Baiju Monastery

Built in 1414 and located at the west side of Change mountain, Gyantse county, it is equally and separately dwelt by three religious sects: Sakya, Gedan and Gelu.

The main construction is Chuoqing hall; the Baiju Pagoda beside the monastery is marvelous. The pagoda is 32.5 meters high, with 9 floors, 108 doors and 77 Buddha rooms, the statues and sculptures in the pagoda are exquisite, succinct and life like, there’re 100,000 Buddha statues totally, so it’s called “Ten Myriad Pagoda”. The monastery is well regarded an art museum.

Xialu Monastery

Built in 1,000A.D, it is located 30km southwest of Xigaze. It is a unique construction with Tibetan and Han styles missed together.

Two monastery treasures are the classic inscription plank made of sandal wood and the holy water jar. The frescos in Xialu Monastery are abundant and beautiful, they are invaluable art treasures of Tibet.

Sakya Monastery

Being divided into the north part and the south part, it is located 160km west of Xigaze. The north part, built in 1079, is a ruin now, while the south part, built in 1268, embraces many historic and cultural relics, official documents, stamps, caps and costumes from the central government of Yuan Dynasty, and very precious frescos of historic subject from Song and Yuan Dynasties.

The book storage of Sakya Monastery is remarkable, there are not only religious classics inscribed with gold powdered ink, but also more than 10,000 books over geography, history, medicine and literature in Tibetan. Sakya Monastery, which is well－named “Tunhuang the second”, is quite well－know for its book storage, rich and valuable historic relics.

Zhaxi Lhunbo Monastery

Built by the presiding of the first Dalai Lama Gengduenjuba, the disciple of Tsongkhapa, in 1447, it is located at the foot of Nima Hill near Lhasa. The later fourth, fifth and sixth Panchan Lama extended it into the size of what it is now.

it’s the traditional seat of Panchan Lama. A 22.4 meters gilded copper statue of Amitabha Meitriya, the tallest in the world, is enshrined and worshiped in it. There are in the monastery halls of Panchans holy relics, the holy relic hall for the tenth Panchan Lama is completed in September 4, 1993.

Rezheng Temple

Established by TsongTunpa in 1057 and located in Lingzhou county, it’s the first and most important Temple of Gedan sect, as a branch of Buddhism, it spread all over Tibet rapidly.

The whole temple holds an area about 25mu, the main hall has three floors, the first floor is the big praying hall surrounded by several smaller ones. There are lots of Buddha’s status and Buddhism classics in it. Part of the temple was destroyed in 1951’s earthquake.

Chubu Temple

Built in 1187, it is located at the upstream of Chubu River, 60km to the west of Lhasa. The living Buddha Gemaba was granted the title of Great King of Buddhism by emperor Chengzhu of Ming Dynasty. It was the political, economical, religious and cultural center of Tibet at that time. Chubu Temple is the source of Living Buddha’s Rebirth, this theory about the religious faith has been influencing the whole Buddhism world of Tibet.

Sera Monastery

One of the most three great monasteries of Tibet. Built in 1419 and located at the north part of Lhasa, it was constructed by Sakyayishi, one of the Chongkhapa’s most well-know eight disciples. Twice, he went to Beijing to meet Ming emperor, he got a lot of presents from emperor MingChengzhu, and was granted the title of Buddhist King of Great Benevolence and silk－pictured by emperor Xuanzhong.

Sera Monastery was called ShaoLin Monastery of Tibet in the past, because it’s the monastery trained the bodyguards for nobles at that time.

Drepung Monastery

The largest monastery of the world and one of the most well－know Shamanism monasteries in china. Once there were over 10,000 monks lived in.

Built in 1416 and located at the foot of Mt. Ganpoi Uze northwest suburb 5km of Lhasa. The Sheldon Festival is the most important and hilariously of Drepung Monastery every year.

Thousands of Buddhists from everywhere Tibet arrive there to attend all kinds of programs the monastery hold. One of the holy programs is Unfolding Buddha, which means roll out the portrait of Sakyamuni on the slope in front of the monastery, the portrait was embroidered on a huge silk, about 1500 square meters. Before he moved to the Potala Palace, the 5th Dalai Lama lived here. The Drepung Monastery used to nourish a lot of scholars of Buddhism in Tibet.

