Short History of Monasteries and Palaces in Tibet

LHASA & AREA

01. Potala Palace

King Songtsen Gampo was the first Tibetan ruler to establish a palace on this outcrop. – the Red Hill, which dominates the city of Lhasa. This palace was called Kukhar Potrang was burned down by the invading Chinese during the reign of his successor Mangsong Mangtsen the construction of the present palace was begun in 1645 during the reign of the great fifth Dalai Lama and completed in 1694. The building if named after Mount Potala in South India, one of the holy mountains of the Hindu God Shiva. Buddhists, however dedicated this same mountain to Avalokitesvara, the bodhisattva of compassion and gave the name “Potala” to the pure land where Avalokitesvara resides. Since both Songtsen Gampo and Dalai Lama are considered the incarnations of Avalokitesvara, Potala was the obvious choice for their dwelling.

02. Sera Monastery:

5 km north of Lhasa. Like the Drepung and Ganden is another great Gelukpa Monastery and centre for learning and monastic training. It was built below a small hermitage where Tsong Khapa spent several years in retreat and meditating, by his leading discipline Jamchen Chöje Shakya Yeshe of Tsel Gungtang in1419. Sera is divided into two main colleges (dratsang), Sera Me and Sera Je. Earlier the Emperor Yung-lo Ming of China had invited Tsong Khapa, unable to go he sent Shakya Yeshe in his stead. The Emperor showing his appreciation of Shakya Yeshe’s teaching bestowed the title “Jamchen Chöje Shakya Yeshe in 1434 (Great Gentle Dharma Lord), name by which he is known today.

03. Drepung Monastery:

8 km west of Lhasa. One of the three great Gelukpa Monasteries near Lhasa, the other two being Sera and Ganden. Until the occupation it served like its two sister monasteries as centre for learning and monastic training to which monks from all over Tibet would come to spend as long as 15 years methodically studying and debating the meaning of the Buddhist scriptures. For centuries it existed as a small monastic township housing thousands of fully ordained monks and other functionaries. It was founded in 1416 by Jamyang Chöje Tahsi Pelden, a disciple of Tsong Khapa.

04. Norbulingka Palace:
Called the “Jewel Park”, is a large open area about four kilometres to the west of Lhasa, and referred to as the summer palace of the Dalai Lama. Its official name now is the People’s Park. Kelsang Gyatso, the Seventh Dalai Lama, was the first Dalai Lama to make use of this rural park. He came here not only to rest but to bathe in a curative spring to treat his legs. Since the time of the Eight Dalai Lama, the park has been used as a summer palace, retreat and recreation area for the successive Dalai Lamas. Most of the main buildings were constructed during this entury by the Thirteenth and the Fourteenth Dalai Lamas. Construction begun under the Seventh Dalai Lama, Kelsang Gyatso in 1775. It is the first building one encounters in the eastern section of the Norbulingka is the Kelsang Palace – name after the Seventh Dalai Lama, Kelsang Gyatso.

05. Jokhang Temple:

Formerly called the Trulnang Temple or temple of “magical appearance” - erected by King Songtsen Gampo, 7th century – to house statute of Akshobhya Buddha – in Tibetan Jowo Mikö Dorje – given to him by his Nepalese Wife Princess Bhirikuti. Later the statue of Jowo Shakyamuni given to him by his Chinese wife Princess Wen Cheng, was moved here from the Ramoche Temple that the present name became Jokhang, the “Shrine of the Jowo.” It is one of the holiest of temples in Tibet and is the main centre of pilgrimage.

06. Tsurpu Monastery:
It was founded in 1189 by the first Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa, He went to Central Tibet to study and at the age of thirty became the disciple of Gampopa. He returned to Kham and founded Karmapa′ i Densa, the monastery from which the Karma Kagyu derived its name. Only toward the end of his life did he return to Central Tibet to findTsurpu. Dusum Khyenpa returned in 1204 as Karma Pakshi, the second Karmapa nine years after his death. He was invited by Kublai Khan in 1256, finding that Sakya Lama Pakpa had already established himself as the Kublai Khan’s teacher; he chose to leave. On his way he received another invitation from head of the Mongol Empire, who became his disciple and gave him the title Pakshi meaning master or achrya in Mongolian. After Mönke Khan’s death, he was banished from Tibet by Kublai Khan, who supported Pakpa. After eight years of teaching he returned to Tsurpu and spent the rest of his life renovating and enlarging the monastery. Tsurpu was further enlarged during the time of the fifth Karmapa, Deshin Shekpa.

