SHIGASTE : HOME OF THE PANCHEN LAMA

Continuing with the last leg of our Tibet trip we were on the road again to Shigaste Tibet's second largest city. Situated at 3900m it is about 100km away fom Gyantse. On the two and a half hours roller coaster drive, the road conditions varied from good to bad to good again.

The highway follows the Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) river climbing up narrow gorges and plunging into broad river valleys. Pastoral farmlands, rich pastures, ochre mountains, vast horizons and rural scenes engaged our visual senses as we bumped along. We journeyed on with this feeling of ji xin ku, you xin fu. (mixed feelings of hardship and blessings)

Shigaste is the seat of the Panchen Lama and the Tashilunpo Monastery was the main target of our travel to this Tibetan outpost.

SHIGASTE PICTURES

Tashilunpo Monastery

Tashilunpo Monastery, Shigaste's foremost attraction, was built in 1447. Tashilunpo sprawling over nearly 300,000 square meters and nestling among peaks and willow groves,is made up of chortens, temples and the Panchen Lama’s palace.

The monastery is a striking red, white and black Tibetan structure with a golden roof. At its peak, Tashilunpo held more than 4,000 monks in its monasteries. Within the Tashilunpo monastery there is a 26 meters statue of the Maitreya Buddha of the Future cast from 6,700 ounces of gold and over 115,000 kg of copper.

Stupas housing the embalmed remains of past Panchen Lamas.

Some of the floors within the monastery are encrusted with

semi precious stones such as this turquoise symbol.

Terrace for Sunning Thangkas. The wall is used for displaying
enormous Thangkas during religious festivals.

Courtyard of the Main Hall. The walls are entirely covered
with murals of Buddha.

Some wall murals in the chapels