Tashilhunpo Monastery

Chinese name: 札什伦布寺(Zha Shen Lun Bu Si)
Location: No.01, Jiji Langka Road, Shigatse, Tibet.
Ticket: Entrance Ticket CNY55.00
Estimated tour time: 1-2 hours
Recommended time to visit: May to Oct.
Nearby attractions: Karola Glacier,Yamdrok Lake,Palcho Monastery, etc.

Sitting on the southern slope of Nyiseri Mountain in the west of Shigatse City, Tashilhunpo Monastery, built in 1447 by Gedun Drupa, the first Dalai Lama, is the largest monastery in Tsang Area as well as the traditional seat of successive Panchen Lamas, Tibet's second highest incarnation. Meanwhile, it is also one of the Great Six Gelugpa Monasteries of Tibetan Buddhism (another five are Drepung Monastery, Sera Monastery, Ganden Monastery, Kumbum Monastery, and Labrang Monastery).

Covering an area of nearly 150,000 square meters, the monastery is the largest temple in Shigatse, which has about 57 halls and 3600 rooms. Among them, the Coqen Hall can hold 2000 people chanting at the same time. Featuring an interesting sprawling amalgam of traditional Tibetan monastic style, those halls, chapels and other structures are connected by precipitous steps and narrow cobblestone alleys. The interplay between the golden roofs and the white, red and black exterior walls creates a striking composition.

Being the largest monastery in Shigatse, Tashilhunpo Monastery stores many treasures, including the giant priceless Future Buddha Statue, precious Buddha Stupas, and more manuscript Buddhist texts and numerous murals. Besides, the annual Thangka Ceremony to present three embroidery Buddhas is another attraction here.
Tashi Lhunpo Monastery has the glory of producing thousands of renowned scholars in the field of Mahayana Buddhist Philosophy as per ancient Indian Buddhist Universities such as Nalanda and Vikramalashila.

During the lifetime of the 4th Panchen Lama, Lobsang Choekyi Gyaltsen, there were more than 3,000 monks in the Monastery and by 1959 there were 5,000, with another 2,000 monks affiliated to the Monastery living outside Tibet. The Communist Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1959 and the Cultural Revolution from 1966-80 both wreaked destruction on Tibet's monastic institutions, which lost many precious scriptures, statues and images. Many monks were killed or imprisoned and only 250 were able to follow the Dalai Lama into exile.

In 1972, under the patronage of His Holinessof the 14th Dalai Lama, Tashi Lhunpo Monastery was re-established in the Southern Indian state of Karnataka. The Monastery has monks coming from Tibet and the Himalayan regions of Spithi, Khunu, Ladakh and Arunachal. Occupying a central position in the Tibetan settlement of Bylakuppe, there are close to 400 monks including many Tulkus (reincarnate lamas) studying and performing various religious practices.

Many monks escaped Tibet because of difficulties (imprisonment or death) they face trying to practice Buddhism inside Tibet. The influx of new refugees is putting a strain on the re-established monasteries-in-exile, many of which are poor and having difficulties supporting the existing monks-in-exile. Tashi Lhunpo Monastery is one of the poorest of the re-established monasteries.

During the 1960s many senior lamas and monks left Tibet and helped re-establish new monasteries in India, Nepal and Bhutan. The 10th Panchen Lama (Lobsang Lhundup Choekyi Gyaltsen) did not leave Tibet and consequently many of the senior lamas from Tashi Lhunpo Monastery remained inside Tibet. Therefore, while other monasteries-in-exile have expanded and developed under the guidance of senior lamas, Tashi Lhunpo has remained at a disadvantage.