Tibetan): (speaking Tibetan): (monks chanting and throat-singing) (chanting and throat-singing) (pitch rising gradually) (hands clapping, throat-singing continues) (chant reaches high pitch) (men continue chanting, children begin) (all chanting at once) (men singing at high pitch, others throat-singing) (singing at high pitch) (continue singing at high pitch) (chant continues) (throat-singing) (all chanting at low pitch) (clears throat, others throat-singing) (monks stop singing, leader throat-singing solo) (bells ringing, monks chanting) (monks singing, bells ringing) (monks and bells fading gradually) (bells ring) (bells ring) (chanting) (chanting) CHOEPHEL: 60 years after the older monks escaped from Tibet during the Tagtse Dumchoe festival, Ganden in India is a completely functioning monastery.

It has 3,000 monks in two colleges and 23 dormitories, just like Ganden in Tibet.

Their journey brought Buddhism back to India, where it was born.

(monks chanting) (bells ringing) ♪ ♪ (bell rings) (bell rings) (bell rings) (bell ringing) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (man singing Tibetan song) (song continues) (song continues) (song continues) ♪ ♪