07. Ganden Monastery:
Located 40 km east of Lhasa. The fifteenth – century monastery erected on top Mount Drokri after a prayer festival by Tsong Khapa and the main centre of the Gelukpa order. Ganden in Tibetan means “Tushita,” the Pure Land where the future Buddha Maitreya resides. Within a year seventy buildings had been completed, but it was not until 1417 that the main hall of the monastery was consecrated. Tsong Khapa died at Ganden two years later in 1419. Shortly
before his death passed the mantle of succession to Gyelstab Je, one of his two main disciples.

08. Reting Monastery:
It is 150 km north of Lhasa. Instead of turning left to Talung after the Chak-la pass continue on the same road for another 20 km, passing the Tashi Gomang Stupa on your left, to the small town of Pongdo Chu (or Pongdo Dzong), where the road rejoins the Kyichu River Reting is 24 km fron the Pongdo on the north bank of the Rongchu Valley. Reting was the first Kadampa moastery to be founded. Drom Tönpa,Atisha’s chief disciple, began building it when he settled herein 1057, three years after his teacher’s death. He brought with him. He had brought with him some of hidteachers relics and remained until his own death in 1064, both teaching and meditating. Many of them who had been inspired by Atisha’s approach joined him and around them crystallized what came to be known as the Kadam (Spiritual Advice) order of Tibetan Buddhism. These founders were known as the Kadampa Geshes. Only later did the Gelukpa. A later outgrowth of the Kadampa ideal , use the term “Geshe” to designate an official degree of learning. After Drom the abbotship passed to his disciple Neljorpa Chenpo, who considerably enlarged the monastery. The well known kadampa Geshe Potowa also served as abbott for three years in the eleventh century.

09. Namtso Lake:
On the 49 km descent from Lhachen La Pass, there are spectacular views of the tidal Namtso Lake, which is 70km long and 30 km wide is the second largest salt water lake in the Tibetan Plateau after Kokonor. The average altitude is 4,718m, and the landscape is dominated by the snow peak of Nyencheb Tanglha to the southwest. O/N Guest House

10. Tashi Dor:
A cave hermitage near the bird sanctuary, marked by two lofty sheer rock towers. The overall distance from Damzhung to Tashi Dor is 74 km. The hermitage caves have a particular association between Padmasambhava and his consort Yeshe Tsogel. It was frequented by great many lamas of the past, including the Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje. Nowadays, there are occpied by occasioanl hermits of the Nyingma and Kagyu schools. A newly constructed cave temple is maintained by three nuns and two monks. The temple follows the Nyingma tradition, holding Konchok Chidu ceremonies on the 10th day of the lunar month, and Dudjom Troma ceremonies on the 25th. O/N Guest House

11. Yangpachen Monastery:
Located 14 km along the turn – off for Shug La Pass (5300m) and Shigatse. It was founded in 1490 by Mu Rabjampa Thujepel on the advice of the Fourth Zharmapa Chokyi Drakpa (1453 – 1524), with funds provided by Donyo Dorje of Rinpung. Since then it has been the main residence of
Chokyi Drakpa’s subsequent incarnations, the Zharmapa hierarchs, who wear a red hat in contrast to the black hat worn by the Karmapa. The Zharmapas held sway in Upper Tolung until 1782 when the status of the 10th Zharmapa (1742 – 17820) was annulled Tibetan Government, following his alliance with the Gorkha invasion force in attempted restoration of Kagyu power.