Gedan Monastery

About 60km east－side Lhasa, built in the fifth century by the president Chongkhapa of Shamanism(one of the most important branch of Buddhism).

The main construction are Raky hall and Chiduokang, the former can contain over 3,000 monks to Buddhism Classics－reading in it at the same time. And the statues of Maitreya and Chongkhapa are both delicate and good handwork.

Ramqe Temple

Built in the middle of the seventh century, it is located at the north－side of Lhasa, burnt and rebuilt in succession. There are frescos and statues of Sakyamuni, Mozulji, Maitreya in the temple. Sakyamuni’s twelve－year－old life－sized gilded statue is in the main hall.

It’s said that when princess WhenCheng passed there, the carriage which hold the statue fell into the soil, after a short but deep thinking, princess WhenCheng decided to leave it there. And the Temple was built later.

Jokhang Temple

Built in 647A.D and located in the center of Lhasa, it is one of the earliest constructions in Tibet, its roof is covered with gold, making much of a sight.

There are various statues of Buddha, in the central hall on the first floor, there is a gold sitting statue of a 12-year old Sakyamuni, brought in by Princess Wencheng. It is one of the most precious antiques in Tibet. A large number of precious walls along lobbies and inner temples are covered with legendary frescos.

The Tang Willow(The willow trees beside the Tablet, called “Princess Willow”, is said to be planted personally by Princess Wencheng and the Tubo King Songtsan Gambo.) and the TangPo Unite Tablet(constructed for the confederacy between Tang dynasty and Tupo Kingdom) are still in front of the temple.

The special structure style of Jokhang Temple is the symbolization of Buddhistic thought. The west toward gate means the final pure area of human is in the west(in China, most of temples’ main bodies or gates faces to west, only a few faces to south), the brilliant center of the temple stands for the core of the universe, and so on.

Lhasa Jokhang Temple

Jokhang Temple is the spiritual center of Tibet. Everyday pilgrims from every corner of Tibet trek a long distance to the temple. Some of them even progress prostrate by body length to the threshold of the temple. Pilgrims fuel myriad of flickering butter lamps with yak butter, or honor their deities with white scarves (Kha-btags or Hada) while murmuring sacred mantras to show their pieties to the Buddha.

It lies at the center of the old Lhasa. Built in 647 by Songtsen Gampo and his two foreign wives, it has a history of more than 1,300. It was said that Nepal Princess Tritsun decided to build a temple to house the Jowo Sakyamuni aged 12 brought by Chinese Princess Wencheng. Princess Wencheng reckoned according to Chinese astrology that the temple should be built on the pool where the Jokhang now locates. She contended that the pool was a witch's heart, so the temple should be built on the pool to get rid of evils. The pool still exists under the temple. Then goats were used as the main pack animals, as is the reason the city is called Lhasa. The construction took 12 months. However it was originally small and had been expanded to today's scale in later dynasties. When the Fifth Dalai Lama took reign, large-scale reconstruction and renovation had been done. The temple is a combination of Han, Tibetan and Nepalese architectural techniques. Visitors will see sphinx and other weird and sacred sculptures. The temple keeps many invaluable cultural relics. The most famous and valuable one is the Jowo Sakyamuni aged 12, which is circumambulated by thousands of pilgrims day and night. On his sides, there are altars of Songtsen Gampo and his two wives who introduced Buddhism into Tibet. The murals in the main hall are also worth seeing, depicting the procession of Princess Wencheng arriving in Tibet and the building of the Jokhang Temple while other murals tell Jataka stories. Two thangkas imaging Yamantaka and Chakrasamvara from the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) still remain in perfect condition. The gold bumpa (a vase) upon which the reincarnations of Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama are decided, musical instruments brought into Tibet by Wencheng and other important stuffs are also kept here. Every year, the Great Prayer Festival will be held in the Temple. The rites of Dalai Lamas and Panchen Lamas' initiation into lamahood are also held in the monastery.