List of Tibetan monasteries
Encyclopedia
This list of Tibetan monasteries is a listing of historical and contemporary monasteries in Tibet
sorted according to the five principal orders of the Tibetan spiritual traditions that have been recognized by the present Dalai Lama
, including monasteries that were within Tibetan borders when extant, or were culturally included within the Tibetan tradition:
Kagyu
Many Kagyu monasteries are in Kham, eastern Tibet. Tsurphu, one of the most important, is in central Tibet, as is Ralung.
Nyingma
The Nyingma lineage is said to have "six mother monasteries," although the composition of the six has changed over time:
Also of note is
Other Nyingma monasteries:
Sakya
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
sorted according to the five principal orders of the Tibetan spiritual traditions that have been recognized by the present Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word далай meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning "teacher"...
, including monasteries that were within Tibetan borders when extant, or were culturally included within the Tibetan tradition:
Bön
- Menri
- Yungdrung Ling
- Triten Norbutse
- Bon Gyal Monastery, Repkong, Amdo,aka Tongren, Qinghai
Kadam/Geluk
The three most important centers of the Gelugpa lineage are Sera, Drepung and Ganden Monasteries.- AlchiAlchiAlchi is a village and monastery in the Leh district of Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, situated on the bank of Indus River 70 km downstream from the capital in Leh...
- DrepungDrepung MonasteryDrepung Monastery ,, located at the foot of Mount Gephel, is one of the "great three" Gelukpa university monasteries of Tibet...
— the home monastery of H.H. the Dalai LamaDalai LamaThe Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word далай meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning "teacher"...
- GandenGanden MonasteryGanden Monastery or Ganden Namgyeling is one of the 'great three' Gelukpa university monasteries of Tibet, located at the top of Wangbur Mountain, Tagtse County, 36 kilometers ENE from the Potala Palace in Lhasa, at an altitude of 4,300m...
— the seat of the Ganden TripaGanden TripaThe Ganden Tripa or Gaden Tripa is the title of the spiritual leader of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, the school which controlled central Tibet from the mid-17th century until 1950s. He is identical with the respective abbot of Ganden Monastery... - JokhangJokhangThe Jokhang, , also called the Qokang Monastery, Jokang, Jokhang Temple, Jokhang Monastery or Zuglagkang , is located on Barkhor Square in Lhasa. For most Tibetans it is the most sacred and important temple in Tibet. It is in some regards pan-sectarian, but is presently controlled by the Gelug school...
— said to have been built by King Songtsen GampoSongtsen GampoSongtsän Gampo Songtsän Gampo Songtsän Gampo (Tibetan: སྲོང་བཙན་སྒམ་པོ་, Wylie: Srong-btsan sGam-po, 569–649?/605–649? was the founder of the Tibetan Empire (Tibetan: Bod; ), by tradition held to be the thirty-third ruler in his dynasty. In the Chinese records, his name is given as 'Sōngzàngānbù'...
in 647 AD; a major pilgrimage site. - Kirti GompaKirti GompaKirti Gompa , is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery founded in 1472 and located in China's Sichuan Province. As of March 2011, the gompa was said to house 2,500 monks. However, reports indicate its poplation has declined substantially as a result of a crackdown by authorities.-History:Kirti Gompa was...
— Ngawa City, the main city in Ngawa CountyNgawa CountyNgawa County , or Aba or Ngaba, is a county of Sichuan Province, China. It is under the administration of the Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture. It is located in the remote northwestern part of the prefecture, on the border with Qinghai and Gansu...
, within the Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous PrefectureNgawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous PrefectureThe Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture is an autonomous prefecture in Sichuan, whose capital is Barkam town . It has an area of 83,201 km²....
in northwestern SichuanSichuan' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu... - Tradruk Temple — the largest, oldest and most important monastery in the YarlungYarlungYarlung can refer to:*Yarlung Kingdom, see also: Tibetan empire*Yarlung Dynasty, see also: List of emperors of Tibet*Yarlung Valley, formed by the Yarlung River and refers especially to the district where it joins with the Chongye River, and broadens out into a large plain about 2 km wide, before...