12. Drigung Til:
The head monastery of the Drigung Kagyu orfer, Drigung Til is located 130 km northeast of Lhasa. It rises spectacularly from a high mountainside at the end of the long valley that begins at Drigung Chu, where the River Kyichu makes its last sharp bend before flowing down to Lhasa. Although a hermitage was first built on this site by the Kagyu yogi Minyal Gomrin in 1167, in 1179 it became the base of the Drigung suborder of the Kagyu tradition. The monastery was
founded by a monk from Kham (1143 – 1217), a disciple of the great Kagyu Lama Pamotrupa, subsequently known as Jigten Sumgon, Lord Protector of Drigung. Due to his influence the monstery quickly grew in size and reputation and by the thirteenth century, was vying with the powerful Sakya order for political power in Tibet. Although it managed to survive an attack by the Mongols patrons in 1240 of the Sakyapa (the same force that destroyed Reting). In 1290 it was burned to the ground by the Sakya Army. While Drigung never again aspired for political power, it remains renowned for training monks in the contemplative tradition.

13. Terdrom Nunnery:
In 772 King Trisong Detsen offered his wife of two years, Yeshe Tsogyel, to the Indian Tantric guru Padsmabhava. This caused such an uproar among the King’s Bön ministers that the couple were forced to flee the royal court. They took refuge at Terdrom , where they lived alone practicing tantric yogas in a cave, subsequently called the Tsogyel Sangpuk (Tsogyel’s Secret Cave). After Padsambahva departed Yeshe Tsogyel returned to Terdrom with another consort from Nepal. The side valley that leads to Terdrom is 2 km west of Drigung Til. A half hour drive of 8 km leads you up to a point where the small river divides into two and you see a profusion of small houses and prayer flags where most of the 115 nuns currently settled live here. The nunnery clearly stands out from the other smaller dwellings. The altar of the simple, earth – floor chapel displays the eight manifestations of Padmasanbhava and the peaceful and wrathful aspects of Abchi Drolma.

14. Talung Monastery:
It was founded by in 1180 by the sage Talung Tangpa Tashi Pel (1142 – 1210)on the site where the Kadampa masters Drom Tönpa and Potowa lived. Talung Tangpa was a disciple of Pamotrupa Dorje Gyelpo in the Kagyu line descended from Gampopa and Milarepa. He was renowned not only for his contemplative insights and powers but also for his austere and simple life. Under the inspirationof its founder , Talung Monastery became well known for its strict adherence to the monastic rules.

15. Nechung Monastery:
only a few minutes walk from Drepung Monastery, Nechung has an important place in the history of Tibet. Until 1959 the medium for the state oracle of Tibet lived here. The mediun was a monk through the special protector of the Tibetan Government, Dorje Drakden, would give advice to the Dalai
Lamas and leaders of the country. No major decisions the Tibetan Government would be made without first consulting the Nechung oracle. The Nechung community of monks always had a special relationship with the deity Dorje Drakden. It is believed that this deity was first recognized and propitiated in India, where it was known as Pehar.

16. Drak Yerpa:
45 km northeast from Lhasa, following the road toward Ganden. Giuseppe Tucci, the Italian scholar and traveller, recorded his first impression of Yerpa in 1949 thus: “Yerpa appeared before my eyes at a bend of the road, a cascade of small white buildings along steep, green overgrown cliffs. One could have thought that one was not in Tibet”. Yerpa is said to be the “life tree”, or spiritual axis , of Lhasa itself. With more than eighty meditation caves, it was a village of
several hundred hermits, monks, and nuns who lived on a site sanctified by Songsten Gampo, Padmasambhava, Yeshe Tsogyel, Padampa Sanggye and Atisha. Since the seveth century it has been considered one of the most sacred sites in Central Tibet.

17. Tashigang Monstery:
Approximately 4 km past the Buddha on the cliffside is a turning on the left, marked with a sign in Tibetan and English, to the newly restored Tashigang Monastery. Its white stupa can be seen from the main road amid the village houses. Founded in the thirteenth century by the Sakya hierarch Pakpa, the small monastery of Tashigang was the first overnight stopover for the Dalai Lamas when travelling soutward from Lhasa.

