Thiksey Monastery

INDIA, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh

Thiksey means In Perfect Order. It is located 20 km from Leh and is situated on a hilltop approximately 3,600 m above sea level. The original small monastery was founded by Sherab Sangpo in 1433 and named Lhakhang Serpo (Yellow Temple). His disciple, Palden Sangpo, moved the monastery to its current location in the middle of the 15th century and expanded it.
The monastery consists of multiple levels of buildings ascending a hillside. The buildings include the assembly hall, Maitreya Hall, Lamokhang Hall, shrines, and living quarters. Most of the structures are rectangular in shape, interspersed with Tibetan stupas. There is a row of eight stupas in the center towards the bottom of the hill. The halls, built in red brick, combined with the living quarters in white, make the whole monastery resemble the Potala Palace, and it is indeed known as the Mini-Potala.
Within an inner sanctum in the assembly hall there is a Buddha statue flanked by Manjusri and Maitreya Bodhisattvas. The hall contains many murals, including those of the Wheel of Life and the deities Mahakala and Dukar. It also houses the 225 volumes of the Tengyur Buddhist texts wrapped in silk and stored on wooden shelves. The Maitreya Hall was constructed in 1970. It houses a huge seated Maitreya Buddha statue that is 15 m in height. The Lamokhang Hall is a sutra repository containing numerous volumes of scriptures.