The principal educational tool used in all three of these great monastic universities was the technique of ‘Tsen-nyi’ or reflective enquiry, a highly disciplined form of debate applied for the purpose of penetrating into the deeper meanings of the subjects under study. Students would generally have two or three classes each day, and for many hours during the evening and following morning would debate the material that had been covered in order to analyze and experiment with it. Each month would see the “Night-Long Debate”, in which each class would get to demonstrate its talents and progress in front of the entire assembly; and each winter would witness the six-week Inter-monastery debate meet, in which the three universities would train and debate together, thus standardizing their programs.

The central curriculum in all the three monastic universities was the five great philosophical treatises of classical Buddhist India. Each college studied these from three fundamental perspectives: the central Indian treatises; the commentaries of the early monastic university masters, i.e., Tsongkhapa ( 1357-1419), Gyaltsapjey (1364-1432), Khedrupjey (1385-1438), and the First Dalai Lama (1391-1475); and their individual college manuals. Loseling College mostly used the manual written by Panchen Sonam Dakpa (1478-1554), the tutor of the Third Dalai Lama (1543- 1588). In addition, reference would be made to numerous other treatises and manuals by later commentators, as well as to the writings of contemporary teachers. For example, in the Drepung Loseling refugee College in India, the textbooks by the late Khensur Pema Gyaltsen, who passed away in the 1980s, are tremendously popular.

The five Indian treatises constituting the main body of the curriculum have to be memorized by all aspiring students prior to their admission to the formal study program. This ensures that during the actual coursework they can concentrate on unpacking the deeper meanings of the fundamental texts by devoting their time to the associated textbooks, commentaries, manuals and oral guidelines

These five subjects, together with their associated Indian treatises, are as follows :

1) Prajnaparamita” The Perfection of Wisdom”. The principal textbook, written in the mid-fourth century, covers the implicit content of the Prajnaparamita Sutras. It provides a general presentation of the philosophical and psychological principles in the process of achieving inner well-being and maturation, which are states of psychical growth known in Buddhist Sanskrit diction as Moksha or liberation and buddhahood.
Students of Drepung Losel Ling generally dedicate seven years to this study.

2) Madhyamika or “The Middle View”. This involves a specific presentation and critical analysis of the fundamental nature of phenomena, the compatibility of the absence of a findable, solid entity within things with the reality of phenomena’s valid conventional functionality. This subject is studied for a period of three years.

3) Pramana or “Valid Inquiry”. This involves an investigation of the underlying principles of a number of disciplines, including epistemology and linguistics, the nature of the mind and its functions, the philosophy of perception and its influence upon knowledge, the role of logical reasoning in testing the validity of personal understanding, and so forth. In all three monastic universities pramana is generally studied for six weeks a year throughout the twenty year training program.

4) Vinaya or “The Philosophy of Ethics”. Here the fundamental Indian texts used are the Vinaya-sutras or Discourses on the Philosophy of Ethics, by the Buddha, and Fundamental Treatises on the Philosophy of Ethics, by Acharya Gunaprabha. The study period generally lasts for four years.

5) Abhidharma or “Treasury of Knowledge”. This involves a survey and re-contextualization of the numerous metaphysical and psychological doctrines encountered during the students’ many years of prior study, and in a sense is the summation of the philosophical training. Abhidharma is generally studied for two years.

As a preparation to the study of these five fundamental subjects, students of all three monastic universities, and thus also of Drepung Loseling College, would begin their training with approximately a year each on three preliminary courses: “Collected Topcs” which is an introduction to metaphysical analysis; “Science of Mind” which introduces the students to the basic Buddhist concepts on the nature of mind and mental functions; and “ Science of Reasoning” the methods of logical inquiry and analysis.

Thus the formal education in the three monastic universities generally required nineteen years of course work. In Drepung Losel Ling, this would be followed by at least one more year of review, during which the student would have to sit for examinations at each of the twenty five departments. Hence the full training would require approximately twenty years.

Typical day in the monastery :
A typical day begins with waking up as early as 5 in the morning to do memorization practice for about one hour. At 6 in the morning almost regularly the monks must assemble in the new prayer hall for daily Morning Prayer session which continues till 7.30. The breakfast is served in the prayer hall. Thereafter at 9 o’clock the morning debate session on Buddhist Philosophy begins which goes on till 11.30 a.m. After two hours of lunch break, it is time for the monk students to attend their respective lesson on Buddhist Philosophy from their teachers from 2 to 5 and then from 7 to 9 p.m. In the intervening period, the monks have dinner break. The evening debate lasts mostly till 11.

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Religious Festivals in the Monastery :
In a year, eight important religious festivals are observed in the monastery. They are as follow :

1 The First Spring Religious Festival
The first Spring Religious Festival commences on the second day of the second month of the Tibetan Calendar and it is held for fifteen days. During the daytime debate session, the prospective Geshes must do a debate tour and sit as answerers to all the class debates. Every Sunday they must visit the Khangtsen debate sessions and sit as answerers. The festival winds up on the sixteenth of the same month followed by a seventeen day intermission where debates are not held in the monastery.

2 The Second Spring Religious Festival
The Second Spring Religious Festival – the great Spring Religious festival – commences on the third month of the Tibetan Lunar Calendar. It is held for a month. During this festival the interclass debates are held. This festival is one of the most exciting festivals. The festival ends on the third day of the fourth month of the Tibetan Calendar followed by a three-day intermission when debates are skipped in the monastery.

3 The Third Spring Religious Festival
The Third Spring Religious Festival – the Debate on Emptiness- commences on the sixteenth of the fourth month of the Tibetan calendar and it is held for twenty days. During this festival the interclass debate continues if it has not been completed during the previous festival. The highlight of this festival is that the abbot should teach from the Lamrim Chenmo(Graduated path to enlightenment).

4 The Great Summer Religious Festival
The Great Summer religious Festival commences on the sixteenth day of the fifth month of Tibetan calendar and it is held for a month. The first debate session of the festival is held in the monastery itself. During the festival, the propective Geshes should take the main responsibility to resolve the first year students’ inquiries on the Vinaya and Abhidharma texts. They should also meticulously examine their “Four-Possibility” debate on Vinaya and Abhidharma which is to be presented in the Drepung University

5 The Great Autumn Religious Festival
This one-month-long festival begins on the third day of the eighth month of the Tibetan calendar. During this festival the monks resolve their uncertainties of the Middle Way Philosophy and the Perfection of Wisdom texts. The monks with gifted voices are trained in the art of prayer melodies for a week in this month

6 The Second Autumn Religious Festival
The second Autumn Religious Festival also called as Sakar Choera which literally means Whitewash Debate. This festival begins on the sixteenth day of the ninth month Tibetan Calendar. During this festival the Abbot teaches Lamrim: the Path of Bliss through his personal experiences.

7 The First Winter Religious Festival
This religious festival is also called Ngamchoe Choera which begins on the sixteenth day of the tenth month of Tibetan calendar. This festival goes on for fifteen days. During this festival the abbot of the monastery teaches in the evening debate sessions and should also debate on epistemology. The monks who are selected as answerers for the forthcoming Inter monasteries winter debate meet need to do a debate tour as answerers for all the class debates.

8 The Great Winter Religious Festival
This is also a month long debate session which starts from the sixteenth day of the eleventh month of Tibetan calendar. In this festival, Geshe Lharampas and Geshe Tsokrampas must be the answerers for the debate