18. Drölma Lhakhang:
6 km past the Buddha on the cliffside, Drölma Lhakhang is clearly visible on the right hand side of the road. Atisha is the honorific Sanskrit name given to Dipamkara Shri Jnana, the Indian Buddhist master from Bengal who was instrumental in the so – called dissemination of Buddhism in Tibet. Atisha or Jowoje (Precious Lord) as he is called by Tibetans, was born to a noble family in Bengal in 982. He renounced his home and wealth at an early age and dedicated himself to the setensicew study of Buddhism. He arrive in Tibet in 1042, aged sixty on the repeated invitations of King Lha Lama Yeshe Ö. Hos composed short text – “The Lamp of the Path to Enlightenment” became the basic writing of the Kadampa school. Which formed after his death under his chief disciple, the layman Drom Tönpa. He spent his years in Netand and died here in 1054 afte spending a total of 12 years in Tibet. Since hios death Drölma Lhakhang, dedicated to the female deity Tara, with whom he had a particularly strong connection, has been preserved as s shrine in his memory.

19. Ratö Monastery:
A further 7 km past Drölma Lhakhang, a road on the right leads to the village and Monastery of Ratö. It was founded by a lama called Takstang, who was born in 1045. It was an important early Kadampa monastery and was eventually taken over by the Geluk order. Ngog Loden Sherab, the great translator, as well as Tsongkhapa, spent time here. Later it became renowned as a centre for the specialized study of logic and debate. The most revered image in the
temple is a small Indain figure of Tara, a replica of which is now enshrined in a glass case ot the left of the throne. It is said that Atisha paid homage to this image nad it spole to him. It is believe that the moanstery was founded here as early as the seventh or eight century by a disciple of the Indian master Chandragomin. It was revived in 1017 by a monk named Tsultrim Jungne, a disciple of Lumpa Lumepa one of the main figures responsible for the re-establishment of the monastic order in Central Tibet and Tsang after the suppression of Buddhism by Langdarma. During the eleventh centurty the abbot of Tangboche, Tsöndru Yugdrung, invited
Atisha to live in the monstery.

TSETHANG & AREA

01. Samye Monastery:
First Buddhist Monastery to be built in Tibet, probably founded during the 770s under the patronage if King Trisong Deltsen, with the work being directed by Padmasambhava and Shantarakshita, the two Indianmasters the king had invited to Tibet.to help consolidate the Buddhist faith. The monastery was designed on the plan of the Odantapuri temple in present day Bihar, Biharand mirrored the basic structure of the universe. As described in Buddhist cosmology. The central temple represents Mt. Sumeru, the mythical mountain at the centre of the cosmos. Around it are four temples called “ling” which represent the four continents (ling) situated in the vast ocean to the north, south, east, and west of Sumeru. To the right and left of each of these temples are two smaller temples called “ling-tren,” representing the subcontinents (ling-tren) of the Buddhist universe.

02. Mindroling Monastery:
The area around Mindroling is famous as the birthplace of many renowned Nyingma teachers: Drapa Ngonshe, Orgyen Lingpa, Terdak Lingpa, and Longchen Rabjampa, all of whom spent much of their lives meditating, studying and founding monasteries in the region. In recent times Mindroling has served as the most important Nyingma monastery in Cnetral Tibet. In fact it was the first large monastic establishment of the school, which until the seventeenth century was based in small temples and hermitages throughout Tibet. It was founded by the tertön Terdak Lingpa (1646 – 1714) in 1676.

03. Ganden Chökor Ling:
If you walk up the main street of the old town town of Tsethang, you will arrive at a sort of square with the monastery of Ganden Chökor Ling to the left. Founded by a monl called Sonam Tobgyal. During the reign of the Seventh Dalai Lama (1708 – 1757) it was converted from a Nyingma to a Geluk Monastery under the abbotship of a geshe from Gyu-me called Tenzin Peljor Drakpa. The main chapel enshrines three hugestautes of Tsongkhapa and his chief two
disciples.

