Tashilhunpo Monastery

CHINA, Tibet, Shigatse

Tashilhunpo means Auspicious Sumeru. The monastery is located at the foot of Mount Drolmari. It is the leading monastery of the Gelug school. It was built in 1447 by a disciple of Tsongkhapa, Gendun Drup, who was later recognized as the First Dalai Lama. It was expanded by Lobsang Chokyi Gyalsten, the Fourth Panchen Lama, when he was the 16th abbot of the monastery. Since then it became the residence of successive Panchen Lamas, whose continued efforts in renovation work and expansions resulted in the monastery of today. In 1961 it was listed as a National Cultural Heritage Site.
The south-facing monastery complex was built according to the contours of the hilly terrain. The main buildings include the central hall, Maitreya Hall, Gyanak Hall, Dungten Tashi Namgyel Hall, Dungten Sisum Namgyel Hall, and the thangka wall. Other buildings include four colleges, the residence of the Panchen Lamas and monastic quarters. The buildings are arranged asymmetrically but are roughly aligned in an east-west direction. The huge thangka wall is on the eastern facade of the monastery, while in the center, there are the central hall and the halls of the past Panchen Lamas. The monastic quarters and ancillary buildings are situated on the flat land to the south. At the southern end there is the main entrance gate.
The south-facing central hall is three stories high. A bronze statue of Sakyamuni Buddha is enshrined in its main hall, Sakyamuni Hall. The hall is flanked by the Maitreya Shrine and Tara Shrine. In the Maitreya Shrine there is a statue of Maitreya, flanked by Avalokitesvara and Manjusri Bodhisattvas. They are said to have been sculpted by the First Dalai Lama.
Two halls, dedicated to the past Panchen Lamas, the Dungten Tashi Namgyel, and the Dungten Sisum Namgyel, are each composed of a courtyard, corridors, and a main shrine. The main shrines are three to four stories high and each has a prominent double-eave hip-and-gable roof covered with gilt copper tiles. The interior of the shrine has an open area reaching up to the ceiling. It contains the high reliquary stupas of the past Panchen Lamas. The reliquary stupas in the Dungten Tashi Namgyel Hall are enormous and contain the mortal remains of the 5th to the 9th Panchen Lamas. The 11.5 m high stupa in the Dungten Sisum Namgyel Hall is made from gold and houses the embalmed remains of the Tenth Panchen Lama.
The Maitreya Hall was built in the early 20th century. It appears to have seven stories when seen from the outside, but its interior is completely open up to the ceiling. A 22.4 m high gilt bronze statue of the seated Maitreya Buddha is enshrined within the building; it is the largest indoor gilt bronze seated Buddha statue in the world.
The monastery houses many Buddha statues, murals, and sculptures. There are also a large number of Buddhist texts and palm leaf manuscripts, as well as historical artifacts, such as imperial decrees and imperial seals bestowed by emperors of the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties.