Over the last few weeks, I have been writing about the shrines of Ladakh I had an opportunity of visiting during my trip with Mantra Yatra in August. This is the fourth and last part of the series. You can read the previous parts here: Part I Part II Part III
This post is about the magnificent Thiksey Monastery in the Indus Valley at an altitude of about 11,800 feet. It is a twelve storied building, comprising of shrines, statues, thangkas, library and nunnery spread across a majestic courtyard.
The walkway leading to the Thiksey Monastery
The Thiksey Monastery is the largest in Central Ladakh, situated about 19 kms from the city of Leh. The building supposedly resembles the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet. The origin of this monastery has a very interesting legend associated with it. In the early 15th century, Je Tsongkhapa (roughly translating to The man from the Onion Valley), the founder of the Gelug school of Tibeten Buddhism, who also came to be seen as the second Buddha after his passing, sent six of his disciples across Tibet and Ladakh to spread the teachings of the Gelug school. He picked one of them, Jangsem Sherap Zangpo, and gave him a statue of Amitayus made from bone powder and his own blood as a gift to the King of Ladakh, directed him to seek support from the King to propogate his teachings in Ladakh.
The majestic monastery complex
The king was overjoyed with the gift and immediately asked his ministers to help Zangpo set up a monastery in Ladakh. Soon, in 1433, a small monastery was set up by the name of Lhakang Serpo or Yellow Temple. The Gelugs were called Yellow Hats to denote the golden robes they adorned and one would find the color yellow being the most prominent across the entire monastery.
One day, when Sherap Zangpo and his disciple, Palden Zangpo were performing sacred rituals near the temple, a crow swooped down and picked up the offerings and carried it away. Startled, the two men ran behind the crow to see where it was taking the offering. The crow flew over the other side of the hill. Considering it to be some form of a divine signal, the men followed the path the crow had taken and found the offerings intact, on a stone in Thicksey. Palden Zangpo decided to build a larger monastery here, considering it to be a holy sign from his master. The monastery has four main shrines - The Maitreya Buddha or Future Buddha, Tara Devi, the main prayer hall and the shrine of the Guardian Deity or Yamantaka.
Maitreya Buddha: The gigantic 40 feet Maitreya Buddha statue extends to two floors. The Thiksey Rimpoche, Kushok Nawang Chamba Stanzin was instrumental behind the creation of this beautiful Maitreya Buddha who is seen seated on a lotus. It took thirty people over three years to create this statue with clay and terracotta, decorated in gold and copper colours. The words of the Dalai Lama while consecrating on 26th July 1980, describes the experience of every visitor who stands in awe before this beautiful Maitreya Buddha.
"Even if you see this Maitreya again and again, you will never see it enough; you will always want to see more - you would never be satisfied"Indeed, the image of the Maitreya Buddha and the surreal interiors of the shrine stay with you long after you leave the monastery.
The 40 feet Maitreya Buddha
Main Prayer Hall:
The main prayer hall has big drums, rows of low seats for monks and visitors to sit and pray, and beautiful murals on the walls. There is a central shrine of Buddha, flanked by the Boddhisatvas and has several scriptures and sacred texts wrapped in silk.
Main Prayer Hall
Buddha flanked by Boddhisatvas in the sanctum
Tara Devi Shrine:
Tara Devi, is considered to be the mother of Sakyamuni Buddha and is said to have been born from the tear of Avalokiteswara when he wept at the sufferings of human beings. She is said to manifest in 21 different forms. In another legend, Tara is truly shown as a symbol of feminism. Born as a princess by name Yashe Dawa, she made offerings to Buddha for so many eons that she reached a state of a Boddhisatva. At this stage, some monks approached her and asked her to pray that she be born a man in her next birth, in order to progress further spriritually.
At this point, Tara firmly told them that only weak-minded people would think that gender was a barrier for enlightenment and resolved to be always born as a female Boddhisatva. She said, "I have developed bodhicitta as a woman. For all my lifetimes along the path I vow to be born as a woman, and in my final lifetime when I attain Buddhahood, then, too, I will be a woman"
Tara Devi in all 21 forms
At the Tara Devi shrine, she is seen with images of all her twenty-one forms placed in a wooden cupboard. The top floor of the temple known as the Lamokhang temple, houses all the sacred sculptures to which access is permitted only to the men.
The Guardian Shrine:
This is by far the most powerful shrine in the entire monastery complex. It comprises of the Vajra Bhairava Ekavira, the Boddhisatva Manjushri appearing in a wrathful form. Manjushri is always depicted as a terrifying and intimidating form, inspiring fear in those who look at his face. Because of this, visitors are not encouraged to face the deity and his face remains covered throughout the year but for the three days during Gustor Festival during October-November. This deity is flanked by the Shaturbuja Mahakala and Yamaraj on either side.
Guardian Deity with Mahakala
The Vajra Bhariva has nine faces, thirty-four hands and sixteen legs. The main face resembles a buffalo, with a red face above, and the top face that of Manjushri. flames swirling about the horns. Three faces are stacked up on either side with three eyes, bared fangs and a wrathful expression. The hair is curled upwards, and the first pair of hands holds a knife and a skullcup with the remaining hands holding a variety of objects, including the hyde of an elephant. Each face is adorned with a skull crown, snake necklace and a garland of fifty heads. The right leg is pressing down eight creatures and the left leg is pressing down eight birds.
There is also a nunnery in the monastery for the female monks to stay. Apart from these shrines, there is a room on top that is used to teach local children who want to become monks as well as a library with a huge number of sacred texts. The roof top has a beautiful view of the Himalayas and the Indus valley and there is a lovely store and a cafe too here.
View from the rooftop
How to get here: Thiksey Monastery is 19 kms from the city of Leh. Do not forget to include it in your itinerary. The monastery involves a lot of climbing both up to the monastery as well as to each of the shrines.