04. Ngamchö Monastery:
Although Jangchub Gyeltsen’s family was historically connected with the Kagyu Tradition at Densatil Monastery, Jangchub Gyeltsen himself was a monk in the Kadam tradition. It was around the Kadam Monastery he founded, known simply as Tsethang Gompa, that the village of Tsethang evolved. Jangchub Gyeltsen’s successors, however, aligned themselves with the newly emerging Geluk school of Tsongkhapa. From oral information given by the Geluk monks at Ngamchö Monastery it would appear that this was the original monastery of Jangchub Gyeltsen. At the the time of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama the monastery was under the leadership of Serkong Dorje Chang, one of the few Geluk lamas of this century who disrobed in order to pursue advanced tantric. Practices. His son, Serkong Tsenshap Rinpoche, became an assistant tutor to the present Dalai Lama.

05. Sang-Ngak Zimche Nunnery:
Turning right from Ngamchö Monastery and continuing to the upper edge of the old town, you reach a small rebuilt temple at the lower slopes of Gangpo Ri. This small Geluk nunnery is one of the first nunneries of the ordser. It was founded on the site of a cave where a lama named Kyerong Ngawang Drakpa meditated. The main chapel and assembly hall of the nunnery has its central image an old statue of a thousand - armed, thousand – eyed Avalokiteshvara.

06. Gangpo Ri:
An arduous hike will take you up this mounatin that dominates the town to the “Monkey Bodhisattva Cave,” where the Avalokiteshvara descended to mate with the demones. The main pilgrim route starts 8 km along the main road out of Tsethang eastward toward Nyingchi and ascends the steep hill, passing the ruins of the Tongdu Nunnery, before reaching the cave, which is marked by a small shrine, just below the ridge. Traditionally, walk up here on Sakadawa, the day that celebrates the birth, enightenment and death of the Buddha. To complete the circumambulation route, which returns you to the Tsethang side of the ridge (just north of Trandruk Temple), takes ten to twelve hours. A more direct path takes you straight up from Tsethang in about four hours.

07. Sheldrak:
Looking across the tioown and valley to the west you can see a high, pointed mountain standing out from the surrounding hills. Just below the summit is the famous Sheldrak (Crystal Rock) Cave of Padmasambhava, which has been recently restored as a shrine. It was here that Orgyen Lingpa discovered the Guru’s biorgraphy, the Padma Ka Tang, hidden by Yeshe Tsogyel. Three hundred years later Terdak Lingpa of Mindroling also discovered terma here. As with the
Gangpo Ri route it takes between ten and twelve hours to walk to Sheldrak and back. The path starts 8 km southwest of the town along the a dirt road that runs up the western banmk of the Yarlung Valley. The pilgrimage starts behind the Tsechu Bumpa, recently rebuilt on the site of the original eight century stupa, and winds uop the rocky summit. Before the arrival of Nyatri Tsenpo the first King, who is said to have lived several centuries B.C.E. – this quasi shamanic figure, regarded as having an Indian Buddhsit ancestry, the Tibetans lived in caves, it was he who erected the frist houses, in particular Yumbulagang.

THE YARLUNG & CHONGGYE VALLEYS

01. Tandruk Temple:
Tandruk is situated in the middle of village of the same name 5 km south of Tsethang upthe Yarlung Valley. It is one of the first Buddhist temples built in Tibet. As with the Jokhang and Ramoche temples, its founding is attributed to King Songtsen Gampo in the seventh century. He is said to have erected it to house a spontaneously formed image of Tara, and also served as a winter palace for the King. Like the Katsel Temple near Medrogungkar, it is a “demoness-subduing” temple. It was repaired and enlarged byKing Trisong Detsen, further expanded in the fourteenth and seveenth centuries.

02. Yumbulagang Monastery:
a further 6 km up the Yarlung Valley a small road winds up to the left and takes you to what is regarded as the site of the oldest building in Tibet. Yumbulagang is believed by Tibetans to have originally built by the first king of the Yarlung Dynasty Nyatri Tsenpo. This tall , dignified building rises erect on the spur of the hill, commanding view of the entire valley, Scholars believe that this building that stood on this site until the mid-sixties probably dated back to the seventh or eight century may have been built by either Songtsen Gampo or Trisong Detsen. Tibtan murals suggest that it found its final form during the time of the Fifth Dalai Lama.

