China Guide
Tibet
Tashilunpo Monastery
Opening time: Mon– Sat 9.30am–2.30pm & 3.30–6pm
Price: ¥55
Address: On the western side of town
Something of a showcase for foreign visitors, the large complex of Tashilunpo Monastery is situated just below the Drolma Ridge – the gleaming, golden roofs will lead you in the right direction. The monastery has some of the most fabulous chapels outside Lhasa, and it takes several hours to do it justice. It's also well worth taking an hour to walk the three-kilometre kora, the pilgrim circuit, which follows a clockwise path around the outside walls of the monastery, offering fine views of the glorious golden roofs from above the top wall.
Tashilunpo was founded in 1447 by Gendun Drup, who was later recognized as the First Dalai Lama. It rose to prominence in 1642 when the Fifth Dalai Lama declared that its abbot, Losang Chokyi Gyeltsen, was a manifestation of the Amitabha Buddha and the Fourth reincarnation of the Panchen Lama in what has proved to be an ill-fated lineage. The Chinese have consistently sought to use the Panchen Lama in opposition to the Dalai Lama, beginning in 1728 when they gave the Fifth Panchen Lama sovereignty over western Tibet.
Among the many temples and shrines, the mult-storeyed Jamkhang Chenmo houses a 26-metre gold, brass and copper statue of Maitreya, the Buddha of the Future, with hundreds of small images painted on the walls. The sprawling, labyrinthine Kelsang Lhakhang consists of a courtyard, the fifteenth-century assembly hall and a whole maze of small chapels, often interconnecting, in the surrounding buildings. Its flagged courtyard is the setting for all the major temple festivals and the surrounding three-level colonnaded cloisters are covered with murals, many renovated. Dominating the assembly hall are the huge throne of the Panchen Lama and the hanging thangkas (religious paintings), depicting all his incarnations.