Valley. Said to have been built by King Songtsen GampoSongtsen GampoSongtsän Gampo Songtsän Gampo Songtsän Gampo (Tibetan: སྲོང་བཙན་སྒམ་པོ་, Wylie: Srong-btsan sGam-po, 569–649?/605–649? was the founder of the Tibetan Empire (Tibetan: Bod; ), by tradition held to be the thirty-third ruler in his dynasty. In the Chinese records, his name is given as 'Sōngzàngānbù'...
- Labrang
- Reting
- Pabonka HermitagePabonka HermitagePabonka Hermitage , also written Pawangka, is a historical hermitage, today belonging to Sera Monastery, about 8 kilometres northwest of Lhasa in the Nyang bran Valley on the slopes of Mount Parasol in Tibet....
- SeraSera MonasterySera Monastery is one of the 'great three' Gelukpa university monasteries of Tibet, located north of Lhasa. The other two are Ganden Monastery and Drepung Monastery. The origin of the name 'Sera' is attributed to a fact that the site where the monastery was built was surrounded by wild roses in...
— the largest monastery in Tibet, containing numerous colleges. - Spituk
- Samstanling, in the Nubra ValleyNubra ValleyNubra Valley is about 150 km north of Leh, the capital town of Ladakh, India. Local scholars say that its original name was Ldumra . The Shyok River meets the Nubra or Siachan River to form a large valley that separates the Ladakh and the Karakoram Ranges. The average altitude of the valley is...
in LadakhLadakhLadakh is a region of Jammu and Kashmir, the northernmost state of the Republic of India. It lies between the Kunlun mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south, inhabited by people of Indo-Aryan and Tibetan descent...
, IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. - TaboTabo MonasteryTabo Monastery was founded in 996 CE in the Spiti Valley, Himachel Pradesh, India by the great Tibetan Buddhist lotswa , Rinchen Zangpo, the king of western Himalayan Kingdom of Guge...
— the largest monastery in SpitiSpiti-Geographical locations:*Lahaul and Spiti, a district in the state of Himachal Pradesh in India.*Spiti Valley, former heartland of the former Spiti district now combined.*Spiti River, in the Spiti Valley, Himachal Pradesh.*Spitia River-Language:...
. - Tashilhünpo — the seat of the Panchen LamaPanchen LamaThe Panchen Lama , or Bainqên Erdê'ni , is the highest ranking Lama after the Dalai Lama in the Gelugpa lineage of Tibetan Buddhism...
- YerpaYerpaYerpa, also known as: Brag Yer-pa, Drak Yerpa, Druk Yerpa, Dagyeba, Dayerpa, and Trayerpa, is only a short drive to the east of Lhasa, and consists of a monastery and a number of ancient meditation caves that used to house about 300 monks.-Description:The entrance to the Yerpa Valley is about...
- famous meditation site of King Songtsen GampoSongtsen GampoSongtsän Gampo Songtsän Gampo Songtsän Gampo (Tibetan: སྲོང་བཙན་སྒམ་པོ་, Wylie: Srong-btsan sGam-po, 569–649?/605–649? was the founder of the Tibetan Empire (Tibetan: Bod; ), by tradition held to be the thirty-third ruler in his dynasty. In the Chinese records, his name is given as 'Sōngzàngānbù'...
and PadmasambhavaPadmasambhavaPadmasambhava ; Mongolian ловон Бадмажунай, lovon Badmajunai, , Means The Lotus-Born, was a sage guru from Oddiyāna who is said to have transmitted Vajrayana Buddhism to Bhutan and Tibet and neighbouring countries in the 8th century...
.
KagyuKagyuThe Kagyu, Kagyupa, or Kagyud school, also known as the "Oral Lineage" or Whispered Transmission school, is today regarded as one of six main schools of Himalayan or Tibetan Buddhism, the other five being the Nyingma, Sakya, Jonang, Bon and Gelug...
Many Kagyu monasteries are in Kham, eastern Tibet. Tsurphu, one of the most important, is in central Tibet, as is Ralung.- Drigung
- Palpung MonasteryPalpung MonasteryPalpung is the name of the congregation of monasteries and centers of the Tai Situpas as well as the name of the monastic seat in Tibet in Dege. Palpung means "glorious union of study and practice"...