03. Rechung Puk:
Heading back from Yumbulagang in the direction of Tsethang until you come to a road that crosses the valley into a long tree lined lane. Rechung is high on the spur that divides the the Yarlung and Chonggye Valleys. One of Milarepa’s chief disciple was a yogi named Rechungpa (1083 – 1161). He was eleven years old when he met Milarepa and spent many year practicing under his guidance He travelled twice to India, where he studied extensively wioth Indian teachers.
In contrast to Milarepa’s other main disciple, the scholar monk Gampopa, Rechungpa was a lay yogi. Rechung Puk (Rechung’s Cave) is one of the places where Rechungpa spent time meditating. Three hundred years late the site was associated with another famous lay yogi, Tsangnyön (also know nas the “Crazy one from Tsang”) – (1455 – 1529), who claimed to follow REchuingpa’s oral tradition rather than the clerical approach of Gampopa. All that remains at rechung Puk is a small cluster of white buildings, which have been rebuilt around the site of the cave. The monastery belongs to a tradition called Rechung Nyingyu, which combines the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages.

04. Tangboche Monastery:
17 km down the Chonggye Valley from Tsethang, you will notice to your left a aquare temple building at the base of the hillside in a village. This is Tangboche. Tangboche means “ great plain.” This lower area in the Chonggye Valley derives its name from the time when the vast forest on the hillside burned down and showered the valley below with ash and charcoal, causing people to call it solnak tangboche, the great palin of coals.

05. Chonggye:
The Tombs of the Tibetan Kings: At the end of the Chonggye Valley, 13 km from Tangboche or 30 km director from Tsethang, are the tumuli erected as tombs for the kings of the Tibetan Empire during the seventh and eight centuries. Chonggye was the site chosen by the early Tibetan Kings as their burial ground. The large eroded tumuli that mark the tombs are found at the of the valley. The biggest and most easily recognizable tomb – the small temple om top – belongs to Songtsen Gampo. It is probable that his two queens were also burioed with hin here.

01. Songtsen Gampo (617 – 649), reigned from 629.
02. Mangsobg Mangtsen (646 – 676), the grandson of Songtsen Gampo enthroned 650.
03. Dride Tsugten [Me Agdzom] (704 – 754), enthroned in the year of his birth.
04. Trisong Detsen (742 – 797), reigned from 754.
05. Mune Tsenpo (d.800), a son of Trisong Detsen, reigned from 797.
06. Tride Songtsen [Se-na-lek], a son of Trisong Detsen, (776 – 815), reigned from 800.
07. Tri Ralpachen [Tritsug Detsen] (805 – 836), reigned from 1815. 7a.Stele erected by Tri Ralpachen.
08. Langdarma (803 – 842), eigned from 836.
09. Ö Sung (843 – 905), the son of Langdarma.
10. Lhe Bön (d.739), the son of Dride Tsugten.
11. Luna Trukyi Gyelpo (n.d.), the son of Lhe Bön (?)

With the exception of Dusong Mangpoje, the succesor of Mangsong Mangtsen, all the kings of the powerful Yarlung dynasty are buried here.. Songtsen Gampo (1), Trisong Detsen (4) and Tri Ralpachen (7) occupy prominent positions in early Tibetan history.

06. Riwo Dechen Monastery:
Just before arriving at the tombs of the ancient kings in Chonggye, you pass through the village of the same name, above which are the clearly visible ruins of the Chingwa Taktse Castle, aseries of ramparts climbing the ridge of the hill.A castle was originally built here by King Shatri, the tenth
ruler in the Yarlung line, and eas the principal residence of the Yarlung kings unitl the time of Songtsen Gampo. Beneath the ramparts are the remains of the once magnificent Riwo Dechen Monastery. The mighty crumbling walls of the main assembly hall are all that still stand of the original onastery, whose seventy buildings once covered the upper part of the hillside. The main assembly hall was founded by the fifteenth century lama Lowo Pelzang according to the design of Gartön Chöje a disciple of Khedrup Je. At the time of the fifth Dalai Lama it was assoicated with Drepung.

