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Matho Monastery

Matho Monastery, or Matho Gonpa or Mangtro Monastery or Mangtro Gonpa, from the Tibetan "mang" that means "many" and "tro" that means "happiness", is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery located 26 kilometres southeast of Leh in Ladakh, northern India, on the banks of the Indus River. The village of Matho is located at the mouth of a deep gorge running out of the Zanskar Range and across the Indus. It is directly opposite Thikse Monastery. Matho and Skidmang in the eastern Ladakh (130 km to the east of Leh) are the only example in Ladakh of the Sakyapa sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Because Matho does not lie on the main highway from Leh, it sees fewer visitors than Hemis, Thiske or Shey. However, Matho Monastry is known to outsiders for its annual Oracle Matho Nagrang Festival, held on the 14th and 15th days of the first month of the Tibetan calendar. During this festival, two oracles, known as "Rongtsan", are said to inhabit for a few hours the body of two monks. The purpose of these oracles is to attempt to predict the fortunes of the local village communities for the coming year. Two monk that are to be the oracles vehicles are chosen every three years by the monks of the monastery for a duration of 3 years. The first year the monks will have to meditate for 9 months before the festival. The following two years the meditation will last 2 months.…

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Article summary

Matho Monastery, or Matho Gonpa or Mangtro Monastery or Mangtro Gonpa, from the Tibetan "mang" that means "many" and "tro" that means "happiness", is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery located 26 kilometres southeast of Leh in Ladakh, northern India, on the banks of the Indus River. The village of Matho is located at the mouth of a deep gorge running out of the Zanskar Range and across the Indus. It is directly opposite Thikse Monastery. Matho and Skidmang in the eastern Ladakh (130 km to the east of Leh) are the only example in Ladakh of the Sakyapa sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Because Matho does not lie on the main highway from Leh, it sees fewer visitors than Hemis, Thiske or Shey. However, Matho Monastry is known to outsiders for its annual Oracle Matho Nagrang Festival, held on the 14th and 15th days of the first month of the Tibetan calendar. During this festival, two oracles, known as "Rongtsan", are said to inhabit for a few hours the body of two monks. The purpose of these oracles is to attempt to predict the fortunes of the local village communities for the coming year. Two monk that are to be the oracles vehicles are chosen every three years by the monks of the monastery for a duration of 3 years. The first year the monks will have to meditate for 9 months before the festival. The following two years the meditation will last 2 months.…

Key claims

  1. date of foundation: 1410 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. The record states that the date of foundation is "1410". What evidence would count against this claim?
  3. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  4. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

  1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1347456820

Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.