Tibetan monasteries · The Tibetan lands: houses, monasteries and clan chiefs, with no king · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Reting

Reting (also Radreng, 'Rwa sgreng', the same house: the brief lists them as two) was founded in 1056 or 1057 by Dromton, Atisha's chief pupil, in the Reting Tsangpo valley north of Lhasa, and held Atisha's relics in a silver stupa (zh Wikipedia).

It was the first great monastery of the Kadam, the 'first major monastery of the Sarma revival' (en), and the head of the Kadam line. By 1200 the Kadam have lost ground to the Kagyu and Sakya, and the sources we opened do not say who leads Reting. It lies next to Taklung in the Phenpo uplands, and the later history (Taklung influence in the thirteenth century; Reting as a Gelug house after Tsongkhapa) is outside the game.

In 1240 the Mongol general Dorda burned Reting and its neighbour Gyal Lhakhang (fr and zh Wikipedia), one of the first Mongol acts in Tibet.

Who holds it

Title
Abbot of Reting (Radreng)
Since
not pinned
Confidence
low

The Chinese page (热振寺) lists the first abbots after Dromton (d. 1064): an Atisha disciple (1015-1078), Gonpawa Wangchuk Gyaltsen and Potowa (1031-1105, the fourth). Nothing names the abbot of 1200.

Overlord

none: no one rules Tibet in 1200; the house answers to its own patrons and to the custom of the valleys

What it holds

  • Reting monastery and the Reting Tsangpo valley
  • Atisha's relics (tradition) and Dromton's stupa
  • Estates and three pastures at Damxung are listed by a modern Chinese page (33 manors, seven branch houses), undated and not used for 1200
  • The Kadam line

How it was acquired

1056/7 by Dromton.

Allies and rivals

Neighbour Taklung; Gyal Lhakhang (another Kadam house, same valley); Sangphu and Narthang are the learned Kadam houses of the Kyichu and Tsang.

How things stand that morning

An old, respected house in quiet decline; abbot not known.

Wealth

No source we could open gives figures; the usual base is estates and serfs, herds, pass tolls, trade in salt, wool, tea and barley, and the gifts of patrons.

Military

No standing army; the house or lord calls on retainers, tenants and kin. No troop numbers are given by any source we could open.

Threats

  • None known in 1199-1200.

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

  1. 1240Dorda Darkhan's Mongol column sacks Reting and Gyal Lhakhang.Depends on: A Mongol army reaching Tibet; the Mongol empire and its conquests of the Tangut (1227) and Jin (1234) lie between. Stopped by: No Mongol rise.

Places of note

  • Reting: Monastery in Tanggo township, Lhunzhub County; position approximate

Where the sources disagree

  • The English page gives the founding as 1057; the Chinese page 1056 for the monastery and 1057 for the upper hall. Both are used.
  • The brief lists "Reting, Narthang and Radreng" as three: Radreng is the old name of Reting.

Evidence: Only the founding and the first abbots are on the pages we opened; 1200 is blank. Treasury of Lives, the Blue Annals, the Red Annals, Petech, Sorensen and Hazod and Davidson could not be opened in this session (treasuryoflives.org and rigpawiki.org refused the fetch; the archive.org full texts were refused or cut off), so facts marked 'recalled' are from memory of those works and unchecked.

On the map: Position approximate (within about 15 km); the Chinese page gives only "95 km from the county seat, 160 km from Lhasa".

Primary sources for Tibet (centre)

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

Sources and studies

  1. Wikipedia, Reting Monastery
  2. Chinese Wikipedia, 热振寺
  3. Wikipedia, Kadam (Tibetan Buddhism)
  4. Wikipedia, Lhünzhub County
  5. French Wikipedia, Histoire du Tibet
  6. Wikipedia, Taklung Monastery

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.