TSETHANG & NYINGCHI AREA – LHAMO’I LATSO: THE MIRACLE LAKE

01. Densatil Monastery:
About 25 km east of Tsethang at the village of Rong, the Tsangpo, narrows and the road veers south away from the turbulent course of the river. A ferry will take you from Rong to Sangri on the northern bcnk. The ruins of the once magnificent Kagyu monastery of Densatil, situated in a valley high above the Tsangpo, lie seeral kilometres to the west of Sangri. Densatil was founded in 1158 by Dorje Gyelpo (1110 – 1170), a monk from eastern Tibet, who
as a leading disciple of Gampopa.

02: The Olka Valley:
The Olka Valley is the traditional route from Lhasa to Lhamo’I Lhatso, which was followed by the Dalai Lamas and their regents.Remants of the stone - paved pathway can still be seen as you ascend the higher reaches of the Gyelong pass.
a. Several kilometres east of Sangri, before meeing the the Olka River, you come across the
ruins of the Sangri Karmar

GYANTSE

01. Pelkor Chöde:
Work started on the monastery by Rabten Kunzang in 1418 under spiritual guidance of Tsongkhapa’s disciple Khedrup Je, and was completed seven years later in 1425. Remarkably preserved, many statues and paintings inside date back to the time of its founding. Although the shrines are predominantly Shakya, it was traditionally unaffiliated and used as common assembly place. Today it is looked after by the Gelukpas.

02.Kumbum:
Rabten Kunzang in July 1427 embarked on his most ambitious project – the construction of the Kumbum (or Tashi Gomang Chöten), which was probably completed in 1439. the gilded copper roofing and the final consecration ceremonies, however not completed until 1474. the term Kumbum means having 100,000 images and refers to a particular style of stupa construction in which chapels are housed in ascending symmetrical stories.

SHIGATSE & AREA

01. Tashilhunpo Monastery:
Located in on the western edge of modern Shigatse, was founded in 1447 by Gendun Drup, a disciple of Tsongkhapa, who was subsequently recognised as the Dalai Lama. Gendun Drup was entombed in Tashilhunpo, one of two Dalai Lamas (the other was the sixth) whose remains are not enshrined in Lhasa. It was here that the Fifth Dalai Lama declared his teacher , Losang Chökyi Gyeltsen, then abbot of Tashilhunpo Monastery, to be a manifestation of Buddha Amitabh abd the fourth in a line of incarnate lamas starting from Khedrup Je, one of Tsongkhapa’s two chief disciples. Since the abbot of Tashilhunpo was already referred to by the title Panchen (great scholar), these incarnate lamas were called the Panchen Lamas. Losang Chökyi Gyeltsen thus became the fourth Panchen Lama. It is one of the main Geluk Monasteries.

02. Shalu (Zhalu):
The turnoff to Shalu is on the Gyantse – Shigatse road , 19 km before Shigatse. The monastery is 5 km south of the main road, it’s distinctive green tiled roof just visible from the turnoff. A Sakya/Kagyu Lama named Chetsun Sherab Jungne, who had promised, founded it in the eleventh century to built a temple at the place where an arrow fired by his Teacher Lotön Dorje would land. The first building was modelled on the plan on the plan of an Indian BuddhistVihara. In the fourteenth century under the Mongol - sponsored rule of Tibet under Sakyas Lamas, Shalu was remodelled. It was supported by Drakpa Gyeltsen, theleading lay figure of the family that supported the monastery, in the Newari style. The murals of the Segoma (Kangyur) and Gosum chapels are the most striking examples of this style to have survived. It is believed that Atisha spent some months here in Shalu in 1045.

03. Ngor Monastery:
About 7 hrs just after Tra La Pass (4050m) – turn right on a dirt road in the direction of Migchu Xian. Before reaching Migchu you turn right along a meandering routethat takes you to the base of the hills, 7 km. follow a wide riverbed a further 7 km to the village below the monastery. A steep and precipitous access road takes you to Ngor itself. It is possible to walk from Zhalu to Ngor – it is a good ten to twelve hour walk over two passes – a gruelling day’s walk. Ngor Monastery (or Ngor Evam Chöden) was founded in 1429 By Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo (1382 – 1444), the scholarly monk who established the Ngor suborder of the Sakya. After the monastery at Sakya itself, it is the second most important of centre of the school.