— the seat of the Tai SitupaTai SitupaIn Tibetan Buddhism the Tai Situpa is one of the oldest lineages of tulkus in the Kagyu school. According to tradition, the Tai Situpa is an emanation of the bodhisattva Maitreya, who will become the next Buddha, and who has been incarnated as numerous Indian and Tibetan yogins since the time of...
and Jamgon KongtrulJamgon KongtrulJamgön Kongtrül is a name of a prominent line of Tibetan Buddhist teachers , primarily identified with the first Jamgon Kongtrul, but also the name shared by members of a lineage held by tradition to be his subsequent reincarnations , to date.... - Riwoche - seat of the Taklung Kagyu lineage
- Surmang MonasterySurmang MonasterySurmang refers to a vast alpine nomadic and farming region, historically a duchy under the King of Nangchen, with vast land holdings spreading over what is today the Tibet Autonomous Region and Qinghai Province. In Tibetan King of Nangchen's realm was called the "nyishu dza nga" or the 21...
— the seat of the Trungpa tülkusTrungpa tülkusThe Trungpa tülkus are a line of incarnate Tibetan lamas who traditionally head Surmang monastery in Kham . The 3 heads of Zurmang Kagyud are known as GharTengTrungSum , and the lineage holder of Zurmang Kagyud is Zurmang Gharwang Rinpoche. There have been twelve such Trungpa tulkus... - Tsurphu MonasteryTsurphu MonasteryTsurphu Monastery is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery which served as the traditional seat of the Karmapa. It is located in Gurum town of Doilungdêqên County in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, 70 km from Lhasa. The monastery is about 14,000 feet above sea level...
— the seat of H.H. the Gyalwa Karmapa
Drukpa Lineage
- Druk Sangag Choeling Monastery
- Hemis MonasteryHemis MonasteryHemis Monastery is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery of the Drukpa Lineage, located in Hemis, Ladakh . Situated 45 km from Leh, the monastery was re-established in 1672 by the Ladakhi king Sengge Namgyal...
in LadakhLadakhLadakh is a region of Jammu and Kashmir, the northernmost state of the Republic of India. It lies between the Kunlun mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south, inhabited by people of Indo-Aryan and Tibetan descent... - Kardang MonasteryKardang MonasteryKardang Monastery or Gompa is a famous Drukpa Lineage monastery, and is the most important monastery the Lahaul valley, India. The associated village of Kardang was once the capital of Lahaul.The monastery is a huge white building bedecked with prayer flags...
, the main monastery in Lahaul - Namdruk Monastery
- Punakha DzongPunakha DzongThe Punakha Dzong, also known as Pungtang Dechen Photrang Dzong is the administrative centre of Punakha dzongkhag in Punakha, Bhutan. Constructed by Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal in 1637–38, it is the second oldest and second largest dzong in Bhutan and one of its most majestic structures...
, the winter home of the Central Monk Body - Ralung MonasteryRalung MonasteryRalung Monastery , located in the Tsang region of western Tibet, south of the Karo La , is the traditional seat of the Drukpa order of Tibetan Buddhism...
-- the seat of the Gyalwang DrukpaGyalwang DrukpaThe Gyalwang Drukpa or Drukchen are a line of re-incarnate lamas or tulku who are the head of the Drukpa school, one of the independent Sarma schools of Tibetan Buddhism... - Tashichödzong, Thimphu which houses the Central Monk Body in summer
NyingmaNyingmaThe Nyingma tradition is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism . "Nyingma" literally means "ancient," and is often referred to as Nga'gyur or the "old school" because it is founded on the first translations of Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Tibetan, in the eighth century...
The Nyingma lineage is said to have "six mother monasteries," although the composition of the six has changed over time:
- Dorje DrakDorje DrakDorje Drak monastery is a Nyingma monastery in Shimla, India. It is run by Tibetan exiles, and modeled after a similar monastery that was destroyed in Tibet. The current throneholder is H.H. Taglung Kyabgon Tsetrul Thupten Gyaltsen Rinpoche.-External links:*...
- Dzogchen MonasteryDzogchen MonasteryDzogchen Monastery is one of the six great monasteries of the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. It is located in Sichuan province, China, and marks part of the Tibetan cultural region of Kham. It was founded by Dzogchen Pema Rigdzin in 1675, 1684 or 1685...
- Kathok
- Mindrolling Monastery
- PalyulPalyulPalyul is one of the six mother monasteries of the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Founded in 1665 by Rigdzen Kunzang Sherab, the monastery is the seat of the Nam Cho Terma of Terton Migyur Dorje. His Holiness Penor Rinpoche was the 11th throne holder of the Palyul lineage...
- Shechen
Also of note is
- SamyeSamyeThe Samye Monastery or Samye Gompa is the first Buddhist monastery built in Tibet, was most probably first constructed between 775 and 779 CE under the patronage of King Trisong Detsen of Tibet who sought to revitalize Buddhism, which had declined since its introduction by King Songtsen Gampo in...
— the first monastery in Tibet, established by PadmasambhavaPadmasambhavaPadmasambhava ; Mongolian ловон Бадмажунай, lovon Badmajunai, , Means The Lotus-Born, was a sage guru from Oddiyāna who is said to have transmitted Vajrayana Buddhism to Bhutan and Tibet and neighbouring countries in the 8th century...
and ShantarakshitaShantarakshita' was a renowned 8th century Indian Buddhist Brahmin and abbot of Nalanda University. Śāntarakṣita founded the philosophical school known as Yogacara-Svatantrika-Madhyamaka, which united the Madhyamaka tradition of Nagarjuna, the Yogacara tradition of Asanga and the logical and epistemological... - Yarchen GarYarchen GarYarchen monastery lies west of Chengdu in Sichuan province i China, on the border to Tibet. It is reported to have 10 000 monks and nuns, making it the largest monastery in the world. Most of the inhabitants are nuns...
- the largest monastery in the world.
Other Nyingma monasteries:
- Tsozong
- Tibet Institute RikonTibet Institute RikonThe Tibet Institute Rikon is a Tibetan monastery located in Zell-Rikon im Tösstal in the Töss Valley in Switzerland. It is a established as a non-profit foundation because Swiss laws resulting from the 19th century secularization movement do not allow for the establishment of new monasteries.-...
in Switzerland. Note: Since 2007, the monastery comprises representatives of all four great traditions of Tibetan BuddhismTibetan BuddhismTibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India . It is the state religion of Bhutan...
: NyingmaNyingmaThe Nyingma tradition is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism . "Nyingma" literally means "ancient," and is often referred to as Nga'gyur or the "old school" because it is founded on the first translations of Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Tibetan, in the eighth century...
, KagyuKagyuThe Kagyu, Kagyupa, or Kagyud school, also known as the "Oral Lineage" or Whispered Transmission school, is today regarded as one of six main schools of Himalayan or Tibetan Buddhism, the other five being the Nyingma, Sakya, Jonang, Bon and Gelug...
, SakyaSakyaThe Sakya school is one of four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the others being the Nyingma, Kagyu, and Gelug...
and GelugGelugThe Gelug or Gelug-pa , also known as the Yellow Hat sect, is a school of Buddhism founded by Je Tsongkhapa , a philosopher and Tibetan religious leader...
.
SakyaSakyaThe Sakya school is one of four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the others being the Nyingma, Kagyu, and Gelug...
- NgorNgorNgor or Ngor Êwam Qoidain is the name of a monastery in the Ü-Tsang province of Central Tibet, about one and half hours drive from Shigatse, and is the Sakya school's second most important goinba...
- SakyaSakya MonasterySakya Monastery, also known as dPal Sa skya or Pel Sakya is a Buddhist monastery situated 25 km southeast of a bridge which is about 127 km west of Shigatse on the road to Tingri in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China.The seat of the Sakya or Sakyapa school of Tibetan Buddhism, it was founded in...
— the seat of H.H. the Sakya TrizinSakya TrizinSakya Trizin or Sa'gya Gongma Rinboqê is the traditional title of the head of the Sakya Order of Tibetan Buddhism.The Sakya Order of Tibetan Buddhism was founded in 1073, when Khon Konchog Gyalpo , a member of Tibet’s noble Khön family, established a monastery in the region of Sakya, Tibet,... - ShaluShalu MonasteryShalu Monastery or Ṣalu Monastery is small monastery 22 km south of Shigatse in Tibet. Founded in 1040 by Chetsun Sherab Jungnay, for centuries it was renowned as a centre of scholarly learning and psychic training and its mural paintings were considered to be the most ancient and beautiful...